Hispanic and Latino Americans

Hispanic and Latino Americans are <a href="/facts/Americans/srd9GJ5U">Americans</a> who have a <a href="/facts/Spaniards/dbRtgpzl">Spanish</a> or <a href="/facts/Latin_Americans/gLJthGb0">Latin American</a> background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as <a href="/facts/Hispanic/EY31pWn0">Hispanic</a> or <a href="/facts/Latino_(demonym)/IsfaT9p8">Latino</a>, regardless of <a href="/facts/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_census/TmVxjULy">race</a>. According to the <a href="/facts/United_States_Census_Bureau/heKtzoXX">U.S. Census Bureau</a>, an estimated 65,219,145 Hispanics and Latinos were living in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> in 2023, representing approximately 19.5% of the total <a href="/facts/Demographics_of_the_United_States/6u0gImvp">U.S. population</a> that year, making them the <a href="/facts/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States/z6SSUuvf">second-largest group</a> after the <a href="/facts/Non-Hispanic_whites/oBCzIsEn">non-Hispanic White</a> population.
"Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in 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 had their populations made up of multiracial and monoracial descendants of settlers from the <a href="/facts/Metropole/6Rnv86DV">metropole</a> of a European <a href="/facts/Colonial_empire/Ekq3f5mr">colonial empire</a> (in the case of Latin American countries, <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Spanish and Portuguese settlers</a>, unlike the <a href="/facts/Thirteen_Colonies/H50dauTJ">Thirteen Colonies</a> that will form the United States, which received settlers from the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a>), in addition to these, there are also monoracial and multiracial descendants of <a href="/facts/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas/LG2r6wXm">Indigenous peoples of the Americas</a> (Native Americans), <a href="/facts/African_diaspora/AlohHjs5">descendants of African slaves</a> brought to Latin America in the colonial era, and post-independence immigrants from <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>, the <a href="/facts/Middle_East/8CD6pLWv">Middle East</a>, and <a href="/facts/East_Asia/D8yGVCQX">East Asia</a>. As one of only two specifically designated categories of <a href="/facts/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_census/TmVxjULy">ethnicity in the United States</a>, Hispanics and Latinos form a <a href="/facts/Pan-ethnicity/1GnRDbs5">pan-ethnicity</a> incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages, the use of the <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a> and <a href="/facts/Portuguese_language/vr3Fwzw3">Portuguese</a> languages being the most important of all. The largest national origin groups of Hispanic and Latino Americans in order of population size are: <a href="/facts/Mexicans/eM52PHM4">Mexican</a>, <a href="/facts/Puerto_Ricans/zEvr37Sv">Puerto Rican</a>, <a href="/facts/Cubans/aNVlo3IR">Cuban</a>, <a href="/facts/Salvadorans/1o1fk3ap">Salvadoran</a>, <a href="/facts/People_of_the_Dominican_Republic/tlLnzktx">Dominican</a>, <a href="/facts/Brazilians/GenvRYa8">Brazilian</a>, <a href="/facts/Colombians/4wJoLuEC">Colombian</a>, <a href="/facts/Guatemalans/KdRvu1zS">Guatemalan</a>, <a href="/facts/Hondurans/4UdDByeH">Honduran</a>, <a href="/facts/Ecuadorians/QAroXgWz">Ecuadorian</a>, <a href="/facts/Peruvians/5GSQ1HVq">Peruvian</a>, <a href="/facts/Venezuelans/Iv7JlTqG">Venezuelan</a> and <a href="/facts/Nicaraguans/D6ygGyo7">Nicaraguan</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Asian_Americans/LEbUc3Gb">Asian Americans</a>.
Hispanic Americans of <a href="/facts/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas/LG2r6wXm">Indigenous American</a> descent and European (typically Spanish) descent are the second oldest racial group (after the <a href="/facts/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States/lr8Qmd6N">Native Americans</a>) to inhabit much of what is today the United States. Spain colonized large areas of what is today the <a href="/facts/Southwestern_United_States/LjLFs9fC">American Southwest</a> and <a href="/facts/West_Coast_of_the_United_States/I4cXGCq0">West Coast</a>, as well as Florida. Its holdings included all of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida, as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, all of which constituted part of the <a href="/facts/Viceroyalty_of_New_Spain/NYaDwcqK">Viceroyalty of New Spain</a>, based in <a href="/facts/Mexico_City/gEnGxDEd">Mexico City</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Mexican%25E2%2580%2593American_War/7ttRIwah">Mexican–American War</a> in 1848. Hispanic immigrants to the <a href="/facts/New_York_metropolitan_area/vGvjnvyK">New York</a>/<a href="/facts/Hispanics_and_Latinos_in_New_Jersey/JjYjyMH6">New Jersey metropolitan area</a> derive from a broad spectrum of Hispanic countries.

Hispanic and Latino Americans open-in-new

Hispanic and Latino Americans