Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Hispanic or Latino American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2024, the Hispanic and Latino population was estimated at 68,086,153, representing approximately 20% of the total U.S. population, making them the second-largest group in the country after the non-Hispanic White population.
"Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person, parents or ancestors before their arrival into the United States of America. People who identify as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, because similarly to what occurred during the colonization and post-independence of the United States, Latin American countries have had populations made up of multiracial and monoracial descendants of settlers from the metropole of a European colonial empire (in the case of Latin American countries, Spanish and Portuguese settlers, unlike the Thirteen Colonies that will form the United States, which received settlers from the United Kingdom). Hispanics and Latinos of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry are sometimes known as mestizos. In addition, there are also Indigenous peoples of the Americas (Native Americans), descendants of African slaves brought to Latin America in the colonial era, and post-independence immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.
As one of only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States, Hispanics and Latinos form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages, in which use of the Spanish language is the most important common element. The largest national origin groups of Hispanic and Latino Americans in order of population size are: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan. Although commonly embraced by Latino communities, Brazilians are officially not considered Hispanic or Latino. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic and Latino populations varies widely in different locations across the country. In 2012, Hispanic Americans were the second fastest-growing ethnic group by percentage growth in the United States after Asian Americans.
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Hispanic Americans of mixed Indigenous descent and European (typically Spanish) descent are the second oldest racial group (after the Native Americans) to inhabit much of what is today the United States. Spain colonized and governed vast regions of what is now the American Southwest and the West Coast, as well as Florida and, through Spanish Louisiana, much of the central interior. Taken together, these possessions corresponded to the present-day states of Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. These lands formed part of Spain's wider North American empire, with many of its northern and western territories administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain, centered in Mexico City. Later, this vast territory (except Florida, which Spain ceded to the United States in 1821) became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821 and until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848.
Terminology
The terms Hispanic and Latino refer to an ethnicity. Hispanic first came into popular use to refer to individuals with origins in Spanish-speaking countries after the Office of Management and Budget created the classification in 1977, as proposed by a subcommittee composed of three government employees, a Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican American. The United States Census Bureau defines being Hispanic as being a member of an ethnicity, rather than being a member of a particular race and thus, people who are members of this group may also be members of any race. In a 2015 national survey of self-identified Hispanics, 56% said that being Hispanic is part of both their racial and ethnic background, while smaller numbers considered it part of their ethnic background only (19%) or racial background only (11%). Hispanics may be of any linguistic background; in a 2015 survey, 71% of American Hispanics agreed that it "is not necessary for a person to speak Spanish to be considered Hispanic/Latino". Hispanic and Latino people may share some commonalities in their language, culture, history, and heritage.
The Smithsonian Institution defends that the term Latino should also include peoples with Portuguese roots, such as Brazilians, and not only those of Spanish-language origin. The difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino is ambiguous to some people. The US Census Bureau equates the two terms and defines them as referring exclusively to hispanic people and those from Spain or the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas. After the Mexican–American War concluded in 1848, term Hispanic or Spanish American was primarily used to describe the Hispanos of New Mexico within the American Southwest. The 1970 United States census controversially broadened the definition to "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race". This is now the common formal and colloquial definition of the term within the United States, outside of New Mexico. This definition is consistent with the 21st century usage by the US Census Bureau and OMB, as the two agencies use both terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably. The Pew Research Center mentions that some researches defend that the term Hispanic is strictly limited to Spain, Puerto Rico, and all countries where Spanish is the only official language, whereas "Latino" could include all countries in Latin America (even Brazil regardless of the fact that Portuguese is its only official language), but not Spain and Portugal.
The terms Latino and Latina are words from Italy and are ultimately from ancient Rome. In English, the term Latino is a condensed form of "latinoamericano", the Spanish term for a Latin American, or someone who comes from Latin America. The term Latino has developed a number of definitions. This definition, as a "male Latin American inhabitant of the United States", is the oldest definition which is used in the United States, it was first used in 1946. Under this definition a Mexican American or Puerto Rican, for example, is both a Hispanic and a Latino. In the United States, Brazilian Americans are officially not considered "Latino", as they are for the most part descended from immigrants from a non-Hispanic country, unless they happen to have had recent history in a Latin American country.
Preference of use between the terms among Hispanics in the United States often depends on where users of the respective terms reside. Those in the Eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the West tend to prefer Latino.
The US ethnic designation Latino is abstracted from the longer form latinoamericano. The element Latino- is actually an indeclinable, compositional form in -o (i.e. an elemento compositivo) that is employed to coin compounded formations (similar as franco- in francocanadiense 'French-Canadian', or ibero- in iberorrománico, etc.).
