-
A record 70.1 million people in the U.S. now identify as Hispanic, yet only about a quarter of them say a pan-ethnic word is what they use most — most reach for their family's home country instead.
- When forced to pick one umbrella term, "Hispanic" beats "Latino" nationally by nearly two to one, but South Americans are the one origin group that flips the other way.
-
Hispanic self-identification isn't fixed: it's nearly universal among immigrants and drops to a coin flip by the fourth U.S.-born generation.
A record share of the U.S. population now falls under the "Hispanic" umbrella — and most of them don't reach for that word to describe themselves. New research released by the Pew Research Center on Sept. 15, the opening day of Hispanic Heritage Month, found that a majority default to a country name — Mexican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican — over any collective label at all.
