{"id":14539,"date":"2014-04-04T09:35:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T14:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/mexican-hispanic-and-latin-american-top-list-of-race-write-ins-on-the-2010-census\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:24:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:24:23","slug":"mexican-hispanic-and-latin-american-top-list-of-race-write-ins-on-the-2010-census","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/04\/04\/mexican-hispanic-and-latin-american-top-list-of-race-write-ins-on-the-2010-census\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mexican,\u2019 \u2018Hispanic,\u2019 \u2018Latin American\u2019 top list of race write-ins on the 2010 census"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Race<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

What is your race? The U.S. Census Bureau asks this question of every U.S. household, but the menu of options offered may feel limiting to some.<\/p>\n\n

On the 2010 census form, in addition to boxes marked \u201cwhite,\u201d \u201cblack or African Am. Or Negro\u201d or \u201cAmerican Indian or Native Alaskan\u201d or one of several Asian options, respondents have the option to select a box called \u201csome other race\u201d\u2014and to write in a response in a box below.<\/p>\n\n

\"Hispanics'<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

According to a new Census report<\/a> released last week, about one-third of the 47.4 million self-identified Hispanics chose \u201csome other race\u201d when describing their racial identity. Among them, 44.3% wrote in Mexican, Mexican American or Mexico in the box provided. An additional 22.7% wrote in Hispanic or Hispano or Hispana as their race and another 10.0% wrote in Latin American or Latino or Latin.<\/p>\n\n

Latinos are not the only group of Americans who utilize the \u201csome other race\u201d category on the census form\u2014but they are the most likely to do so. In 2010, 6.2% of Americans selected \u201csome other race<\/a>,\u201d up from 5.5% in 2000. Among all those who answered the race question this way in 2010, 96.8% were Hispanic, little changed from 2000<\/a>. In addition to the race question, the 2010 census included a separate question about Hispanic origin. It is currently the only ethnic category included in the census and has been asked of all households on census forms since 1980.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\"\u201cSome<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The new Census Bureau report also detailed \u201csome other race\u201d responses by Hispanic origin groups. About 43.4% of Guatemalan origin Hispanics selected the category, as did 42.9% of Salvadorans and 37.7% of Hondurans, the three highest shares among Hispanic origin groups. By contrast, just 5.2% of Cubans, 8.1% of Argentineans and 8.9% of Uruguayans selected \u201csome other race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

These findings are consistent with Pew Research Center surveys on Latinos and their views of their identity. Most prefer to be identified by their country of origin<\/a>, such as Mexican, Dominican or Guatemalan. When it comes to reporting their race, about half of Latinos in our surveys choose \u201csome other race\u201d or volunteer \u201cHispanic or Latino\u201d as their race. Latinos also largely express no preference for the pan-ethnic terms \u201cHispanic\u201d or \u201cLatino.\u201d\u00a0 But among those with a preference, \u201cHispanic\u201d is preferred over \u201cLatino\u201d by a two-to-one margin<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The \u201csome other race\u201d option<\/a> in the census form\u2019s race question was never intended to be a category selected by so many respondents. The category was added to the 1980 census form to capture the small numbers of people who did not select one of the official race categories. But since then, it has grown to become the third-largest race category in the census.<\/p>\n\n

The Census Bureau is currently researching how to reverse<\/a> the growing percentage of Americans who choose \u201csome other race,\u201d including options combining all race and ethnic options into a single question. In focus groups, Americans have said they\u2019re unsure<\/a> of how to identify themselves on census forms, which has partly led to growth in the use of the \u201csome other race\u201d category. Census racial and ethnic data help determine how congressional districts are drawn, how $400 billion in federal aid is distributed and enforcement of civil rights laws.<\/p>\n\n

The National Institute for Latino Policy<\/a> and many scholars have raised the possibility<\/a> that the use of the \u201csome other race\u201d category by Hispanics is a \u201clegitimate response to U.S. definitions of race that do not apply to the experience (of) many Latinos,\u201d rather than a sign that Hispanics are struggling to answer the question.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latinos are not the only group of Americans who utilize the \u201csome other race\u201d category on the census form\u2014but they are the most likely to do so. In 2010, 6.2% of Americans selected \u201csome other race,\u201d up from 5.5% in 2000. Among all those who answered the race question this way in 2010, 96.8% were Hispanic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"cfe0c17e-ebda-409e-916b-19188611146c","termId":929},{"key":"d1f9e6c2-028e-4380-95be-01be8d9f27df","termId":629}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[28],"bylines":[629,929],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[529],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14539","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-race-ethnicity","bylines-jens-manuel-krogstad","bylines-mark-hugo-lopez","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-global-migration-and-demography"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":576,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/04\/04\/mexican-hispanic-and-latin-american-top-list-of-race-write-ins-on-the-2010-census\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"\u2018Mexican,\u2019 \u2018Hispanic\u2019 and \u2018Latin American\u2019 top list of race write-ins in the 2010 census","description":"Latinos are not the only group of Americans who utilize the \u201csome other race\u201d category on the census form\u2014but they are the most likely to do so. In 2010, 6.2% of Americans selected \u201csome other race,\u201d up from 5.5% in 2000. Among all those who answered the race question this way in 2010, 96.8% were Hispanic.","og_title":"\u2018Mexican,\u2019 \u2018Hispanic,\u2019 \u2018Latin American\u2019 top list of race write-ins on the 2010 census","og_description":"Latinos are not the only group of Americans who utilize the \u201csome other race\u201d category on the census form\u2014but they are the most likely to do so. In 2010, 6.2% of Americans selected \u201csome other race,\u201d up from 5.5% in 2000. 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