The term Latinx (and similar neologism Xicanx) have gained some usage. The adoption of the X would be "[r]eflecting new consciousness inspired by more recent work by LGBTQI and feminist movements, some Spanish-speaking activists are increasingly using a yet more inclusive "x" to replace the "a" and "o", in a complete break with the gender binary. Among the advocates of the term LatinX, one of the most frequently cited complaints of gender bias in the Spanish language is that a group of mixed or unknown gender would be referred to as Latinos, whereas Latinas refers to a group of women only (but this is changed immediately to Latinos, if even a single man joins this female group). A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that about 3% of Hispanics use the term (mostly women), and only around 23% have even heard of the term. Of those, 65% said it should not be used to describe their ethnic group. Another gender neutral term, like LatinX, is Latine. Though "Latinx" is quite challenging to say in Spanish, "Latine" is easy. Spanish speakers are increasingly adopting this term, which originated in Spanish-speaking countries.
Some have pointed out that the term "Hispanic" refers to a pan-ethnic identity, one that spans a range of races, national origins, and linguistic backgrounds. "Terms like Hispanic and Latino do not fully capture how we see ourselves", says Geraldo Cadava, an associate professor of history and Hispanic studies at Northwestern University.
According to a 2020 American Community Survey data, more than two-thirds of Brazilians in the U.S. described themselves as Hispanic or Latino. In 2017, a small minority of Portuguese Americans (2%), and the Filipino Americans (1%) self-identified as Hispanic.
Explorers were pioneers in the territory of the present-day United States. The first confirmed European landing in the continental United States was by Juan Ponce de León, who landed in 1513 at a lush shore he christened La Florida. In the next three decades, the small numbers of Spanish individuals became the first Europeans to reach the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. Ships sailed along the Atlantic Coast, penetrating to present-day Bangor, Maine, and up the Pacific Coast as far as Oregon. From 1528 to 1536, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three fellows (including an African named Estevanico), from a Spanish expedition that foundered, journeyed from Florida to the Gulf of California. In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of the present United States.
Also in 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led 2,000 mostly Mexican natives across today's Arizona–Mexico border and traveled as far as central Kansas, close to the exact geographic center of what is now the continental United States. Other Spanish explorers of the US territory include, among others: Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narváez, Sebastián Vizcaíno, Gaspar de Portolà, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Tristán de Luna y Arellano, and Juan de Oñate, and non-Spanish explorers working for the Spanish Crown, such as Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
In 1565, the Spanish created the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, at St. Augustine, Florida. Spanish missionaries and colonists founded settlements including in the present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico, El Paso, San Antonio, Tucson, Albuquerque, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Settlements in the American Continent were part of a broader network of trade routes that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The mostly Tlaxkalan settlers established trade connections with other Indigenous peoples, exchanging goods such as furs, hides, agricultural products, and manufactured goods. These trade networks contributed to the economic development of colonies and facilitated cultural exchange between different groups.
18th and 19th centuries
As late as 1783, at the end of the American Revolutionary War (a conflict in which Spain aided and fought alongside the rebels), Spain held claim to roughly half the territory of today's continental United States. From 1819 to 1848, the United States increased its area by roughly a third at Spanish and Mexican expense, acquiring the present-day U.S states of California, Texas, Nevada, Utah, most of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-American War, as well as Florida through the Adams-Onís treaty, and the U.S territory of Puerto Rico through the Spanish-American War in 1898. Many Latinos residing in those regions during that period gained U.S. citizenship. Nonetheless, many long-established Latino residents faced significant difficulties post-citizenship. With the arrival of Anglo-Americans in these newly incorporated areas, Latino inhabitants struggled to maintain their land holdings, political influence, and cultural traditions.
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 attracted people from diverse backgrounds, including Hispanic and Latino miners, merchants, and settlers. The Gold Rush led to a population boom and rapid economic growth in California, transforming the social and political landscape of the region.
Many Hispanic natives lived in the areas that the United States acquired, and a new wave of Mexican, Central American, Caribbean, and South American immigrants had moved to the United States for new opportunities. This was the beginning of a demographic that would rise dramatically over the years.
20th and 21st centuries
During the 20th and 21st centuries, Hispanic immigration to the United States increased markedly following changes to the immigration law in 1965. During the World Wars, Hispanic Americans and immigrants had helped stabilize the American economy from falling due to the industrial boom in the Midwest in states such as Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. While a percentage of Americans had fled their jobs for the war, Hispanics had taken their jobs in the Industrial world. This can explain why there is such a high concentration of Hispanic Americans in Metro Areas such as the Chicago-Elgin-Naperville, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, and Cleveland-Elyria areas.
