List of U.S. states by Hispanic and Latino population
As of 2012, Hispanics and Latinos make up about 17% of the total U.S. population. The state with the largest percentage of Hispanics and Latinos is New Mexico at 47%. The state with the largest Hispanic and Latino population overall is California with over 14 million Hispanics and Latinos.Cities and neighborhoods:
Hispanic and Latino Americans
The difference between the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" is confusing to some. The U.S. Census Bureau equates the two terms and defines them as referring to anyone from Spain and 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, 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. The term "Latino" has developed a number of definitions. One definition of Latino is "a Latin male in the United States". This is the oldest and the original definition used in the United States, first used in 1946. This definition encompasses Spanish speakers from both Europe and the Americas. Under this definition, immigrants from Spain and immigrants from Latin America are both Latino. This definition is consistent with the 21st-century usage by the U.S. Census Bureau and OMB, as the two agencies use both terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably.