Pew Study: 23% of US Latinos Aware of LATINX Term, but Just 3% Use Term

Aug 11, 2020
2:00 PM

A new study published Tuesday afternoon by Pew Research provides some of the most latest findings about the use of the term Latinx in the U.S. Latino community. According to the study, which surveyed around 3,030 Latino adults in December of 2019,”only 23% of U.S. adults who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino have heard of the term Latinx, and just 3% say they use it to describe themselves.”

The survey also noted that use and awareness of the term was greater with a younger Latino population. In addition, more U.S.-born, English-speaking individuals who lean Democrat showed greater awareness of the term.

In addition, the study also shared Google Trends data, stating the following: “The relative popularity of Latinx in online searches in the U.S. has increased since 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Google Trends data. While its earliest Google searches extend back to the early 2000s, the highest monthly relative number of searches for Latinx occurred in June 2020, surpassing a previous peak in October 2019.”

What does this all really mean? In a Tuesday podcast, Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela spoke with Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s Director of Global Migration and Demography Research, to discuss the results.

The full Pew study is below, and we recommend that people read the whole thing, because it contains fascinating data:

And it’s not like we haven’t had this conversation for a while now. And yes, we also noted that some of the critique against the term is purely political:

Still, the Pew study is perhaps the most comprehensive study we have seen so far. Let the discussion continue.