Hispanic and Latino Americans were actively involved in the broader civil rights movement of the 20th century, advocating for equal rights, social justice, and an end to discrimination and segregation. Organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the United Farm Workers (UFW) fought for the rights of Hispanic and Latino workers and communities.
Hispanic contributions in the historical past and present of the United States are addressed in more detail below (See Notables and their contributions). To recognize the current and historic contributions of Hispanic Americans, on September 17, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson designated a week in mid-September as National Hispanic Heritage Week, with Congress's authorization. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan extended the observance to a month, designated National Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Americans became the largest minority group in 2004.
Hispanic and Latino Americans increasingly sought political representation and empowerment during the 20th century. The election of individuals such as Edward Roybal, Henry B. González, and Dennis Chávez to Congress marked significant milestones in Hispanic political representation. Additionally, the appointment of individuals like Lauro Cavazos and Bill Richardson to cabinet positions highlighted the growing influence of Hispanic and Latino leaders in government.
Hispanic and Latino Americans became the largest minority group in the United States, contributing significantly to the country's population growth. Efforts to preserve and promote Hispanic and Latino culture and heritage continued in the 21st century, including initiatives to support bilingual education, celebrate cultural traditions and festivals, and recognize the contributions of Hispanic and Latino individuals and communities to American society.
Demographics
Hispanics have been tracked across time using a variety of proxies before the official introduction of the Ethnicity question in the US census. In 1930, people of the Mexican 'race' were enumerated as a separate category, with estimates produced by the census bureau that year for 1920 and 1910. From 1940 to 1970, the Spanish 'mother tongue' was used, as well as from 1950 to 1980 Spanish surname was additionally utilised.
As of 2020, Hispanics accounted for 19–20% of the US population, or 62–65 million people. The US Census Bureau later estimated that Hispanics were under-counted by 5.0% or 3.3 million persons in the US census, which explains the 3 million range in the number above. In contrast, Whites were over-counted by about 3 million. The Hispanic growth rate over the April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007, period was 28.7%—about four times the rate of the nation's total population growth (at 7.2%). The growth rate from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, alone was 3.4%—about three and a half times the rate of the nation's total population growth (at 1.0%). Based on the 2010 census, Hispanics are now the largest minority group in 191 out of 366 metropolitan areas in the United States. The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050 is 132.8 million people, or 30.2% of the nation's total projected population on that date.
Geographic distribution
US Metropolitan Statistical Areas with over 1 million Hispanics (2014)
States and territories with the highest proportion of Hispanics (2021)
Of the nation's total Hispanic population, 49% (21.5 million) live in California or Texas. In 2022, New York City and Washington, D.C. began receiving significant numbers of Latino migrants from the state of Texas, mostly originating from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Honduras.
Over half of the Hispanic population is concentrated in the Southwest region, mostly composed of Mexican Americans. California and Texas have some of the largest populations of Mexicans and Central American Hispanics in the United States. The Northeast region is dominated by Dominican Americans and Puerto Ricans, having the highest concentrations of both in the country. In the Mid Atlantic region, centered on the DC Metro Area, Salvadoran Americans are the largest of Hispanic groups. Florida is dominated by Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans. In both the Great Lakes states and the South Atlantic states, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans dominate. Mexicans dominate in the rest of the country, including the West, South Central and Great Plains states.
National origin
As of 2024, the largest group within the US Hispanic population is of Mexican origin, with nearly 39 million people (57.3%). People of Puerto Rican origin are the second largest group with over 6 million (8.9%). The Hispanic origin groups that follow are Cubans (4.3%), Salvadorans (4.0%), Dominicans (3.7%) and Guatemalans (3.1%) with more than 2 million people each, and Colombians (2.5%), Hondurans (2.1%), Venezuelans (1.7%) and Ecuadorians (1.5%) with more than 1 million people each. All other groups of Central American or South American origin in the U.S. make up less than 1 million people each. Additionally, 2 million (2.9%) people are of origin from Spain (including those listed as Spanish), while more than 2 million (3.24%) are of unspecified Hispanic origin. In 2017, two thirds of all Hispanic Americans were born in the United States.
There are few immigrants from Spain, since Spaniards have historically emigrated to Hispanic America rather than to English-speaking countries. Because of this, most Hispanics who identify themselves as Spaniard or Spanish also identify with Hispanic American national origin. In the 2017 Census estimate approximately 1.76 million Americans reported some form of "Spanish" as their ancestry, whether from Spain or not.
In northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, there is a large portion of Hispanics who trace their ancestry to settlers from New Spain (Mexico), and sometimes Spain itself, in the late 16th century through the 17th century. People from this background often self-identify as "Hispanos", "Spanish" or "Hispanic". Many of these settlers also intermarried with local Native Americans, creating a mestizo population. Likewise, southern Louisiana is home to communities of people of Canary Islands descent, known as Isleños, in addition to other people of Spanish ancestry. Californios, Nuevomexicanos and Tejanos are Americans of Spanish and/or Mexican descent, with subgroups that sometimes call themselves Chicanos. Nuevomexicanos and Tejanos are distinct southwest Hispanic cultures with their own cuisines, dialects and musical traditions.
Nuyoricans are Americans of Puerto Rican descent from the New York City area. There are close to two million Nuyoricans in the United States. Prominent Nuyoricans include Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, singer Jennifer Lopez and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Race and ethnicity
Hispanics come from multi-racial and multi-ethnic countries with diversity of origins; therefore, a Hispanic can be from any race or mix of races. The most common ancestries are: Native American, European and African. Many also have colonial era New Christian Sephardic Jewish ancestry. As a result of their racial diversity, Hispanics form an ethnicity sharing a language (Spanish) and cultural heritage, rather than a race.
Hispanic origin is independent of race and is termed "ethnicity" by the United States Census Bureau.
On the 2020 United States census, 20.3% of Hispanics selected "White" as their race. This marked a large drop when compared to the 2010 United States census in which 53.0% of Hispanics identified as "White". These Hispanics make up 12,579,626 people or 3.8% of the population.
Over 42% of Hispanic Americans identify as "some other race". Of all Americans who checked the box "Some Other Race", 97 percent were Hispanic. These Hispanics make up 26,225,882 people or 42.2% of the Hispanic population.
Over half of the "two or more races" respondents were Hispanics. These Hispanics make up 20,299,960 people or 32.7% of the Hispanic population.
The largest numbers of Black Hispanics are from the Spanish Caribbean islands and Central America, including the Cuban, Haitian, Honduran, Panamanian, Dominican, and Puerto Rican communities.
In Puerto Rico, people have some Indigenous ancestry as well as European and Canary Islander ancestry. There's also a population of predominantly African descent as well as populations of Indigenous descent as well as those with intermixed ancestries. Cubans are mostly of Iberian and Canary Islander ancestry, with some heritage from Indigenous Caribbeans. There are also populations of Black African ancestry and multi-racial people. The race and culture of each Hispanic country and their United States diaspora differs by history and geography.
Welch and Sigelman found, as of the year 2000, lower interaction between Latinos of different nationalities (such as between Cubans and Mexicans) than between Latinos and non-Latinos. This is a reminder that while they are often treated as such, Latinos in the United States are not a monolith, and often view their own ethnic or national identity as vastly different from that of other Latinos.
Genetics
An automosal DNA study published in 2019, focusing specifically on Native American ancestry in different ethnic/racial groups within the US, found that self-identified Hispanic Americans had a higher average amount of Native American ancestry compared to Black and non-Hispanic White Americans. On average, Hispanic Americans were found to be 65% European, around 18% Native American, and less than 10% African. However, these results, being an average of the entire Hispanic population, vary sharply between individuals and between regions. Hispanic participants from the West Coast and West South Central regions, where the Hispanic population is predominantly Mexican-American, had an average of 43% Native American ancestry. On the other hand, those from the Mid-Atlantic region, where the Hispanic population is predominantly of Puerto Rican or Dominican descent, averaged only 11% Native American ancestry.
Age
As of 2014, one third, or 17.9 million, of the Hispanic population was younger than 18 and a quarter, 14.6 million, were Millennials. This makes them more than half of the Hispanic population within the United States.
Education
Hispanic K–12 education
With the increasing Hispanic population in the United States, Hispanics have had a considerable impact on the K–12 system. In 2011–12, Hispanics constituted 24% of all enrollments in the United States, including 52% and 51% of enrollment in California and Texas, respectively. Further research shows the Hispanic population will continue to grow in the United States, implicating that more Hispanics will populate US schools.
The state of Hispanic education shows some promise. First, Hispanic students attending pre-K or kindergarten were more likely to attend full-day programs. Second, Hispanics in elementary education were the second largest group represented in gifted and talented programs. Third, Hispanics' average NAEP math and reading scores have consistently increased over the last 10 years. Finally, Hispanics were more likely than other groups, including White people, to go to college.
However, their academic achievement in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education lag behind other groups. For instance, their average math and reading NAEP scores were lower than every other group, except African Americans, and have the highest dropout rate of any group, 13% despite decreasing from 24%.
