Americans

{{Main|Race and ethnicity in the United States}}

{{bar box

|title= 2020 U.S. census{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1014710483/2020-census-data-us-race-ethnicity-diversity |title=A Breakdown of 2020 Census Demographic Data |author= |date=August 13, 2021 |website=NPR |publisher= |access-date= |quote= |archive-date=December 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202152607/https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1014710483/2020-census-data-us-race-ethnicity-diversity |url-status=live }}

|titlebar=#ddd

|left1=Self-identified race and ethnicity

|right1=Percent of population

|bars=

{{bar percent|White or European Americans (mainly European Americans, but also includes Middle Eastern Americans and North African Americans)|Blue|57.8}}

{{bar percent|Latino Americans (mainly Hispanic Americans, but also includes Brazilian Americans)|Blue|18.7}}

{{bar percent|Black or African Americans (Sub-Saharan African Americans)|Blue|12.1}}

{{bar percent|Asian Americans (East Asian Americans, Southeast Asian Americans, and South Asian Americans)|Blue|5.9}}

{{bar percent|Native Americans (including Alaska Natives)|Blue|0.7}}

{{bar percent|Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders|Blue|0.2}}

{{bar percent|Two or more races|Blue|4.1}}

{{bar percent|Some other race|Blue|0.5}}

{{bar percent|Total|Navy|100.0}}

}}

The United States is a diverse country, both racially and ethnically.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/pop-profile/2000/chap16.pdf |title=Our Diverse Population: Race and Hispanic Origin, 2000 |access-date=April 24, 2008 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=July 15, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040715050055/https://www.census.gov/population/pop-profile/2000/chap16.pdf |url-status=live }} Six races are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes: Alaska Native and American Indian, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, White, and people of two or more races. "Some other race" is also an option in the census and other surveys.{{cite web|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/1997standards.html |title=Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity |access-date=May 5, 2008 |publisher=Office of Management and Budget |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315191301/https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/1997standards.html |archive-date=March 15, 2009 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf |title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2000 |access-date=January 2, 2015 |last=Grieco |first=Elizabeth M |author2=Rachel C. Cassidy |publisher=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=April 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410133330/https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=U.S. Census website |work=2008 Population Estimates |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=February 28, 2010 |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}

The United States Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that comprises the largest minority group in the nation.

{{Main|European Americans|White Americans}}

File:Largest white alone or in any combination group by county in the United States. US Census 2020.jpg

White Americans constitute the majority of the 331 million people living in the United States, with 204,277,273 people or 61.6% of the population in the 2020 United States census.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Europe (4,817 thousand), in 2010, 61.8% were naturalized.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf |title=The Foreign Born Population in the United States: 2010 |last1=Grieco |first1=Elizabeth M. |last2=Acosta |first2=Yesenia D. |last3=de la Cruz |first3=G. Patricia |last4=Gamino |first4=Christina |last5=Gryn |first5=Thomas |last6=Larsen |first6=Luke J. |last7=Trevelyan |first7=Edward N. |last8=Walters |first8=Nathan P. |date=May 2012 |website=American Community Survey Reports |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=January 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209224630/http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf |archive-date=February 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}}}{{cite web |url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/redistricting-supplementary-tables/redistricting-supplementary-table-02.pdf |title=Percentage of Population and Percent Change by Race: 2010 and 2020 |access-date=September 20, 2021 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |date=March 2011 |author=Karen R. Humes |author2=Nicholas A. Jones |author3=Roberto R. Ramirez |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813224122/https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/redistricting-supplementary-tables/redistricting-supplementary-table-02.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite web |author=Lindsay Hixson |author2=Bradford B. Hepler |author3=Myoung Ouk Kim |date=September 2011 |title=The White Population: 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf |access-date=November 20, 2012 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |archive-date=September 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930074513/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf |url-status=live }} The US census defines "white" as "[a] person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa".{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/glossary/?term=White |title=White |website=Census Bureau Glossary |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=April 22, 2025}} Non-Hispanic Whites, which only account for 57.8% of the population, or 191,697,647 people, are the majority in 44 states. There are six minority-majority states: California, Texas, Maryland,{{Cite web |date=2021-08-12 |title=Less than half of Maryland's population identifies as white |url=https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-maryland-census-2020-01c4af87976c594660227687216b489a |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=AP News |language=en}} New Mexico, Nevada, and Hawaii.{{cite web|title=U.S. whites will soon be the minority in number, but not power – Baltimore Sun|periodical=The Baltimore Sun|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0809-minority-majority-20170808-story.html|access-date=2018-01-21|archive-date=August 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808200616/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0809-minority-majority-20170808-story.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8902484 |title=Minority population surging in Texas |date=August 18, 2005 |work=NBC News |agency=Associated Press |access-date=December 7, 2009 |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231232030/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8902484/ |url-status=live }} In addition, the District of Columbia and the five inhabited U.S. territories have a non-white majority. The state with the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White Americans is Maine, while the state with the lowest percentage is Hawaii.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-90.html |title=Most Children Younger Than Age 1 are Minorities, Census Bureau Reports |last1=Bernstein |first1=Robert |date=May 17, 2012 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=December 16, 2012 |archive-date=May 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518211419/https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-90.html |url-status=live }}

