Hispanic and Latino Americans
            ; |
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| Total population |
|---|
| Hispanic or Latino Americans 50,477,594 16.3% of the U.S. population (2010) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| All areas of the United States |
| Languages |
| Predominantly American English · Spanish |
| Religion |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic; large minority of Protestants |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Latin Americans, Spaniards, Belizean Americans, Brazilian Americans, Latin Europeans and others |
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Reflecting especially the Latin American population, which has origins in all the continents and many ancestries, Hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race. The choice of name is associated with location: Hispanic and Latino Americans who reside in the eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the west usually prefer Latino.
Hispanics or Latinos constitute 16.3% of the total United States population, or 50.5 million people, forming the second largest ethnic group, after non-Hispanic White Americans (a group composed of dozens of sub-groups, as is Hispanic and Latino Americans). Hispanic and Latino Americans are the largest of all the minority groups, but Black Americans are the largest minority among the races, after White Americans in general (non-Hispanic and Hispanic). Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Colombian Americans, Dominican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Spanish Americans, and Salvadoran Americans are some of the Hispanic and Latino American national origin groups.
There have been people of Hispanic or Latino heritage in the territory of the present-day United States continuously since the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida, by the Spanish, the longest among European American ethnic groups and second-longest of all U.S. ethnic groups, after Native Americans. Hispanics have also lived continuously in the Southwest since near the end of the 16th century, with settlements in New Mexico that began in 1598, and which were transferred to the area of El Paso, Texas, in 1680. Spanish settlement of New Mexico resumed in 1692, and new ones were established in Arizona and California in the 18th century. The Hispanic presence can even be said to date from half a century earlier than St. Augustine, if San Juan, Puerto Rico is considered to be the oldest Spanish settlement, and the oldest city, in the U.S.
Terminology
History
Demographics
Race
Population by state or territory
Notables and their contributions
Hispanic and Latino Americans have made distinguished contributions to the United States in all major fields, such as politics, the military, music, literature, philosophy, sports, business and economy, and science.
Business
Government and politics
Literature and journalism
Military and intelligence
Medal of Honor
National intelligence
Performing arts
In 1995, the American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award was created. It's a distinction given to Latino performers (actors, film and television directors, and musicians) by the National Council of La Raza.
Music
Film, radio, stage, and television
Fashion
Science and technology
Sports
Socioeconomic circumstances
Education
The high school graduation rate is highest among Cuban Americans (68.7 percent) and lowest among Mexican Americans (48.7 percent). The Puerto Rican rate is 63.2 percent, Central and South American Americans' is 60.4 percent, and the Dominican American is 51.7 percent.
According to the 2000 census, Cuban Americans and Central and South Americans had the highest college graduation rates, with 19.4 percent of Cuban Americans and 16 percent of Central and South Americans 25 years and older possessing a 4-year college degree. On the other hand, only 6.2 percent of Mexican Americans, 9.9 of Puerto Ricans and 10.9 of Dominican Americans had achieved a 4-year degree. Over 21% of all second-generation Dominican Americans have college degrees, slightly below the national average (24%) but significantly higher than U.S.-born Mexican Americans (13%) and U.S.-born Puerto Rican Americans (12%). In comparison non-Hispanic Asian Americans (43.3 percent) and non-Hispanic White Americans (26.1 percent) had higher rates than any Hispanic American group. Non-Hispanic Black Americans (14.4 percent) had a lower graduation rate than Cuban Americans and Central and South Americans, but had a higher rate than Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominican Americans.
Cuban Americans have the highest attainment of graduate degrees among all Hispanic or Latino groups, with 6.7 percent. The Central and South American ratio is 4.2 percent. Both are lower than those of non-Hispanic Asian Americans (15.6 percent) and non-Hispanic White Americans (8.7 percent). Non-Hispanic Black Americans (4.1 percent) have a lower percentage of graduate-level degrees than most Hispanic or Latino groups. Of Hispanics and Latinos 25 years and older, only 3.1 percent of Puerto Ricans, 1.8 percent of Dominican Americans and 1.4 percent of Mexican Americans have attained a graduate-level degree.
Health
Hispanic and Latino Americans are the longest-living Americans, according to official data. Their life expectancy is more than two years longer than for non-Hispanic whites and almost eight years longer than for African Americans.
Workforce and average income
Poverty
According to the ACS, among Hispanic groups the poverty rate is highest among Dominican Americans (28.1 percent), Honduran Americans and Puerto Ricans (23.7 percent both), and Mexican Americans (23.6 percent). It is lowest among South Americans, such as Colombian Americans (10.6 percent) and Peruvian Americans (13.6 percent), and relatively low poverty rates are also found among Salvadoran Americans (15.0 percent) and Cuban Americans (15.2 percent). In comparison, the average poverty rates for non-Hispanic White Americans (8.8 percent) and Asian Americans (7.1 percent) were lower than those of any Hispanic group. African Americans (21.3 percent) have a higher poverty rate than most Hispanic or Latino groups.
