Military Recruitment, Race and Ethnicity

<!--StartFragment -->The tables and charts below provide racial and demographic information on active-duty Army recruits in fiscal year 2004. Data and statistics are available by ZIP code, schools, county and state on the NPP Database [1] .

Highlights of the tables and charts can be found on the summary [2] section of this page.

• Total Army Recruits [3]
• Black Army Recruits [4]
• Hispanic Army Recruits [5]
• White Army Recruits [6]
  [7]

• Total Army Recruits per 1000 Youth [8]
• Black Army Recruits per 1000 Black Youth [9]
• Hispanic Army Recruits per 1000 Hispanic Youth [10]
• White Army Recruits per 1000 White Youth [11]

• Black [12]
• Hispanic [13]

• Black [14]
• Hispanic [15]

• List of Army Bases by County [16]

• Chart 1: Racial Composition of Army Recruits v. Population in 2004 [17]
• Chart 2: Army Recruits by Neighborhood Income in 2004 [18]
• Chart 3: Army Recruits by Race According to Neighborhood Income in 2004 [19]

Top 100 Counties Ranked by Black and Hispanic Army Recruits, 2004

• Of the top 100 counties ranked by the highest numbers of Hispanic Army recruits, 50 were located in three states: California, Texas and Florida. Those three states accounted for 57% of the 8,263 Hispanic Army recruits in 2004. The top 100 counties accounted for 70% of all Hispanic recruits in 2004.
• In 2004, the three counties with the highest numbers of Hispanic Army recruits were Los Angeles County, California with 718; Bexar County, Texas with 316; and Miami-Dade County, Florida with 288 recruits.
• Black recruits were slightly more spread out across the states. Fifty of the top 100 counties ranked by Black recruits were found in six states: Georgia, Virginia, New York, Florida, Texas and California. Those six states accounted for about 36% of the 10,441 Black recruits in 2004. The top 100 counties accounted for 55% of all Black recruits in 2004.
• In 2004, the three counties with the highest numbers of Black Army recruits were Kings County, New York; Cook County, Illinois; and Los Angeles County, California, with 239, 223, and 199 Black Army recruits, respectively.

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• Black: The county with the highest Black recruitment rate was Montgomery County, Mississippi with 12.8 Black recruits per thousand Black youth. The national rate was 1.7 Black recruits per 1000 Black youth.
• Hispanic: The county with the highest Hispanic recruitment rate was Eaton County, Michigan with 7.2 Hispanic recruits per 1000 Hispanic youth. The national rate was 1.2 Hispanic recruits per 1000 Hispanic youth.
• White: The county with the highest White recruitment rate was Petersburg City, Virginia with 14.2 White recruits per 1000 White youth. The national rate was 1.6 White recruits per 1000 White youth.
• Total: The county with the highest recruitment rate was Pope County, Illinois with 9.5 recruits per 1000 youth. The national rate was 1.5 recruits per 1000 youth.
• Cumberland County, North Carolina and Bell County, Texas appear in each of the top 100 counties ranked by number of total, Black, Hispanic and White recruits, as well as each of the top 100 county lists ranked by recruitment rate of total, Black, Hispanic, and White youth. Bell County is the home of Fort Hood and Cumberland County is the home of Fort Bragg.
• A total of twenty counties appear both on the lists of the top 100 counties ranked by the number of Black recruits and ranked by the Black recruitment rate. The lists for Hispanic recruitment have 29 counties in common.

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• Seventy percent of Black recruits come from neighborhoods at or below the U.S. median household income, while 64% of Hispanic recruits, and 57% of White recruits come from such neighborhoods.
• Neighborhoods with median household incomes at or above $60,000 (125% of the median household income) were under-represented. Within those neighborhoods, Black and Hispanic youth are over-represented in the Army recruits of 2004, while White youth are under-represented. The neighborhoods are comprised of: 5.5% Black youth, 8.9% Hispanic youth, and 76.1% White youth. Army recruits from those neighborhoods were made up of: 11.1% Black youth, 10.4% Hispanic youth, and 70.2% White youth.

• Within the top 50 high schools ranked by Black recruits, four states account for more that half of the schools: Florida and Virginia each have eight schools; and Georgia and North Carolina each have six schools.
• Within the top 50 high schools, 81 recruits came from Florida high schools and 82 from Virginia high schools. Four states, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, made up over half (57%) of the Black high school recruits in the top 50.
• Of the top 50 high schools ranked by Black recruits, 47 (or 94%) have a JROTC program affiliated with some branch of the military.
• Of the 1,790 high schools with Black recruits, the top 50 high schools account for 529 of the 6,106 recruits (or 8.6%).

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• Within the top 50 colleges ranked by the number of Black recruits, North Carolina alone had ten colleges with a total of 107 recruits.
• The top three colleges for Black recruits were Norfolk State University (Virginia), Fayetteville State University (North Carolina) and Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (Florida).
• Out of the 559 colleges with Black recruits, the top 50 colleges with Black recruits account for 532 of the 2,210 Black recruits from colleges (or 24%).

• The top 50 high schools ranked by the number of Hispanic recruits is composed of high schools from only six states: Texas (16 schools), California (14 schools) and Florida (13 schools) made up 86% of the top 50 high schools.
• Within the top 50, Texas (162 recruits), Florida (171 recruits) and California (151 recruits) made up 87% of the Hispanic high school recruits from the top 50.
• Of the top 50 high schools, 43 (or 86%) had a JROTC program affiliated with some branch of the military.
• Of the 1,270 high schools with Hispanic recruits, the top 50 account for 554 out of the 4,316 Hispanic recruits (or 12.8%).

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• Within the top 50 colleges ranked by the number of Hispanic recruits, Texas alone had 20 colleges making up a total of 316 (47%) recruits from the top 50 colleges.
• The top three colleges with Hispanic recruits were Miami-Dade Community College (Florida), El Paso Community College (Texas), and San Antonio College (Texas).
• Of the 392 colleges with Hispanic recruits, the top 50 colleges account for 676 out of the 1,748 Hispanic recruits from colleges (or 38.7%).

• JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp.) programs are represented in the formal curriculum in high schools in every state. These multi-year programs provide an introduction to the basic subject matter relevant to the particular JROTC branch as well as military history and culture.
• The Army has programs in 1,682 high schools; the Navy has programs in 613 high schools; the Air Force has programs in 797 high schools; and the Marines have programs in 216 high schools (not including Puerto Rico or APOs). JROTC programs exist in approximately 18% of high schools (as well as some junior high schools).
• Approximately 40-45% of JROTC graduates enlist in the military.*
• The three counties with the most military recruiters assigned were Los Angeles County, California; Cook County, Illinois; and Harris County, Texas.

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