The hispanic population of the united states as of july 1 2015 making people of hispanic origin the nations largest ethnic or racial minority hispanics constituted 176 percent of the nations total population 12 million the number of hispanics added to the nations population between july 1 2014 and july 1 2015. Hispanic population facts a look at latinos by the numbers slideshow the strength of the hispanic population can be felt everywhere these days from the box office to the polls the latino community has demonstrated its power in the united states and it doesnt intend to stop growing in celebration of hispanic heritage month the census . The demographics of hispanic and latino americans depict a population that is the second largest ethnic group in the united states 52 million people or 167 of the national population of them 47 million are american citizens. There were nearly 60 million latinos in the united states in 2017 accounting for approximately 18 of the total us population in 1980 with a population of 148 million hispanics made up just 65 of the total us population for more read the accompanying blog post key facts about us hispanics and their diverse heritage