Driven by a massive expansion in the Bronx, New York has led the nation in the growth rate of Hispanic-owned businesses in recent years.

U.S. Census Bureau statistics released yesterday, taken from surveys in 1997 and 2002, reported the number of Hispanic-owned firms in New York grew 57%, nearly double the national rate of Hispanic-owned firms and more than five times the national average for all businesses. In the Bronx, growth reached 159% during that time period, and the county now has the fourth most Hispanic-owned businesses in the country.

Nationwide, Hispanic-owned business grew at three times the national rate. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been lobbying Washington to create more paths for legal immigration, seized on the findings as proof immigrants are not just taking jobs but creating them. “The economy has been growing, and part of that growth has to do with the immigrants coming, both legally and illegally, to the United States,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s director for immigration policy, Angelo Amador, said.

The report showed that there are nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses in America, constituting 7% of the country’s non-farm companies and generating $22 billion in revenue in 2002, up 19% from 1997. In the tristate area, there were 225,000 Hispanic-owned businesses, constituting more than 10% of the national total.

America’s mushrooming Hispanic population, estimated to be more than 41 million people, is key to the business boom. About 8% of America’s Hispanics now live in New York, which is tied with Florida for the third-largest share after California and Texas, according to an analysis of 2000 census statistics by the Pew Hispanic Center.

In recent years, there has been a trend away from these traditional settlement areas to new states, particularly in the Southeast. This switch is reflected in the findings released today: After New York, the fastest growth sites for Hispanic-owned firms were Rhode Island and Georgia, followed by South Carolina and Nevada.

The president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Michael Barrera, said that what helped New York outperform other states was the combination of a strong Hispanic base population, a diversifying and expanding community, and a relatively vibrant local economy. “It’s not a monolithic market,” he said. “Hispanics are growing within the Hispanic market.”

Puerto Ricans and Dominicans continue to dominate entrepreneurship in the state, but other groups, in particular Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Mexicans, are increasingly important players. The census found Puerto Ricans own 20% of the Hispanic-owned businesses in the tri-state area, but Mexicans are coming up strong, at 7%.

The president of the New York Statewide Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Frank Garcia, said he has seen the demographic shift transfer to a change in who is handling traditionally Hispanic-owned jobs, such as bodegas, as well as the group’s expansion into new industries. The majority of the members of his coalition are now Dominican, he said, but Mexicans showed the most recent growth.

“The Mexican community is growing very fast. They bought the bodegas from the Dominicans,” he said, noting that the bodega, once dominated by Puerto Ricans, has now become a tradition to be used as a launching pad to other entrepreneurship ventures.

In the Bronx, in particular, it appears small businesses have fueled growth. In 1992, the borough had the second fewest number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the city, ahead of only Staten Island. By 2002, its numbers had more than tripled, to the point where the borough led the city. Still, sales are still relatively low. While the Bronx has 6,000 more Hispanic-owned businesses than Manhattan and 3,000 more than Queens, those boroughs’ businesses boasted much higher profits than were recorded in the Bronx.

The owner of Manhattan-based Arcos Communications, Roy Cosme, noted that when he started his company 10 years ago there were few firms in the New York market providing public relations aimed at the Hispanic community. Today, it’s a crowded market.

He said a change came after the release of the 2000 census, which reported that Hispanics had replaced blacks as the largest minority. “A lot of corporate businesses have finally seen the value of marketing to Hispanics,” he said.

Mr. Garcia also said national corporations are taking note, particularly in an increasing interest in buying from Hispanic producers. “The reason why Hispanic businesses are growing so rapidly is because of corporate America’s new interest in the supply diversity programs,” Mr. Garcia, who recently organized a conference with Wal-Mart in New York, said.

While noting such gains, the president of the Latinos in Information and Technology Association, Jose Marquez, said the wave of Hispanic entrepreneurship is just beginning to hit the city. “Education has been a major focus in the last 10 or 20 years,” he said. “We’re graduating smarter students who are not necessarily looking at corporate America as a way to get smarter.”

On the other side of the spectrum, as it has to past waves of immigrants, entrepreneurship has proved to be a lifeline for the poorly educated and the illegal segment of the city’s Hispanic population.

“It’s important to realize when you want to keep people out, you may also be keeping out the future success stories of tomorrow,” Mr. Barrera, of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said. Citing a strong economy where there were more than 2 million jobs created in the past two months and the unemployment rate is 4.7%, lower than in the 1980s or 1990s, he concluded, “Immigration is not costing people jobs, it actually helps to create those jobs.”