Hispanophobia
Political trends
2008 election
In the 2008 Presidential election's Democratic primary Hispanics and Latinos participated in larger numbers than before, with Hillary Clinton receiving most of the group's support. Pundits discussed whether a large percentage of Hispanics and Latinos would vote for an African American candidate, in this case Barack Obama, Clinton's opponent. Hispanics/Latinos voted 2 to 1 for Mrs. Clinton, even among the younger demographic, which in the case of other groups was an Obama stronghold. Among Hispanics, 28% said race was involved in their decision, as opposed to 13% for (non-Hispanic) whites.
Obama defeated Clinton. In the matchup between Obama and Republican candidate John McCain for the presidency, Hispanics and Latinos supported Obama with 59% to McCain's 29% in the Gallup tracking poll as of June 30, 2008. This surprised some analysts, since a higher than expected percentage of Latinos and Hispanics favored Obama over McCain, who had been a leader of the comprehensive immigration reform effort. However, McCain had retracted during the Republican primary, stating that he would not support the bill if it came up again. Some analysts believed that this move hurt his chances among Hispanics and Latinos. Obama took advantage of the situation by running ads aimed at the ethnic group, in Spanish, in which he mentioned McCain's about-face.
In the general election, 67% of Hispanics and Latinos voted for Obama and 31% voted for McCain, with a relatively stronger turnout than in previous elections in states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Virginia helping Obama carry those formerly Republican states. Obama won 70% of non-Cuban Hispanics and 35% of the traditionally Republican Cuban Americans that have a strong presence in Florida, while the changing state demographics towards a more non-Cuban Hispanic community also contributed to his carrying Florida's Latinos with 57% of the vote. Hispanics and Latinos also supplanted Republican gains in traditional red states, for example Obama carried 63% of Texas Latinos, despite that the overall state voted for McCain by 55%.
Some political organizations associated with Hispanic and Latino Americans are LULAC, the NCLR, the United Farm Workers, the Cuban American National Foundation, and the National Institute for Latino Policy.
Culture
Language
Religion
The most methodologically rigorous study of Hispanic or Latino religious affiliation to date was the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life (HCAPL) National Survey, conducted between August and October 2000. This survey found that 70% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans are Catholic, 20% are Protestant, 3% are "alternative Christians" (such as Mormon or Jehovah's Witnesses), 1% identify with a non-Christian religion, and 6% have no religious preference (with only .37% claiming to be atheist or agnostic). This suggests that Hispanics/Latinos are not only a highly religious, but also a highly Christian constituency. It also suggests that Hispanic/Latino Protestants are a more sizable minority than sometimes realized. Catholic affiliation is much higher among first-generation than second- or third-generation Hispanic or Latino immigrants, who exhibit a fairly high rate of defection to Protestantism. Also Hispanics and Latinos in the Bible Belt, which is mostly located in the South, are more likely to defect to Protestantism than those in other regions. Hispanic and Latino Americans' membership in the Catholic Church continues to grow in absolute numbers, due to the group's high birth and immigration rates. Hispanic or Latino Catholics are also increasingly working to enhance member retention through youth and social programs and through the spread of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Media
The United States is home to thousands of Spanish language media outlets, which range in size from giant commercial and some non-commercial broadcasting networks and major magazines with circulations numbering in the millions, to low-power AM radio stations with listeners numbering in the hundreds. There are hundreds of Internet media outlets targeting U.S. Hispanic consumers. Some of the outlets are online versions of their printed counterparts and some online exclusively.
Among the most noteworthy Hispanic/Latino-oriented media outlets are:
Intermarriage
Hispanic Americans, like immigrant groups before them, are out-marrying at very high rates comprising 17.4% of all existing Hispanic marriages. The rate is higher for newlyweds (which excludes already married immigrants): Among all newlyweds in 2008, 26% of all Hispanics married a non-Hispanic (this compares to out-marriage rates of 9% for non-Hispanic Whites, 16% for non-Hispanic Blacks, and 31% for non-Hispanic Asians). The rate was even more profound for native-born Hispanics with 41.3% of Native-Born Hispanic men out-marrying (compared to 11.3% of Foreign-Born Hispanic men) and 37.4% of Native-Born Hispanic women out-marrying (compared to 12.2% of Foreign-Born Hispanic women). The difference is attributed to the fact that recent immigrants tend to marry within their immediate immigrant community due to commonality of language, proximity, familial connections, and familiarity(see Interracial marriage in the United States for further discussion).
81% of Hispanics who intermarried married non-Hispanic Whites, 9% married non-Hispanic Blacks, 5% non-Hispanic Asians, and the remainder married non-Hispanic, multi-racial partners.
Attitudes amongst non-Hispanics toward intermarriage with Hispanics are mostly favorable with 81% of Whites, 76% of Asians, and 73% of Blacks "being fine" with a member of their family marrying a Hispanic and an additional 13% of Whites, 19% of Asians, and 16% of Blacks "being bothered but accepting of the marriage." Only 2% of Whites, 4% of Asians, and 5% of Blacks would not accept a marriage of their family member to a Hispanic.
Hispanic attitudes toward intermarriage with non-Hispanics are likewise favorable with 71% "being fine" with marriages to Whites and 81% "being fine" with marriages to Blacks. A further 22% admitted to "being bothered but accepting" of a marriage of a family member to a White and 16% admitted to "being bothered but accepting" of a marriage of a family member to a Black. Only 4% of Hispanics objected outright marriage of a family member to an White and 3% to a Black.
See also
Footnotes
Further reading
External links
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