Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of origins in Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, except in the state of New York, where only people of Latin American origin are included. The group encompasses distinct sub–groups by national origin and race, with ancestries from all continents represented. Hispanics and Latinos constitute 15.1% of the total United States population, or 45.4 million people, forming the second largest ethnic group (which includes Afro-Latin American Latinos of African descent), after non–Hispanic White Americans.

Hispanic and Latino Americans are the largest ethnic minority in the United States; African Americans, in turn, are the largest racial minority, after White Americans in general (non–Hispanic and Hispanic). Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Colombian Americans, Dominican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Spanish Americans, and Salvadoran Americans are some of the Hispanic and Latino American sub–groups. People of Hispanic or Latino heritage have lived continuously in the territory of the present–day United States since the 1565 founding of St.

Augustine, Florida by the Spanish, the longest among European American ethnic groups and second–longest of all U.S. ethnic groups, after American Indians. Hispanics have also lived continuously in the Southwest since near the end of the 16th century, with settlements in New Mexico that began in 1598, and which were transferred to the area of El Paso, Texas in 1680. Spanish settlement of New Mexico resumed in 1692, and new ones were established in Arizona and California in the 18th century.

The Hispanic presence can even be said to date from half a century earlier than St. Augustine, if San Juan, Puerto Rico is considered to be the oldest Spanish settlement, and the oldest city, in the U.S. For the U.S. government and others, Hispanic or Latino identity is voluntary, as in the United States Census, and in some market research.

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