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Yolanda Marroquin-Lewis was born in Guatemala but finds that almost everyone in Utah assumes she is from Mexico. Some even ask her if she speaks "Mexican," instead of Spanish.

"It's really annoying," she says. "I was raised in Chicago [from age 10]. In Chicago, people don't assume you are from Mexico. That's because there are a lot of people from Puerto Rico and Cuba and Central and South America. But in Utah, they assume that everyone with dark hair and brown eyes is Mexican."

New data from the 2010 census indicate why many Utahns may make that mistake — and also reveal that Utah Latinos are far more diverse than many may realize, with at least some coming from every Spanish-speaking nation on the planet.

New 2010 data suggest that about three of every four Utah Latinos are of Mexican descent — 72.3 percent, to be exact. That is up from 67.7 percent in 2000. Data also indicate that 9 percent of all Utahns are of Mexican descent, or about 1 of every 11 people.

El Salvador is in a far-distant second place as a country of origin for Utah Latinos, with only 2.5 percent of all Latinos from there. But virtually all Spanish-speaking countries are represented among Utah's Latinos, with a few dozen to a few thousand people each.

The number of Utahns of Mexican descent increased by a huge 90 percent during the past decade — from 135,416 people to 258,905.

Latinos from other countries often grew even faster, by percentage, but involved far fewer people. For example, those from Spain grew ninefold to 8,184 people; Paraguayans quadrupled, but only to a 158 people statewide; Uruguayans more than tripled to 1,011 people; Dominicans also tripled to 1,252 people.

University of Utah research economist Pam Perlich says Mexicans are the predominant Latino group in Utah for several reasons. Most obviously, they come from the country nearest to the United States and have a long history of immigrating here at times when the local economy needed extra workers.

She says that led to immigration in large numbers, both legally and illegally, during the early 2000s, when the economy was booming. When the recession hit, she said most Mexicans stayed by taking advantage of networks of help and community that had been established throughout many generations to weather bad times until job growth returns.

Perlich adds that when the early 2000s, "construction boom really ramped up, people came from farther and more far-flung places in Central and even South America" to Utah. However, she said many of them lacked support networks to help them survive the recession, "so many of them have moved home."

Last year, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that illegal immigration to Utah has actually reversed, with more undocumented people going home than coming. Tony Yapias, director of the activist Proyecto Latino de Utah, agrees, saying that with a bad economy, tighter immigration enforcement and legislators seeking immigration reform, "I wouldn't say there are more [immigrants] coming in anymore."

The Pew center also estimates that, nationally, most of the recent growth in Mexican and Latino populations is coming from births, not immigration.

Perlich said she expects that in the next few years, most of the growth among people of Mexican descent in Utah will also come from births.

She notes that most recent immigrants are young and are at the peak of their child-bearing years.

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Common ground • Yapias, a former state director of Hispanic affairs, is from Peru. He says the anti-illegal-immigration fights here have forced Utah's diverse Latino groups to band together.

"A lot of people think we are all Mexicans. They also think we are all illegals. That tends to make you join together," he said.

To illustrate that, he says he hears people every day say he is from Mexico and is undocumented, even though he is neither. "They say, 'Let's deport Tony to Mexico,' " which he finds hilarious as a Peruvian.

"It shows how ignorant people are," he said. "The rhetoric on immigration has brought us together closer as a community. We're all Mexicans for all intents and purposes."

He notes that in Peru, "Peruvians have negative feelings toward Ecuadorians or Chileans because we fought wars with them in the past. But here in Utah, we're just brothers and friends. We go to their activities, and they come to ours."

He said Utah Latinos mixing with Hispanics from around the globe here tends to make each group pick up a bit of the others' customs, food preferences and even accents.

"A few years ago in a trip to Peru, I was at the airport in Lima, and my Mexican accent came out," Yapias said. "So people there asked, 'Where in Mexico are you from?' I just gave a big laugh and said, 'Great, now even people in Peru think I'm Mexican.' "

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The big picture • While one of every 11 Utahns is of Mexican descent, new census data indicate that can be much higher in some places.

Hideout, a town of 656 near Jordanelle Reservoir, is 74 percent Mexican, according to the data.

Wendover is 64 percent Mexican.

More interestingly, many Latinos interviewed there have said that most come from the same small area in Mexico — the district of Gen. Francisco Murguía in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas — drawn by casino jobs in adjacent West Wendover, Nev., and by networks of friends and family already there.

Among larger areas, West Valley City — the state's second-largest city — is 26 percent Mexican, with 33,620. Kearns is also 26 percent Mexican, with 9,207 people reporting to the census that they are of Mexican descent.

Half of all Utahns of Mexican descent live in Salt Lake County, while 82 percent of them live in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties. About 75 percent of Utah's total population resides in those counties.

Marroquin-Lewis said that no matter where they are from, Utah Latinos — and most Utahns, for that matter — have something important in common. "They came here because this is the land of promise. They came here to try to have a better life for their families. That means we have a lot in common."