Walk into any doctor's office in the U.S. and you’ll hit that same confusing wall on the intake form. You check "White" or "Black" or "Asian," and then there's that separate, nagging little box: Is Latino an ethnicity? Usually, it's phrased as "Hispanic or Latino origin," and it sits there like a weird outlier. It's not a race, they tell us. But for millions of people living the experience, that distinction feels like a bureaucratic glitch. Honestly, the answer is a resounding yes—Latino is an ethnicity—but the "why" behind it is a messy, fascinating blend of colonial history, US Census politics, and shifting identities.
Most people use "race" and "ethnicity" like they’re the same thing. They aren't. Race is usually associated with physical traits and ancestry, while ethnicity is about shared culture, language, and geography.
The Census Reality: Is Latino an Ethnicity or a Race?
According to the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Latino is strictly an ethnicity. This isn't just a random choice; it’s a policy that dates back decades. In the eyes of the government, you can be a White Latino, a Black Latino, or an Indigenous Latino. You might even be an Asian Latino—think of the significant Japanese population in Brazil or Chinese communities in Cuba.
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The 2020 Census data showed us something wild. For the first time, a massive chunk of the population basically rebelled against these categories. About 42% of those who identified as Hispanic or Latino marked "Some Other Race" or skipped the race question entirely. They don't see themselves in the boxes provided. To them, being Latino is their primary identity. It's not an "add-on" to being White or Black.
We’re seeing a shift. People are tired of the boxes.
The term "Latino" basically refers to people from Latin America. That's it. It’s a geographic designation. "Hispanic," on the other hand, is about language—specifically, coming from a Spanish-speaking country. This is why Brazilians are Latino (they’re in Latin America) but not Hispanic (they speak Portuguese). It's also why people from Spain are Hispanic but not Latino. It’s a nuance that trips up almost everyone, including the people filling out the forms.
Why the confusion persists
Think about the "Mestizo" identity. In many Latin American countries, the mixing of Spanish colonizers and Indigenous peoples created a new social fabric. When those individuals move to the States, the U.S. racial binary—which is very much built on a Black/White divide—doesn't know what to do with them. If you’re a person from Mexico with brown skin and a mix of Spanish and Aztec ancestry, checking "White" feels wrong. Checking "Native American" often feels culturally inaccurate if you aren't enrolled in a tribe.
So, you’re left in limbo.
Dr. Clara Rodriguez, a professor of sociology at Fordham University, has written extensively about this. She notes that for many Latinos, "Latino" functions as a racial identity even if the government insists it's an ethnicity. It’s a "social race." If the world treats you a certain way based on how you look and speak, that's your functional race in society.
The 2026 Shift in Data Collection
Change is actually happening right now. The U.S. government recently updated its standards (Initial Proposals from the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group) to combine the race and ethnicity questions into one single "check all that apply" box.
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This is huge.
It means the government is finally admitting that for a huge portion of the 63 million Latinos in the U.S., the distinction between race and ethnicity is a distinction without a difference. By 2030, the "Is Latino an ethnicity?" question might be a relic of the past because it will simply be another category alongside White, Black, and Asian.
Diversity Within the Label
We gotta talk about the "monolith" myth. People hear "Latino" and think of one specific look or one specific culture. That's just wrong.
A Latino person from Argentina might have 100% Italian ancestry and look indistinguishable from someone in Rome. A Latino person from the Dominican Republic might have deep Afro-Caribbean roots. A person from Guatemala might speak Kʼicheʼ as their first language and Spanish as a second.
- Afro-Latinos: Roughly 6 million adults in the U.S. identify as Afro-Latino. Their experience is a unique intersection of Blackness and Latinidad.
- Indigenous Latinos: There are millions of people from Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia who identify more strongly with their Indigenous roots (like Mixtec or Quechua) than with a broad "Latino" label.
- White Latinos: Many people from the "Southern Cone" (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay) identify as White and are often classified that way in data, though they still share the ethnic bond of Latin American culture.
It’s a massive umbrella. Honestly, it’s probably too big. Trying to fit a billionaire from Mexico City and a seasonal farmworker from rural El Salvador into the same "ethnicity" box is a stretch, but that's the system we've built.
The Power of Language
Spanish is the thread that holds much of this together, but even that is changing. We’re seeing the rise of "heritage speakers"—people who understand Spanish but mostly speak English. Then there’s the whole "Latinx" vs. "Latine" vs. "Latino" debate.
While "Latinx" gained traction in academic and activist circles, Pew Research found that only about 4% of Hispanic adults actually use it. Most prefer "Hispanic" or "Latino," or better yet, their specific country of origin like "Cuban" or "Colombian." The terminology is always in flux because the people are always in flux.
What This Means for You
If you’re filling out a form or trying to understand your neighbors, don't get hung up on the "official" definitions.
Ethnicity is about the heart. It’s about the food you eat, the music your parents played on Saturday mornings while cleaning the house, and the shared history of a region that was colonized, shaped by revolution, and defined by resilience.
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Is Latino an ethnicity? Yes. But it’s also a shorthand for a incredibly complex web of identities that a single checkbox will never fully capture.
Understanding this matters for healthcare, for voting rights, and for basic human connection. When we misclassify people, we miss their needs. For example, health studies often group all "Hispanics" together, ignoring that Puerto Ricans have much higher asthma rates than Mexicans. When we treat an ethnicity as a monolith, we lose the data that saves lives.
How to approach the identity today
If you're trying to be more accurate in your own life or work, here’s how to handle it.
First, acknowledge that Latino is a self-identified category. You can't really tell someone's ethnicity just by looking at them. Second, understand that for many, it's a "both/and" situation. Someone can be ethnically Latino and racially Black. It's not a contradiction.
Lastly, pay attention to the specific culture. A "Latino" festival in Miami is going to feel very different from one in Los Angeles. One is powered by yuca and salsa; the other by corn and banda music.
The U.S. is becoming more "Latino" every day. By 2050, it's projected that 1 in 4 Americans will be of Hispanic or Latino origin. We might as well get the definitions right now.
Actionable Steps for Navigating Latino Identity:
- Use specific descriptors: When possible, use the country of origin (e.g., Dominican-American) rather than the broad "Latino" label. It shows a higher level of cultural competency and accuracy.
- Respect self-identification: If someone identifies as White or Black and Latino, don't correct them based on your perception. Ethnicity and race are personal and often dictated by family history.
- Update your data sets: If you're in business or research, move toward the 2026 "combined" question format. Allow people to select multiple identities rather than forcing them to choose between "Race" and "Ethnicity."
- Ditch the monolith mindset: Avoid assuming all Latinos speak Spanish or share the same political views. The "Latino vote," for instance, varies wildly between Florida (often more conservative) and California (often more liberal).
- Educate on the nuances: Share the difference between Hispanic (language-based) and Latino (geography-based) to clear up common misconceptions in your workplace or school.