Europe is the largest continent that Americans trace their ancestry to, and many claim descent from various European ethnic groups.Ohio State University. Diversity Dictionary. 2006. September 4, 2006. [http://www.osu.edu/diversity/dictionary.php OSU.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620101442/http://www.osu.edu/diversity/dictionary.php |date=June 20, 2008 }}

The Spaniards were among the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the continental United States in 1565 in San Agustín, La Florida then a part of New Spain.{{cite web |url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_augustin_1.html |title=A Spanish Expedition Established St. Augustine in Florida |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=March 27, 2009 |archive-date=October 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010022552/http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_augustin_1.html |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author=D. H. Figueredo|title=Latino Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWX5d27NkFgC&pg=PT35|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-34154-0|page=35|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160602/https://books.google.com/books?id=TWX5d27NkFgC&pg=PT35|url-status=live}} Virginia Dare (b. 1587) in Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the original Thirteen Colonies to English parents. The Spaniards also established a continuous presence in what over three centuries later would become a possession of the United States with the founding of the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1521.

In the 2020 United States census, English Americans 46.5 million (19.8%), German Americans 45m (19.1%), Irish Americans 38.6m (16.4%), and Italian Americans 16.8m (7.1%) were the four largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States constituting 62.4% of the white American population.{{cite web|url= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html|title= Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Population for More Than 200 New Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups|date= September 21, 2023|access-date= October 21, 2023}} However, the English Americans and British Americans demography is considered a serious under-count as they tend to self-report and identify as simply "Americans" (since the introduction of a new "American" category in the 1990 census) due to the length of time they have inhabited America. This is highly over-represented in the Upland South, a region that was settled historically by the British.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mCopDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 Ethnic Landscapes of America] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404205908/https://books.google.com/books?id=mCopDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200|date=April 4, 2023}} – By John A. Cross[https://books.google.com/books?id=sQOJDBgBFmYC&pg=PA6 Census and you: monthly news from the U.S. Bureau... Volume 28, Issue 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407094950/https://books.google.com/books?id=sQOJDBgBFmYC&pg=PA6|date=April 7, 2023}} – By United States. Bureau of the Census[https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&pg=PA57 Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116051127/https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&pg=PA57|date=January 16, 2023}} By Dominic J. Pulera.Reynolds Farley, 'The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us?', Demography, Vol. 28, No. 3 (August 1991), pp. 414, 421.Stanley Lieberson and Lawrence Santi, 'The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns', Social Science Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1985), pp. 44–6.Stanley Lieberson and Mary C. Waters, 'Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 487, No. 79 (September 1986), pp. 82–86.

Overall, as the largest group, European Americans have the lowest poverty rate{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf|title=Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004|access-date=December 9, 2017|archive-date=October 9, 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf|url-status=live}} and the second highest educational attainment levels, median household income,{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/005647.html |title=Median household income newsbrief, US Census Bureau 2005 |access-date=September 24, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903121511/http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/005647.html |archive-date=September 3, 2006 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }} and median personal income{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_008.htm |title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Asian Americans, age 25+, 2006 |access-date=December 17, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929074108/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_008.htm |archive-date=September 29, 2006 }} of any racial demographic in the nation, second only to Asian Americans in the latter three categories.

{{Main|Hispanic and Latino Americans}}

Hispanic and Latino Americans constitute the largest ethnic minority in the United States. They form the second largest group in the United States, comprising 62,080,044 people or 18.7% of the population according to the 2020 United States census.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Latin America and the Caribbean (21,224 thousand), in 2010, 32.1% were naturalized.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf |title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 |access-date=March 28, 2011 |first1=Karen R. |last1=Humes |first2=Nicholas A. |last2=Jones |first3=Roberto R. |last3=Ramirez |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |quote="Hispanic or Latino" refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. |archive-date=April 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf |url-status=live }}

Hispanic and Latino Americans are not considered a race in the United States census, instead forming an ethnic category.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf |title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2000 |last=Grieco |first=Elizabeth M. |author2=Rachel C. Cassidy |access-date=April 27, 2008 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=April 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410133330/https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=T4-2007. Hispanic or Latino By Race [15] |work=2007 Population Estimates |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=December 4, 2012 |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=B03002. Hispanic or Latino origin by race |work=2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=December 4, 2012 |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/35.pdf |title=Shades of Belonging |last=Tafoya |first=Sonya |access-date=May 7, 2008 |date=December 6, 2004 |publisher=Pew Hispanic Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528123221/http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/35.pdf |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

People of Spanish or Hispanic and Latino descent have lived in what is now United States territory since the founding of San Juan, Puerto Rico (the oldest continuously inhabited settlement on American soil) in 1521 by Juan Ponce de León, and the founding of St. Augustine, Florida (the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the continental United States) in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. In the State of Texas, Spaniards first settled the region in the late 1600s and formed a unique cultural group known as Tejanos.

