The Hispanic population in North Texas

FORT WORTH, TX. (CBSDFW.COM) — Before heading straight into the numbers, it is important to understand who is Hispanic. According to the Pew Research Center, the simplest way to answer this is anyone who says they are and anyone who says that they aren't.

The way that the Census Bureau collects data on Hispanics is reliant on self-reporting and has no clear definition of who is a Hispanic, even in their own terms. In 1976, U.S. congress passed the only law of its kind, that mandated the collection and analysis of data for a specific ethnic group. This ethnic group was described as "Americans of Spanish origin or descent." According to the joint resolution's language, this measure was created due to the number of "Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries." 

The current approach of asking if someone is Hispanic was adapted by 1980. Since then, minor changes to the question and adding varying categories have emerged. In 2020, the decennial census form asked the question "Is this person of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?" 

The options for responses included the following:

• No, not of Hispanic Latino, or Spanish origin
• Yes, Mexican, Mexican am., Chicano
• Yes, Puerto Rican
• Yes, Cuban
• Yes, another Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin

Over the last decade, the Hispanic population has played a major role in driving up the population for the United States as a whole. Hispanics accounted for 51% of the 22.7 million people increase from 2010 to 2020. 

The Hispanic population comprises 18.9% of the population of the United States, about 62.6 million people. According to the 2021 population estimates from the United States Census Bureau, this makes people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest racial or ethnic minority. 

To break it down, the southern region of the U.S. is home to 21.8% of the Hispanic population. Texas is one of 13 states with a population of one million or more Hispanic residents. Additionally, the number of counties in Texas where the Hispanic population is the largest increased from 64 counties to 72 counties in the span of 10 years. 

Within North Texas specifically, this is the percentage of the Hispanic population in each county:

Check out this interactive map from the U.S. Census Bureau for more data on the Hispanic population in your area:

Read more about the 2020 Census here: Latinos and Blacks undercounted in 2020 Census