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Inland Southern California's booming Hispanic population has spurred the growth of new business serving the Latino community, but it is also changing the cultural and economic landscape in broader ways as companies seek to tap into the community's growing economic clout.

New Census data show Hispanic residents made up nearly 2 million of the Inland Empire's 4.2 million population in 2010, and the growth of Hispanic residents continues to outpace population growth overall. In the most recent Census, Hispanics made up 45.5 percent of Riverside County's population; that's up from 36.2 percent in 2000. And in San Bernardino County, Hispanics made up 49.2 percent of the population in 2010, up from 39.2 percent.

"If you look back at what the Inland Empire used to look like, even 10 years ago, it was completely different than it is today," said Marco Robles, a spokesman for Cardenas Markets, an Ontario-based grocery chain that has grown in tandem with the Inland region's Hispanic population.

Cardenas Markets started as a single store in 1981 and today employs 3,500 people in a chain of stores that extends throughout the Inland region and into Los Angeles County and Nevada. The Cardenas Markets are among several grocers that have found fast growth serving the Inland market's Latino community. Los Angeles County-based Superior Grocers moved inland in 2005 and has quickly racked up seven locations in Ontario, Fontana, Rialto, San Bernardino, Corona, Chino and Moreno Valley.

STARS COME OUT

Demographic changes have also made the Inland region a hub for Latin entertainment over the last decade, with some of the biggest stars routinely stopping through the area. READ MORE