Latinos are among the fastest-growing racial or ethnic groups in the United States. Between 2000 and 2024, the Latino population nearly doubled, rising from 35.3 million to 68 million. Latinos accounted for more than half of all U.S. population growth during that period.
Today, Latinos are the country’s second-largest racial or ethnic group, making up one-in-five Americans. They are also strikingly diverse, relatively young, mostly U.S. born and increasingly dispersed across the country.
Here are some key facts about today’s U.S. Latino population (click on each to learn more):
- Latinos have played a major role in U.S. population growth.
- The sources of Hispanic population growth have changed in recent years.
- Latinos are younger than other racial and ethnic groups.
- Immigrants have declined as a share of the U.S. Hispanic population since 2000.
- Most Latinos are U.S. citizens.
- U.S. Latinos trace their roots to many countries.
- Puerto Rico’s population continues to decline.
- California and Texas have the nation’s largest Hispanic populations.
- Hispanic populations in U.S. metropolitan areas vary widely.
- The religious affiliation of U.S. Latinos is changing.
- The share of U.S. Hispanics who speak English proficiently is growing.
- The share of U.S. Hispanics with college experience is rising.
Latinos have played a major role in U.S. population growth
The U.S. Hispanic population reached 68 million in 2024, almost doubling in size since 2000. Hispanics made up 20% of people in the U.S. in 2024, up from 13% in 2000 and just 5% in 1970.
The arrival of large numbers of immigrants from Latin America in 2023 and 2024 led to Hispanic population increases of almost 2 million annually, the largest yearly increases on record.
Hispanics have played a major role in overall U.S. population growth since 2000. The nation’s population grew by 58.7 million people from 2000 to 2024, and Hispanics accounted for 56% of this increase – a greater share than any other racial or ethnic group.
The next-closest groups were non-Hispanic people who identify as Asian and those who identify with two or more races. Their respective populations grew by 10.9 million during this time, each accounting for 19% of the overall increase.
The sources of Hispanic population growth have changed in recent years
Immigration was the principal driver of Hispanic population growth during the 1980s and ’90s, though Hispanic births also made a significant contribution.
This changed dramatically after 2000. Births became the main source of Hispanic population growth, especially as immigration declined after the Great Recession in 2008 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
More recently, immigration has again played a leading role in Latino population growth. From 2021 to 2024, both legal and illegal immigration rose sharply, with more than a million immigrants from Latin America arriving annually.
In 2025, the pattern is expected to revert to 2000-2021 trends as a result of recent immigration policy changes by the Trump administration. Preliminary data suggests that births will likely exceed the number of newly arriving immigrants.
Hispanic births aren’t just a major driver of Hispanic population growth. They’re also a major driver of overall U.S. population growth. In 2024, 32% of infants born in the U.S. had a Hispanic mother or father, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data – significantly larger than the share of Americans who are Hispanic (20%).
Latinos are younger than other racial and ethnic groups
In 2024, the median age among Hispanics in the U.S. was 31.2. By comparison, the median age was 36.2 among Black Americans, 39.0 among Asian Americans and 43.2 among White Americans.
Expressed another way, Hispanics account for a larger share of the U.S. population in younger age groups and a smaller share of the population in older age groups.
Among Hispanics, those born in the U.S. are younger than immigrants. In 2023, the median age of U.S.-born Hispanics was 21.4, while it was 43.6 among immigrant Hispanics.
Immigrants have declined as a share of the U.S. Hispanic population since 2000
A record 22.7 million Hispanics were immigrants in 2024, up from 14.1 million in 2000. But as a percentage of the nation’s Hispanic population, their share has declined in recent decades.
In 2000, 40% of Hispanics were immigrants. That percentage fell to 32% in 2021 before ticking up to 33% in 2024.
Most Latinos are U.S. citizens
In 2024, 79% of all U.S. Latinos were U.S. citizens, up from 71% in 2000. Two-thirds (67%) are U.S. citizens by birth, including people born in the U.S. and its territories (e.g., Puerto Rico) plus people born abroad to American parents. About 13% of Latinos are immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens.
When it comes to Hispanic immigrants, Pew Research Center estimates that 59% are lawful immigrants while 41% are unauthorized immigrants, based on data from 2023. This is larger than the share of all U.S. immigrants who are unauthorized (27%).
Looked at another way, Latino unauthorized immigrants represented 14% of all U.S. Latinos in 2023. This is larger than unauthorized immigrants’ share (4%) of the U.S. population.
Related: What the data says about immigrants in the U.S.
