Race and ethnicity are often used interchangeably, but they mean different things. Race is a social category, assigned largely by appearance and used to rank people. Ethnicity refers to shared culture, such as language, ancestry, religion, food and traditions. A person can share a race with someone of a different ethnicity, and people of one ethnicity can be of many races.
US government data reflects this split. Since the 1970s, federal standards have treated Hispanic or Latino origin as an ethnicity, separate from race. That meant census forms asked two questions, and many Latino respondents chose "some other race" because the race categories did not fit them. In March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget revised the standards to combine race and ethnicity into one question and add a Middle Eastern or North African category.
Ethnicity matters because broad racial categories can hide real differences. Asian Americans, for example, include many ethnic groups with very different incomes and histories. Grouping them together can mask need. Ethnicity also shapes discrimination, as with bias against people perceived as foreign because of their names, accents or religions.