{{Main|African Americans}}

Black and African Americans are citizens and residents of the United States with origins in sub-Saharan Africa.{{cite web|title=Race, Ethnicity, and Language data – Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement|url=http://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/publications/files/iomracereport.pdf|publisher=Institute of Medicine of the National Academies|access-date=May 10, 2016|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129053700/https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/publications/files/iomracereport.pdf|url-status=live}} According to the Office of Management and Budget, the grouping includes individuals who self-identify as African American, as well as persons who emigrated from nations in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf |title=The Black Population: 2010 |author=Sonya Tastogi |author2=Tallese D. Johnson |author3=Elizabeth M. Hoeffel |author4=Malcolm P. Drewery, Jr. |date=September 2011 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108162929/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf |url-status=live }} The grouping is thus based on geography, and may contradict or misrepresent an individual's self-identification since not all immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are "Black". Among these racial outliers are persons from Cape Verde, Madagascar, various Arab states, and Hamito-Semitic populations in East Africa and the Sahel, and the Afrikaners of Southern Africa. African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-5.pdf |first=Jesse |last=McKinnon |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=October 22, 2007 |title=The Black Population: 2000 United States Census Bureau |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-5.pdf |url-status=live }} According to the 2020 United States census, there were 39,940,338 Black and African Americans in the United States, representing 12.4% of the population.[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP5&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format= United States – ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates: 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200211182353/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP5&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format= |date=February 11, 2020 }}. Factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved December 9, 2010.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Africa (1,607 thousand), in 2010, 46.1% were naturalized.}}{{cite web |url=http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn185.html |title=2010 Census Shows Black Population has Highest Concentration in the South |date=September 29, 2011 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915180008/http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn185.html |archive-date=September 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} Black and African Americans make up the third largest group in the United States, after White and European Americans, and Hispanic and Latino Americans.{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP3&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212211647/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP3&prodType=table|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2020|title=American FactFinder – Results|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|website=factfinder2.census.gov}} The majority of the population (55%) lives in the South; compared to the 2000 United States census, there has also been a decrease of African Americans in the Northeast and Midwest.

Most African Americans are the direct descendants of captives from Central and West Africa, from ancestral populations in countries like Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Angola,{{cite journal |author1 = Katarzyna Bryc |author2 = Eric Y. Durand |author3 = J. Michael Macpherson |author4 = David Reich |author5 = Joanna L. Mountain |title = The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|date=January 8, 2015|volume=96|issue=1|pages=37–53|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010|pmc=4289685 |pmid=25529636}} who survived the slavery era within the boundaries of the present United States.{{cite web |url=http://mumford1.dyndns.org/cen2000/BlackWhite/BlackDiversityReport/black-diversity03.htm |title=The size and regional distribution of the black population |access-date=October 1, 2007 |publisher=Lewis Mumford Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012170004/http://mumford1.dyndns.org/cen2000/BlackWhite/BlackDiversityReport/black-diversity03.htm |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} As an adjective, the term is usually spelled African-American.{{cite web|url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/African%20American|title="African American" in the American Heritage Dictionary|work=Yahoo|access-date=October 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927002030/https://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/African%20American|archive-date=September 27, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Montinaro et al. (2014) observed that around 50% of the overall ancestry of African Americans traces back to the Niger-Congo-speaking Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin (before the European colonization of Africa this people created the Oyo Empire), reflecting the centrality of this West African region in the Atlantic slave trade.{{cite journal|author1=Francesco Montinaro |author2=George B.J. Busby |author3=Vincenzo L. Pascali |author4=Simon Myers |author5=Garrett Hellenthal |author6=Cristian Capelli |title = Unravelling the hidden ancestry of American admixed populations |journal = Nature Communications |date=March 24, 2015 |doi=10.1038/ncomms7596 |volume=6 |page=6596 |pmid=25803618 |pmc=4374169 |bibcode=2015NatCo...6.6596M }} Zakharaia et al. (2009) found a similar proportion of Yoruba associated ancestry in their African American samples, with a minority also drawn from Mandinka populations (founders of the Mali Empire), and Bantu populations (who had a varying level of social organization during the colonial era, while some Bantu peoples were still tribal, other Bantu peoples had founded kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Kongo).{{cite journal |author1=Fouad Zakharia |author2=Analabha Basu |author3=Devin Absher |author4=Themistocles L Assimes |author5=Alan S Go |author6=Mark A Hlatky |author7=Carlos Iribarren |author8=Joshua W Knowles |author9=Jun Li |author10=Balasubramanian Narasimhan |author11=Steven Sidney |author12=Audrey Southwick |author13=Richard M Myers |author14=Thomas Quertermous |author15=Neil Risch |author16=Hua Tang |title=Characterizing the admixed African ancestry of African Americans |journal=Genome Biology |year=2009 |volume=10 |issue=R141 |pages=R141 |doi=10.1186/gb-2009-10-12-r141 |pmid=20025784 |pmc=2812948 |doi-access=free }}

