Race and Ethnicity

What is the Difference Between Race and Ethnicity? 

Race is based on observations of physical traits; ethnicity is based on a sense of shared culture and traditions. Two people of the same race can be different ethnicities, while two people of the same ethnicity can be different races.  

For example, a Vietnamese person and a Chinese person both have different ethnicities, but share the same race, Asian. Furthermore, a Black Puerto Rican and a White Puerto Rican both share the same ethnicity, Puerto Rican, but have different races. 

What is Race? 

“Race” refers to physical characteristics that define a person as a member of a specific group. Research in the late 20th century disproved the existence of genetically distinct races. Humans are more biologically similar to each other than they are different, and about 99.9% of human DNA is identical between individuals. 

What is Ethnicity? 

“Ethnicity” refers to cultural characteristics that define a person as being a member of a specific group. Shared cultural characteristics can include language, religion, food, and traditions. By the 20th century, social scientists tried to define shared culture without relying on racial markers or strict national origins and soon ended on “ethnicity.”  

A Changing Census  

The way we define race and ethnicity has changed radically over time. The racial categories most used in the US today are as follows: 

• White – a person having origins in Europe, the Middle East or North Africa.  

• Black or African American – a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. 

• American Indian or Alaska Native – a person having origins in the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. 

• Asian – a person having origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent.  

• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. 

• Some Other Race – includes all other responses not described above. In the 2020 US Census, approximately 50 million Americans selected this category.  

The following picture shows racial and ethnic make up of the US based on census data collected from 1980 to 2020. 

Though a subject of debate, the US Census Bureau considers “Hispanic/Latino” an ethnicity, not a race. In 1970, the term “Hispanic” was first used on the census to identify people who originated in a Spanish-speaking country. Prior to the creation of this term, the census used “Spanish Americans.”  

Today, “Hispanic” and “Latino” both refer to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish origin, regardless of race. The difference between Hispanic and Latino is that Hispanic is a classification based on language, specifically Spanish, while Latino is used as a classification based on location. For example, someone from Brazil would be Latino because Portuguese is the main language spoken and it is located in South America, while someone from Spain would be considered Hispanic. Neither Hispanic nor Latino are terms based on appearance, but rather on location and language.    

The way that we define race, and ethnicity will change in the future, as it has in the past. 

The upcoming 2030 United States Census will include changes to questions on race and ethnicity. The reformed census will change how Hispanics/Latinos and people of Middle Eastern or North African descent are counted in the United States. The census has previously categorized people from these regions (including Lebanon, Iran, and Egypt) as White, but the new proposed census will have “Middle Eastern or North African” as its own checkbox. Furthermore, the reformed census will use one combined question for race and ethnicity. Therefore, “Hispanic or Latino” will be featured alongside racial categories, rather than being separate. Below demonstrates how these updates may affect the appearance of the census in 2030.