Herencia Latina / Hispanic Heritage

One of the topics we are discussing during these first months of the school year is National Hispanic American Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated between September 15th and October 15th every year to honor the cultures and contributions of US citizens who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries. There are nearly 59 million Hispanic people in the US, about 18% of the population. We'll discuss some well-known Hispanic Americans and others who are not as well-known, but are part of our local community.

Facts

Here are the 10 states with the highest Hispanic populations:

1. New Mexico - 49.20%

2. Texas - 39.44%

3. California - 39.09%

4. Arizona - 31.51%

5. Nevada - 28.90%

6. Florida - 25.78%

7. Colorado - 21.66%

8. New Jersey - 20.43%

9. New York - 19.07%

10. Illinois - 17.23%

The Office of Management and Budget describes Hispanic or Latino ethnicity as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."

Hispanic people are the largest minority in the United States. Only Mexico has a larger Hispanic population than the United States.

READ MORE: Hispanics show increasing cultural, economic and social diversity

In 2015, the Census Bureau projected that in 2060, Hispanic people will comprise 28.6% of the total population, with 119 million Hispanic individuals residing in the United States.

In 2016, Hispanics made up 11% of the electorate, up from 10% in 2012.

There are an estimated 59.8 million Hispanic people in the United States, comprising 18.3% of the population.

There are more than one million Hispanic residents in ten US states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Texas.

An estimated 41 million US residents, or 13.5% of the population, speak Spanish at home.

An estimated 23.1 million Spanish speakers also speak English "very well," according to the 2018 Census survey. An additional 6.8 million reported they speak English "well."

READ MORE: Hispanics spell out why labels don't fit

Of the 59,763,631 Hispanic people in the United States, the following is a breakdown of how they define their race:

White alone: 39,139,081

Some other race alone: 15,427,678

Two or more races: 2,975,863

Black alone: 1,311,894

American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 621,321

Asian alone: 221,685

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 66,109

62.57 million (2020)

CNN Editorial Research