The first West African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The English settlers treated these captives as indentured servants and released them after a number of years. This practice was gradually replaced by the system of race-based slavery used in the Caribbean.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr2.html|title=New World Exploration and English Ambition |work=The Terrible Transformation |publisher=PBS |access-date=September 11, 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070614105621/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr2.html| archive-date= June 14, 2007 | url-status= live}} All the American colonies had slavery, but it was usually the form of personal servants in the North (where 2% of the people were slaves), and field hands in plantations in the South (where 25% were slaves);{{cite book |title=Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South |last=Gomez |first=Michael A. |year=1998 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807846940 |pages=384 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfHU4mOPMmMC |access-date=September 27, 2016 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160604/https://books.google.com/books?id=tfHU4mOPMmMC |url-status=live }} by the beginning of the American Revolutionary War 1/5th of the total population was enslaved.{{cite book |title=The American revolution: a history |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |year=2002 |publisher=Modern Library |isbn=9780679640578 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00gord/page/55 55] |url=https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00gord|url-access=registration }} During the revolution, some would serve in the Continental Army or Continental Navy,Liberty! The American Revolution (Documentary) Episode II:Blows Must Decide: 1774–1776. ©1997 Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. {{ISBN|1-4157-0217-9}}{{cite book |title=Blacks in the American Revolution |series=Volume 55 of Contributions in American history |last=Foner |first=Philip Sheldon |year=1976 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780837189468 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk92AAAAMAAJ&q=Philip+S.+Foner+Blacks+in+the+Revolution |access-date=August 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160544/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk92AAAAMAAJ&q=Philip+S.+Foner+Blacks+in+the+Revolution |url-status=live }} while others would serve the British Empire in the Ethiopian Regiment, and other units.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/work_community/loyalists.htm |title=Black Loyalists |work=Black Presence |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=August 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825194326/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/work_community/loyalists.htm |url-status=live }} By 1804, the northern states (north of the Mason–Dixon line) had abolished slavery.{{cite web |url=https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html |title=Freedom & Emancipation |author=Nicholas Boston |author2=Jennifer Hallam |year=2004 |work=Educational Broadcasting Corporation |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=October 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025150351/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html |url-status=live }} However, slavery would persist in the southern states until the end of the American Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.{{cite web |url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40 |title=13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution |work=ourdocuments.gov |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=January 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106092345/https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40 |url-status=live }} Following the end of the Reconstruction era, which saw the first African American representation in Congress,{{cite web |url=http://baic.house.gov/historical-essays/essay.html?intID=3 |title=The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood |work=Office of the Clerk |publisher=United States House of Representatives |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211224758/http://baic.house.gov/historical-essays/essay.html?intID=3 |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} African Americans became disenfranchised and subject to Jim Crow laws,{{cite book |title=American Black History |last=Walter |first=Hazen |year=2004 |publisher=Lorenz Educational Press |isbn=9780787706036 |page=37 |access-date=September 11, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuvsptYLFL4C&q=Jim%20Crow%20Laws%20Reconstruction%20African%20Americans&pg=PA37 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160604/https://books.google.com/books?id=GuvsptYLFL4C&q=Jim%20Crow%20Laws%20Reconstruction%20African%20Americans&pg=PA37#v=snippet&q=Jim%20Crow%20Laws%20Reconstruction%20African%20Americans&f=false |url-status=live }} legislation that would persist until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act due to the civil rights movement.{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/prize.htm |title=The Prize |work=We Shall Overcome |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=June 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606141656/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/prize.htm |url-status=dead }}

According to United States Census Bureau data, very few African immigrants self-identify as African American. On average, less than 5% of African residents self-reported as "African American" or "Afro-American" on the 2000 U.S. census. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants (~95%) identified instead with their own respective ethnicities. Self-designation as "African American" or "Afro-American" was highest among individuals from West Africa (4%–9%), and lowest among individuals from Cape Verde, East Africa and Southern Africa (0%–4%).{{cite web|last1=Kusow|first1=AM|title=African Immigrants in the United States: Implications for Affirmative Action|date=January 2014 |url=http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=soc_las_pubs|publisher=Iowa State University|access-date=May 10, 2016|archive-date=June 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610034339/http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=soc_las_pubs|url-status=live}} African immigrants may also experience conflict with African Americans.{{cite book|last1=Mwakikagile|first1=Godfrey|title=Relations Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths and Realities|date=2007|publisher=New Africa Press|isbn=978-0980253450|page=196|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzkmjezC80kC&pg=PA196|access-date=May 10, 2016|archive-date=May 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525104815/https://books.google.com/books?id=tzkmjezC80kC&pg=PA196|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Asian Americans|East Asian Americans|Southeast Asian Americans|South Asian Americans}}

