Hispanics are tough to define as a culture. Latinos are comprised of a diverse collection of populations, each reflecting the country from which their families emigrated. Hispanics predate whites in most parts of the New World and their cultures have added to that base almost continuously through waves of immigration. Each of these groups often have little to do with each other, therefore even the most basic questions about the Latino culture can be hard to answer. For example, just how many Hispanics are in America compared to whites is not exactly known; not all Hispanics feel they fit the easy categorization of white vs. non-white. So the Census Bureau, respecting that sentiment, considers Hispanics a separate group, meaning an exact count relative to these other races must be estimated. Using the 2000 Census, we peg the percentage of white non-Hispanics at 76% of the total U.S. population, creating a true Hispanic market of about 34 million.

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