The term Hispanic or Latino, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race
There are 1.2 million Hispanics serving in the U.S. armed forces
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States
Dr. Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman astronaut to go into space
Mario Molina won a Nobel Prize for his crucial work in understanding how the ozone layer is formed and depleted
In 1990, Oscar Hijuelos was the first Hispanic writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.”
José Ferrer was the first Hispanic to win an Oscar for Best Oscar in 1950 for the film Cyrano de Bergerac.
Carlos Juan Finlay solved the mystery of what caused yellow fever in 1881.
Tom Flores was the first Hispanic Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Carlos Santana was the first Hispanic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1998.
Latinos make up 54% of Florida’s immigrant eligible voters, far higher than the shares of white, black and Asian immigrant voters in the state (17%, 16% and 10% respectively).
Texas rivals Florida in its share of Hispanic immigrant voters. Roughly half (52%) of all immigrant eligible voters in Texas are Hispanic, a share that trails only Florida (54%) among the top states.
The foreign-born share among Latinos varies by origin group. Fewer than one-third (31%) of Mexican-origin Latinos are foreign born. That’s far lower than among the other major groups – Colombian (61%), Guatemalan (60%), Salvadoran (57%), Cuban (56% foreign born) and Dominican (54%). (People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens at birth.)
More than half of Latinos in the U.S. live in just three states. About 26% live in California, followed by Texas (19%) and Florida (9%). Meanwhile, New Mexico is where Latinos are the highest share of a state’s population (49%). It is followed by Texas and California, where 39% of their respective populations are Latino.