Another significant population is the Asian American population, comprising 19,618,719 people in 2020, or 5.9% of the United States population.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Asia (11,284 thousand), in 2010, 57.7% were naturalized.}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|title=2010 United States Census statistics|access-date=December 9, 2017|archive-date=April 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=B02001. RACE – Universe: TOTAL POPULATION |work=2008 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |access-date=February 28, 2010 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }} California is home to 5.6 million Asian Americans, the greatest number in any state. In Hawaii, Asian Americans make up the highest proportion of the population (57 percent).{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11-ff06.html |title=Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: May 2011 |date=December 7, 2011 |work=Facts for Features |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=January 4, 2012 |archive-date=September 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908054957/http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11-ff06.html |url-status=live }} Asian Americans live across the country, yet are heavily urbanized, with significant populations in the Greater Los Angeles Area, New York metropolitan area, and the San Francisco Bay Area.{{cite news |title=Asian Americans had higher poverty rate than whites in 2011, study says |author=Shan Li |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-asian-american-poverty-20130502,0,7842601.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 3, 2013 |access-date=May 6, 2013 |quote=In 2011, for example, nearly a third of Asians in the U.S. lived in the metropolitan regions around Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. |archive-date=May 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506045430/http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-asian-american-poverty-20130502,0,7842601.story |url-status=live }}
{{cite web |title=Selected Population Profile in the United States |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-context=ip&-reg=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR:031&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_&-tree_id=3307&-geo_id=31000US16980&-geo_id=31000US19100&-geo_id=31000US31100&-geo_id=31000US35620&-geo_id=31000US41740&-geo_id=31000US41860&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |work=U.S. Census |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce |access-date=June 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212041712/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-context=ip&-reg=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T:031;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR:031&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_&-tree_id=3307&-geo_id=31000US16980&-geo_id=31000US19100&-geo_id=31000US31100&-geo_id=31000US35620&-geo_id=31000US41740&-geo_id=31000US41860&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |url-status=dead }}

The United States census defines Asian Americans as those with origins to the countries of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Although Americans with roots in West Asia were once classified as "Asian", they are now excluded from the term in modern census classifications.{{cite news|title=Israeli, Palestinian Americans could share new 'Middle Eastern' census category|quote=This derives from a 1915 court ruling in Dow v. United States, in which a Syrian American, George Dow, appealed his being classified by the government as Asian. At the time, such a designation resulted in the denial of citizenship under the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-palestinian-americans-could-share-new-middle-eastern-census-category/|newspaper=The Times of Israel|date=October 23, 2016|access-date=January 28, 2022|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144106/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-palestinian-americans-could-share-new-middle-eastern-census-category/|url-status=live}} The largest sub-groups are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Cambodia, mainland China, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Asians overall have higher income levels than all other racial groups in the United States, including whites, and the trend appears to be increasing in relation to those groups.{{cite book|author1=Meizhu Lui |author2=Barbara Robles |author3=Betsy Leondar-Wright |author4=Rose Brewer |author5=Rebecca Adamson|title=The Color of Wealth |year=2006|publisher=The New Press }} Additionally, Asians have a higher education attainment level than all other racial groups in the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf|title=US Census Bureau report on educational attainment in the United States, 2003|access-date=July 31, 2006|archive-date=March 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317201503/https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web| date =February 2007| title =The American Community-Asians: 2004| publisher =U.S. Census Bureau| url =https://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-05.pdf| access-date =September 5, 2007| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070926002242/http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-05.pdf| archive-date =September 26, 2007| url-status =dead| df =mdy-all}} For better or for worse, the group has been called a model minority.{{cite book |title=The myth of the model minority: Asian Americans facing racism |last=Chou |first=Rosalind |author2=Joe R. Feagin |year=2008 |publisher=Paradigm Publishers |isbn=978-1-59451-586-6 |page=x |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HoaAQAAIAAJ&q=Model+Minority+Asians |access-date=February 9, 2011 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160557/https://books.google.com/books?id=_HoaAQAAIAAJ&q=Model+Minority+Asians |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Report Takes Aim at 'Model Minority' Stereotype of Asian-American Students |author=Tamar Lewin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/education/10asians.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 10, 2008 |access-date=February 9, 2012 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112053151/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/education/10asians.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230:asian-americans-under-the-model-minority-gaze-&catid=36:coolies&Itemid=56 |title=Asian Americans Under the Model Minority Gaze |author=Tojo Thatchenkery |date=March 31, 2000 |work=International Association of Business Disciplines National Conference |publisher=modelminority.com |access-date=February 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318003048/http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230:asian-americans-under-the-model-minority-gaze-&catid=36:coolies&Itemid=56 |archive-date=March 18, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

