Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican heritage. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States; they make up 53% of the total population of foreign-born Hispanic Americans and 25% of the total foreign-born population. Chicano is a term used by some to describe the unique identity held by Mexican-Americans. The United States is home to the second-largest Mexican community in the world, behind only Mexico. Most Mexican Americans reside in the Southwest, with over 60% of Mexican Americans living in the states of California and Texas.
Symbols of the Southwest: a string of chili peppers (a ristra) and a bleached white cow's skull hang in a market near Santa Fe.
Mural in Chicano Park, San Diego, stating "All the way to the Bay"
The Henry B. González Convention Center and Lila Cockrell Theater along the San Antonio River Walk. The Tower of the Americas is visible in the background.
An example of a Chicano-themed mural in the Richard Riordan Central Library
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. These demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino regardless of ancestry. As of 2020, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 65.3 million Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States and its territories.
The Spanish Harlem Orchestra in Manhattan. New York City is home to nearly 3 million Latino Americans, the largest Hispanic population of any city outside Latin America and Spain. Hispanic and Latino immigrants to New York originate from a broad spectrum of Latin American countries.
Storefronts at Lexington Avenue and 116th Street at East Harlem, Manhattan, also known as Spanish Harlem or "El Barrio"
The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Little Spain on 14th Street in Manhattan, an important nucleus for many decades for the Spanish community in New York City
Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine, Florida. Built in 1672 by the Spanish, it is the oldest masonry fort in the United States.