Population characteristics of rural youth (persons under 25 years of age) living in the Southwestern States of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are presented. Data were collected from the 1970 U.S. Census of Population Final Reports for the individual States. This report is organized into two sections: (1) the analytical text and (2) tabular data by State. The analytical text discusses the youth of the Southwestern region; the rural population; the rural youth of the five Southwestern States; the general distribution of the rural Spanish heritage youth by State; and the distribution of rural Native American youth. The tabular section consists of numerical data regarding rural youth by State, sex, racial or ethnic categories, and age groups. Some findings are: (1) rural youth represent 14.1 percent of all persons under 25 in the Southwest; (2) rural Spanish heritage persons tend to be generally younger than other groups; and (3) in New Mexico rural Spanish heritage youth represent over 50 percent of all rural youth. Definitions of technical terms used are provided in the appendix. (NQ)