This summer saw the release of In the Heights, a film celebrated for highlighting Latinx culture and critiqued for excluding Afro-Latinos. A recent poll from Gallup also found that only 4% of those identifying as Latina/Latino/Hispanic prefer the term Latinx. 23% prefer Hispanic, 15% Latina or Latino, and 57% have no preference.
Debates over who is Latinx and what that means always hit close to home in higher education. Among college students nationally, about 36% identify as Latinx or Hispanic; and 61% of these are the first to attend college in their families. In sharp contrast, under 5% of tenured faculty are Latinx or Hispanic. If you want to support these students, faculty, or staff, it pays to understand some fundamental distinctions. 
Dr. Sonia Cardenas
Latinx/Hispanic communities reached 60.6 million in 2019, or just over 18% of the U.S. population. According to the official definition, this includes “any person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.” But that’s just the beginning.
Who is Latinx?
Latinx refers to a person with origins in Latin America. The recent term was intended to be gender-inclusive, replacing the Spanish words Latino or Latina. Latinx is used only in English and mostly by non-Latinx people. According to the Pew Research Center, only 23% of those identifying as Latina, Latino, or Hispanic have heard of the term and only 3% actually use it to describe themselves.
Who is Latina/Latino?
This geographic term became popular in the 1990s, referring to anyone with origins in Latin America regardless of language or defining characteristic. In Spanish, Latina/Latino can be broader, referring to anyone who resides in the United States with origins in a Spanish-speaking country or Latin America. Regardless of the term used, about 50% of Latinx/Hispanic people prefer using their country of origin rather than a pan-ethnic term.