While Asian Americans have been in what is now the United States since before the Revolutionary War,{{cite web |url=https://jacl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2006_GoldMountain_CurGuide.pdf |title=The Journey from Gold Mountain: The Asian American Experience |publisher=Japanese American Citizens League |page=3 |date=2006 |access-date=November 27, 2016 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412033038/https://jacl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2006_GoldMountain_CurGuide.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=California Declares Filipino American History Month |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/09/07/daily59.html |newspaper=San Francisco Business Times |date=September 10, 2009 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112054427/https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/09/07/daily59.html |url-status=live }} relatively large waves of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese immigration did not begin until the mid-to-late 19th century.{{cite web |url=http://www.capaa.wa.gov/documents/AchievementGapReport.pdf |title=Asian Americans in Washington State: Closing Their Hidden Achievement Gaps |first1=Shirley |last1=Hune |first2=David T. |last2=Takeuchi |first3=Third |last3=Andresen |first4=Seunghye |last4=Hong |first5=Julie |last5=Kang |first6=Mavae'Aho |last6=Redmond |first7=Jeomja |last7=Yeo |date=April 2009 |work=Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs |publisher=State of Washington |access-date=February 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103144615/http://www.capaa.wa.gov/documents/AchievementGapReport.pdf |archive-date=November 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} Immigration and significant population growth continue to this day.{{cite news |title=Asian-Americans Are Fastest-Growing Minority Population |author=Nicole Duran |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/asian-americans-are-fastest-growing-minority-population-20111101 |newspaper=National Journal |date=November 3, 2011 |access-date=February 9, 2012 |archive-date=February 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209034127/http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/asian-americans-are-fastest-growing-minority-population-20111101 |url-status=live }} Due to a number of factors, Asian Americans have been stereotyped as "perpetual foreigners".{{cite book |title=The politics of Asian Americans: diversity and community |last=Lien |first=Pei-te |author2=Mary Margaret Conway |author2-link=Mary Margaret Conway |author3=Janelle Wong |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-93465-7 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7ucGq1RZ-EC&q=%22asian%20americans%22%20perpetual%20foreigners&pg=PA7 |access-date=February 9, 2012 |quote=In addition, because of their perceived racial difference, rapid and continuous immigration from Asia, and on going detente with communist regimes in Asia, Asian Americans are construed as "perpetual foreigners" who cannot or will not adapt to the language, customs, religions, and politics of the American mainstream. |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160607/https://books.google.com/books?id=o7ucGq1RZ-EC&q=%22asian%20americans%22%20perpetual%20foreigners&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |title=Yellow: race in America beyond black and white |last=Wu |first=Frank H. |author-link=Frank H. Wu |year=2003 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00640-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/yellow00fran/page/79 79] |url=https://archive.org/details/yellow00fran |url-access=registration |quote=asian americans perpetual foreigners. |access-date=February 9, 2012}}

{{Main|Middle Eastern Americans|North Africans in the United States}}

Middle Eastern Americans and North African Americans are Americans with ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). According to the American Jewish Archives and the Arab American National Museum, the first Middle Easterners and North Africans (viz. Jews and Berbers) to arrive in the Americas landed in the late 15th to mid-16th centuries.[http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48955806.html "History Crash Course #55: Jews and the Founding of America"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223000947/http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48955806.html|date=December 23, 2021}} Spiro, Rabbi Ken. Aish.com. Published December 8, 2001. Accessed December 12, 2015. "The first Jews arrived in America with Columbus in 1492, and we also know that Jews newly-converted to Christianity were among the first Spaniards to arrive in Mexico with Conquistador Hernando Cortez in 1519."[http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/umages/pdfs/resource_booklets/AANM-ArabAmericansBooklet-web.pdf "Arab Americans: An Integral Part of American Society"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208140524/http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/umages/pdfs/resource_booklets/AANM-ArabAmericansBooklet-web.pdf|date=February 8, 2020}} Arab American National Museum. Published 2009. Accessed December 12, 2015. "Zammouri, the first Arab American...traveled over 6,000 miles between 1528 and 1536, trekking across the American Southwest."[http://americanjewisharchives.org/education/timeline.php "Timeline in American Jewish History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228131555/http://americanjewisharchives.org/education/timeline.php|date=December 28, 2015}} American Jewish Archives. Accessed December 12, 2015.[http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/judaism.htm "The American Jewish Experience through the Nineteenth Century: Immigration and Acculturation"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501030159/http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/judaism.htm|date=May 1, 2016}} Golden, Jonathan, and Jonathan D. Sarna. National Humanities Center. Brandeis University. Accessed December 12, 2015. Many fled ethnic or ethnoreligious persecution during the Spanish Inquisition;Netanyahu, Benzion.The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. New York: Random House, 1995. Hardcover. 1390 pages. p. 1085.[https://www.cabq.gov/humanrights/public-information-and-education/diversity-booklets/jewish-american-heritage/conversos-crypto-jews "Conversos & Crypto-Jews"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222111142/https://www.cabq.gov/humanrights/public-information-and-education/diversity-booklets/jewish-american-heritage/conversos-crypto-jews|date=December 22, 2015}} City of Albuquerque. Accessed December 12, 2015. a few were taken to the Americas as slaves.