U.S. Latinos trace their roots to many countries
Hispanics have family roots in the countries of Latin America and Spain. But while Hispanics come from many countries, a few groups made up most of the population in 2024:
- Mexicans are the largest single group. The roughly 40 million people of Mexican origin in the U.S. represented 57% of the nation’s Hispanic population in 2024.
- At 6.1 million, people of Puerto Rican origin are the next largest group in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. An additional 3.2 million Hispanics lived in Puerto Rico last year.
- Eight other Hispanic origin groups have 1 million or more people: Cubans, Salvadorans, Dominicans, Guatemalans, Colombians, Hondurans, Venezuelans and Ecuadorians.
- Spaniards accounted for nearly 1 million U.S. Hispanics.
Other Latino origin groups are smaller but have also seen fast growth since 2019:
- Venezuelans are the fastest-growing Hispanic origin group, more than doubling in number between 2019 and 2024.
- The number of Ecuadorians increased by 48%, the second-fastest growth rate.
- Chileans (+47%), Colombians (+43%) and Nicaraguans (+41%) all grew rapidly as well.
By contrast, the number of people of Mexican or Puerto Rican origin grew much more slowly during the same period (+5% for each group).
Puerto Rico’s population continues to decline
Puerto Rico’s population has declined by 500,000 people since 2010, from 3.7 million to 3.2 million. This decline has been driven by migration to the U.S. mainland and low fertility rates, as well as the devastation caused by hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017.
California and Texas have the nation’s largest Hispanic populations
In 2024, 16.1 million Hispanics lived in California, more than in any other state. And 12.6 million lived in Texas, the second-largest Hispanic population by state.
Latinos are also the largest racial or ethnic group in both states.
- California reached this demographic milestone in 2014. By 2024, Latinos accounted for 41% of the population.
- In Texas, Latinos became the largest racial or ethnic group in 2021 and now make up 40% of the population.
Rounding out the top five states with the largest Hispanic populations are Florida (6.7 million), New York (4.0 million) and Illinois (2.5 million).
These five states together were home to 62% of the nation’s Latino population in 2024. But this figure is lower than in 2010, reflecting the increasingly disperse Latino population.
In New Mexico, Hispanics account for almost half of the population (49%). Hispanics have been the state’s largest racial or ethnic group since the early 2000s.
Hispanic populations in U.S. metropolitan areas vary widely
Hispanic populations in U.S. metropolitan areas differ widely in their origins. But in several places, Mexicans stand out. This is especially the case in the Western U.S. For example, 74% of Hispanics in the Los Angeles metro area and 85% of those in California’s Riverside metro area are of Mexican origin. People of Mexican origin also account for around three-quarters of the Latino population in the Chicago (75%) and Dallas metro areas (77%).
The Northeast has more diverse Hispanic populations. In the New York metro area, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic origin groups. In the Washington, D.C., metro area, about a third of Hispanics are of Salvadoran origin, the largest group in the area.
Some metro areas in the South also have diverse Hispanic populations. Notably, the Miami metro area has a sizable Cuban population, accounting for about 40% of the area’s total Latino population.
The religious affiliation of U.S. Latinos is changing
Catholics are the largest religious group among Latinos, though their share is declining. In 2024, 42% identified as Catholic, down from 67% in 2010.
Around a quarter of Latinos (27%) were religiously unaffiliated in 2024, describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” That was up from 10% in 2010.
Another 17% of Latinos identify as Evangelical Protestants. This share has been relatively stable since 2010.
The share of U.S. Hispanics who speak English proficiently is growing
In 2024, 71% of Latinos ages 5 and older – 44.8 million people – spoke English proficiently. That was up from 59% in 2000.
This growth has been driven by U.S.-born Latinos – that is, those born in the U.S. and its territories, including Puerto Rico, and those born abroad to American parents. Since 2000, the share of U.S.-born Latinos who speak English proficiently increased by 10 percentage points, compared with a 4-point increase among Latino immigrants. At the same time, the share of Latinos who speak Spanish at home declined from 78% in 2000 to 68% in 2024.
The share of U.S. Hispanics with college experience is rising
Growing shares of U.S. Latinos ages 25 and older have attended college and completed degrees. In 2024, 46% had at least some college experience, up from 36% in 2010. And 21% had a bachelor’s degree or more education, up from 13%.
Around a quarter of Hispanic women ages 25 and older (24%) had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2024, up from 14% in 2010. And 19% of Hispanic men had this level of education, up from 12%.
Note: This is an update of an analysis originally published on Sept. 16, 2014.
