WASHINGTON – Heartland communities with jobs to offer are becoming magnets for Hispanics, who now account for half the nation’s population growth.

Hispanics in the United States – both recent immigrants and people born here – are moving beyond traditional ports of entry in large numbers, boosting the populations of states such as North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Indiana, a study by the Brookings Institution shows.

And they are heading not only to big cities; many are moving to historically white, non-Hispanic suburbs, said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings and the author of the study, which is being released Tuesday.

“The people there are now getting a taste of diversity, firsthand,” Frey said in an interview.

While diversity enriches communities, it also can present challenges, even when the local Hispanic population is relatively small, Frey said. Many schools, social service agencies and government officials must, for the first time, deal with numbers of people who do not speak English very well, Frey said.

“You’re the first kid on the block when you come into some of these neighborhoods and it’s not always easy,” Frey said. “There will have to be a little bit of accommodation from both the newcomers and the people already there.”

From 2000 to 2004, Hispanic populations grew by more than 40 percent in six metropolitan areas: Atlanta; Cape Coral, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Indianapolis; Nashville, Tenn., and Raleigh, N.C.

Hispanics moved to those areas because their economies are creating jobs, said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization in Washington.

“New York, Chicago and Los Angeles have gotten expensive, and they haven’t been growing a fast as Charlotte and Raleigh,” Suro said.

“Those places all tend to be metro areas where the overall population is growing fast and where the economies are vibrant,” Suro said.