In 2014, the United States Census Bureau began finalizing the ethnic classification of people of Middle Eastern and North African ("MENA") origins.[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/stateline-census-mena-africa-mideast/13999239/ "Lobbying for a 'MENA' category on U.S. Census"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709185402/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/stateline-census-mena-africa-mideast/13999239/|date=July 9, 2017}} Wiltz, Teresea. USA Today. Published October 7, 2014. Accessed December 14, 2015. According to the Arab American Institute (AAI), Arab Americans have family origins in each of the 22 member states of the Arab League.{{cite web|title=Arab American Institute – Texas|url=http://www.aaiusa.org/page/file/b44c4328067fdc4dce_fybmvypay.pdf/TXdemographics.pdf|publisher=Arab American Institute|access-date=December 12, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207192658/http://www.aaiusa.org/page/file/b44c4328067fdc4dce_fybmvypay.pdf/TXdemographics.pdf|archive-date=February 7, 2012}} Following consultations with MENA organizations, the Census Bureau announced in 2014 that it would establish a new MENA ethnic category for populations from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab world, separate from the "white" classification that these populations had previously sought in 1909. The groups felt that the earlier "white" designation no longer accurately represents MENA identity, so they successfully lobbied for a distinct categorization.{{cite web|title=Public Comments to NCT Federal Register Notice|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-frn.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau; Department of Commerce|access-date=December 13, 2015|archive-date=July 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726045556/https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-frn.pdf|url-status=live}} This new category would also include Israeli Americans.{{cite news|last=Cortellessa|first=Eric|date=23 October 2016|title=Israeli, Palestinian Americans could share new 'Middle Eastern' census category|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-palestinian-americans-could-share-new-middle-eastern-census-category/|work=Times of Israel|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144106/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-palestinian-americans-could-share-new-middle-eastern-census-category/|url-status=live}}
{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Debra Nussbaum|date=18 June 2015|title=New U.S. Census Category to Include 'Israeli' Option|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-new-u-s-census-category-to-include-israeli-1.5372299|work=Haaretz|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710200538/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.661491|url-status=live}}
{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Rick|date=12 August 2015|title=Simultaneously Jewish and Persons of Color: The Status of Mizrahi Jews|url=https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/08/12/simultaneously-jewish-and-persons-of-color-the-status-of-mizrahi-jews/|work=Nonprofit Quality|location=Boston|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=April 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423165931/https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/08/12/simultaneously-jewish-and-persons-of-color-the-status-of-mizrahi-jews/|url-status=live}} The Census Bureau does not currently ask about whether one is Sikh, because it views them as followers of a religion rather than members of an ethnic group, and it does not combine questions concerning religion with race or ethnicity.{{cite web|title=2015 National Content Test|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-omb-package.pdf|pages=33–34|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|quote=The Census Bureau is undertaking related mid-decade research for coding and classifying detailed national origins and ethnic groups, and our consultations with external experts on the Asian community have also suggested Sikh receive a unique code classified under Asian. The Census Bureau does not currently tabulate on religious responses to the race or ethnic questions (e.g., Sikh, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Lutheran, etc.).|access-date=December 13, 2015|archive-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921194439/http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-omb-package.pdf|url-status=live}} As of December 2015, the sampling strata for the new MENA category includes the Census Bureau's working classification of 19 MENA groups, as well as Iranian, Turkish, Armenian, Afghan, Azerbaijani, and Georgian groups.{{cite web|title=2015 National Content Test|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-omb-package.pdf|page=60|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=December 13, 2015|archive-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921194439/http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/2020-census/2015_census_tests/nct/2015-nct-omb-package.pdf|url-status=live}} In January 2018, it was announced that the Census Bureau would not include the grouping in the 2020 census.{{cite news|last=Wang|first=Hansi Lo|date=29 January 2018|title=No Middle Eastern Or North African Category On 2020 Census, Bureau Says|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/29/581541111/no-middle-eastern-or-north-african-category-on-2020-census-bureau-says|work=National Public Radio|access-date=9 June 2018|archive-date=February 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221220841/https://www.npr.org/2018/01/29/581541111/no-middle-eastern-or-north-african-category-on-2020-census-bureau-says|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Native Americans in the United States|Alaska Natives}}

{{See also|Blood quantum laws|Bureau of Indian Affairs}}

According to the 2020 United States census, there are 2,251,699 people who are Native Americans or Alaska Natives alone; they make up 0.7% of the total population.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Northern America (807 thousand), in 2010, 44.3% were naturalized.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf |title=The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010 |author=Tina Norris |author2=Paula L. Vines |author3=Elizabeth M. Hoeffel |date=January 2012 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 9, 2012 |archive-date=May 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505221036/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf |url-status=live }} According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an "American Indian or Alaska Native" is a person whose ancestry have origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, or South America. 2.3 million individuals who are American Indian or Alaskan Native are multiracial; additionally the plurality of American Indians reside in the Western United States (40.7%). Collectively and historically this race has been known by several names;{{cite web |url=http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nc-american-indians/5526 |title=American Indian vs. Native American: A note on terminology |author=Kathryn Walbert |work=Kearn NC |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |access-date=September 9, 2012 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111165927/http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nc-american-indians/5526 |url-status=live }} as of 1995, 50% of those who fall within the OMB definition prefer the term "American Indian", 37% prefer "Native American" and the remainder have no preference or prefer a different term altogether.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2/gen/96arc/ivatuck.pdf |title=A Statistical Analysis of the CPS Supplement on Race and Ethnic Origin |author=Clyde Tucker |author2=Brian Kojetin |author3=Rodrick Harrison |year=1996 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 9, 2012 |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907125643/http://www.census.gov/prod/2/gen/96arc/ivatuck.pdf |url-status=live }}

