HISPANICS IN THE U.S.:
PERCENT DISTRIBUTION BY NATIONALITY
According to the 2000 Census, in the United States as a whole, persons who identify themselves as Mexicans, or of Mexican ancestry, represent the majority of Latinos (58.5%). Mexicans have historically concentrated in the Southwestern states, such as California, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. These territories belonged to Spain and later to Mexico until 1848. However, since the 1940s Mexicans started to relocate in increasing numbers away from the Southwest, and immigrants from Mexico also came to work and live in other regions of the U.S.--such as the Midwest and the Northeast.

People who identify themselves as Mexicans in the Census often prefer other names or labels they feel describe them better. Some of those labels are Chicano, Mexican-American, Mexicano, and Hispano. The reasons for preferring a particular label have to do with the place to which they trace their origin in Mexico or a state in the US, whether they are first, second, third or a later generation, their particular political views, and a combination of those reasons plus specific personal experiences.

The second largest category in the pie chart represents the percentage of persons who could not find their nationality label in the options offered by the Census questionnaire, or who felt they could not identify with one national origin because they are of mixed background. As Latinos are intermarrying with other Latinos (but of different national origin) and people from other races and continents, they find it increasingly difficult to identify with a single national ancestry. There are also Hispanics who think of themselves as just plain or unhyphenated Americans.

 
Home   |   Demographics  |   Neighborhoods  | In the Classroom