LOOK CLOSELY at how Massachusetts is growing, and a pattern emerges. It’s visible in the families opening small businesses in places like Lawrence and Springfield, in the surge of young workers entering fields like health care, construction, and climate tech, and in the numbers: Nearly 80 percent of the state’s population growth over the last decade came from Hispanic/Latino residents, along with more than $30 billion in added economic output. That’s not a projection. That’s what’s already happened. 

We Are ALX and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation recently partnered on “¡Vamos Massachusetts!”, a new report that shows how pivotal Hispanic/Latino residents already are to the state’s economy and outlines what’s needed to match that contribution with opportunity. 

Hispanics/Latinos now represent more than one in eight workers in Massachusetts, and in the last decade their share of the population has grown nearly twice as fast as the national Hispanic/Latino population. Yet persistent gaps in education, workforce access, and wealth threaten to limit both Hispanic/Latino progress and the Commonwealth’s economic resilience. 

Education is the foundation of economic mobility, and here, there’s good news along with urgent challenges. The high school graduation gap between Hispanics/Latinos and all students has narrowed from 17 to 10 percentage points since 2014, and more than 10,000 additional Hispanic/Latino students are enrolled in college compared to a decade ago. Degree attainment is also rising, with bachelor’s degrees up 88 percent and graduate or professional degrees more than doubling. 

But too many barriers remain. One out of four K-12 students in Massachusetts is Hispanic/Latino, yet only 41 percent of Massachusetts Hispanic/Latino high school graduates enroll in college, compared to 63 percent of all graduates. College completion gaps cost the state $174 million in annual wages and more than $3 billion in lost economic activity over a five-year period.  

In the state’s largest Gateway Cities, fewer than one in five Hispanic/Latino students in grades 3–8 meet or exceed expectations in math, English, and science. Without targeted support, we risk losing out on the next generation of health care workers, engineers, and educators that Massachusetts needs. 

Hispanics/Latinos are a rapidly growing share of the state’s labor force, up 49 percent between 2014 and 2023, compared to just 7 percent overall job growth. In just the next five years, Hispanics/Latinos are projected to represent six in 10 net new workers. The report identifies a major opportunity: Massachusetts will need as many as 143,000 additional workers in manufacturing, clean energy technology, and life sciences/pharmaceuticals over the next decade. These are high-paying, high-growth sectors critical to our economic future. 

Yet too many Hispanic/Latino workers remain concentrated in lower-wage industries or face barriers to entering and advancing in these sectors, including credential recognition, language access, and training program availability, notwithstanding their lawful status in the United States. Connecting Hispanic/Latino workers to these industries is not only a matter of equity, but also an economic necessity for the state’s long-term economic success. Removing barriers and expanding training could help fill workforce shortages, meet climate and innovation goals, raise household incomes statewide, and increase the Commonwealth’s tax base. 

Household income for Hispanics/Latinos in Massachusetts has grown 63 percent since 2014, faster than the state average, but the gap with white households has widened, leaving $11.1 billion in potential income unrealized each year.  

The wealth gap is even more stark. Median net worth for Hispanic/Latino households is just $9,373 compared to $360,455 for white households. Homeownership, one of the strongest drivers of wealth, stands at 32 percent for Hispanics/Latinos in Massachusetts, 19 points below Hispanics/Latinos nationally and less than half the rate of white households here. Closing that gap could add $25 billion in assets to Hispanic/Latino households, and to the Commonwealth’s overall gross state product. 

Entrepreneurship is a bright spot, with nearly 60,000 Hispanic/Latino-owned businesses now operating in Massachusetts, a 23 percent increase in just two years. Yet only 9 percent of all businesses are Hispanic/Latino-owned, and just 3 percent have employees, evidence that access to capital and growth support remains a major hurdle to wealth creation for these business owners. 

Massachusetts has already taken steps in the right direction. The 2025 state budget expanded early education and made community college free for eligible students, with additional aid for state universities. The Mass Leads Act invests in climate tech workforce training, creates pathways for foreign-trained health care professionals to work in their fields, and expands state program eligibility for microbusinesses. The Affordable Homes Act authorizes $5 billion for housing production and affordability, creating an opening to boost Hispanic/Latino homeownership. 

But more is needed. Policymakers, educators, and employers must strengthen K–12 supports in districts with large Hispanic/Latino populations, with targeted literacy, STEM, AI, and college readiness programs. They must expand higher education access and persistence programs, including culturally competent advising and wraparound supports for first-generation students to thrive. Workforce pipelines that connect Hispanic/Latino workers to high-demand, high-wage industries must be scaled up, especially in manufacturing, clean energy, and life sciences. 

Closing capital access gaps for Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs through targeted lending, technical assistance, and supplier diversity commitments is essential. And the state must increase affordable homeownership opportunities, pairing down payment assistance with zoning reforms to expand housing supply. 

Hispanics/Latinos are the future workforce, tax base, and entrepreneurial class of the Commonwealth, given that nearly three-quarters of the Hispanic/Latino population in Massachusetts is under 45. Our state’s aging population and domestic outmigration challenges make Hispanic/Latino economic advancement not just a matter of fairness, but of economic survival.  

The message of “¡Vamos Massachusetts!” is clear: When Hispanic/Latino communities thrive, Massachusetts thrives. Matching contributions with opportunity will grow our economy, strengthen our communities, and ensure a more resilient, inclusive future. 

We are here. The momentum is here. Now it’s time for our policies and investments to catch up. 

Eneida Román is president and CEO of We Are ALX, formerly Amplify Latinx. She is a member of the board of MassINC, the nonpartisan civic organization that publishes CommonWealth Beacon. Pablo Suarez is a policy researcher at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.