This community constitutes the largest minority group in the United States. As of 2008, they accounted for 15 percent of the population, around 45 million people. With a growth rate of 102 percent from 1990 to 2006, the Hispanic market has the highest growth rate of any other ethnic group in the United States.

The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is of 102.6 million people. According to this projection, it will constitute 24 percent of the nation’s total population on that date.

Of the nation's total Hispanic population, 49 percent lives in California or Texas. Not counting Puerto Rico — which is a territorial possession of the United States — New Mexico is the state with the highest concentration of Latinos, where 43 percent is of ethnic origin. The concentration in the states of California and Texas exceeds 35 percent each. The ethnic population of Los Angeles County, California - numbering over 4.6 million - is the largest of any county in the nation.

Some 64 percent of the nation's Hispanic population is of Mexican or Mexican-American ancestry.  Another approximately 10 percent are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3 percent each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder is of other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins.

The population in the Northeastern United States, concentrated in New York and New Jersey, is composed mostly of Puerto Ricans; however, the Dominican population has risen considerably in the last decade, especially in proportion to that region's Latino population.

The remainder of other groups, composed of various Central American and South American origins, may be found throughout the country, though South Americans tend to concentrate on the East Coast of the United States (joining Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans) and Central Americans on the West Coast of the United States (joining Mexicans/Mexican Americans). There are few immigrants from Spain. They do not usually identify themselves with the term Hispanic as used in the United States.

Hispanic Households

While about 81 percent of Hispanics in live in family households, 69 percent of non-Hispanics live in family households. Of Hispanic family households, over half (56%) had four or more people, while less than one-third of non-Hispanic white households (32%) had four or more people.

According to U.S. Census, Hispanics are less likely to be married than non-Hispanic whites. About three fourths of non-Hispanic whites have ever been married compared with 67 percent of Hispanics.

About one-third of Hispanic households is headed by a single parent, compared to 18 percent for non-Hispanic whites. Of Hispanic groups, Puerto Rican households are most likely to be single-parent homes (46%) while Cuban households are least likely (23%).