Among Americans today, levels of Native American ancestry (distinct from Native American identity) differ. Based on a sample of users of the 23andMe commercial genetic test, genomes of self-reported African Americans averaged to 0.8% Native American ancestry, those of European Americans averaged to 0.18%, and those of Latinos averaged to 18.0%.{{Cite journal |last1=Bryc |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Durand |first2=Eric Y. |last3=Macpherson |first3=J. Michael |last4=Reich |first4=David |last5=Mountain |first5=Joanna L. |date=January 2015 |title=The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=37–53 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010 |pmid=25529636 |pmc=4289685 |issn=0002-9297}}{{cite news |last1=Carl Zimmer |title=White? Black? A Murky Distinction Grows Still Murkier |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-study.html |access-date=21 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=24 December 2014 |quote=The researchers found that European-Americans had genomes that were on average 98.6 percent European, .19 percent African, and .18 Native American. |archive-date=January 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115003450/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-study.html |url-status=live }} Another genetic study focusing on Native American ancestry in the general population found an average of 38% in Latinos, 1% in African Americans, and 0.1% for European American populations, respectively.{{Cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=I. King |last2=Rishishwar |first2=Lavanya |last3=Conley |first3=Andrew B. |date=2019 |title=Native American admixture recapitulates population-specific migration and settlement of the continental United States |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=e1008225 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008225 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=6756731 |pmid=31545791}}

Native Americans, whose ancestry is indigenous to the Americas, originally migrated to the two continents between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago.{{cite book |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History |last=Axelrod |first=Alan |year=2003 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780028644646 |page=4 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4w2Vb2JzFUC&q=Chukchi%20people%20first%20americans&pg=PA4 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160545/https://books.google.com/books?id=O4w2Vb2JzFUC&q=Chukchi%20people%20first%20americans&pg=PA4#v=snippet&q=Chukchi%20people%20first%20americans&f=false |url-status=live }} These Paleoamericans spread throughout the two continents and evolved into hundreds of distinct cultures during the pre-Columbian era.{{cite book |title=Chronology of Americans and the Environment |last=Magoc |first=Chris J. |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781598844115 |page=1 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BA_L6AyjsfUC&q=Paleoamericans%20migration&pg=PA1 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161025/https://books.google.com/books?id=BA_L6AyjsfUC&q=Paleoamericans%20migration&pg=PA1 |url-status=live }} Following the first voyage of Christopher Columbus,{{cite book |title=The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492–1493 |series=Volume 70 of American Exploration and Travel Series |last1=Columbus |first1=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Columbus |last2=de las Casas |first2=Bartolomé |last3=Dunn |first3=Oliver |last4=Kelley |first4=James Edward |editor1-first=Bartolomé |editor1-last=de las Casas |editor2-first=Oliver |editor2-last=Dunn |year=1991 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806123844 |pages=491 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS6kRnXJgCEC |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161025/https://books.google.com/books?id=nS6kRnXJgCEC |url-status=live }} the European colonization of the Americas began, with St. Augustine, Florida becoming the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States.{{cite book |title=U.S. Citizenship Guidebook |last=Rodriguez |first=Arturo B. |year=2000 |publisher=Sinagtala Educational Resources |isbn=9780967989808 |page=82 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrYfS8qCMaoC&q=St.%20Augustine%20florida%20first%20permanent%20settlement&pg=PA82 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161030/https://books.google.com/books?id=qrYfS8qCMaoC&q=St.%20Augustine%20florida%20first%20permanent%20settlement&pg=PA82#v=snippet&q=St.%20Augustine%20florida%20first%20permanent%20settlement&f=false |url-status=live }} From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans declined in the following ways: epidemic diseases brought from Europe;{{cite journal |last1=Bianchine |first1=Peter J. |last2=Russo |first2=Thomas A. |year=1992 |title=The Role of Epidemic Infectious Diseases in the Discovery of America |journal=Allergy and Asthma Proceedings |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=225–232 |publisher=OceanSide Publications, Inc |doi=10.2500/108854192778817040 |pmid=1483570}} genocide and warfare at the hands of European explorers, settlers and colonists,{{cite book |title=American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 |series=Volume 186 of Civilization of the American Indian Series |last=Thornton |first=Russell |year=1987 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806122205 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0/page/49 49] |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0|url-access=registration |quote=genocide warfare europeans american indians. }}{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia Of Native American Wars And Warfare |series=Facts on File library of American History |last1=Kessel |first1=William B. |last2=Wooster |first2=Robert |year=2005 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9780816033379 |pages=398 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laxSyAp89G4C |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161031/https://books.google.com/books?id=laxSyAp89G4C |url-status=live }} as well as between tribes;{{cite book |title=American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 |series=Volume 186 of Civilization of the American Indian Series |last=Thornton |first=Russell |year=1987 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806122205 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0/page/132 132] |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0 |url-access=registration |quote=From whatever cause wars may be brought on, either between different Indian tribes or between indians and whites, they are very destructive, not only of the lives of the warriors engaged in it, but of the women and children also, often becoming a war of extermination.}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mchspa.org/body.htm |title=Early History, Native Americans, and Early Settlers in Mercer County |publisher=Mercer County Historical Society |access-date=September 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625185429/http://www.mchspa.org/body.htm |archive-date=June 25, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} displacement from their lands;{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/md_native_american_displacement.html |title=Native American Displacement Amid U.S. Expansion |author=R. David Edmunds |date=March 14, 2006 |work=KERA |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=September 9, 2012 |archive-date=November 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102184426/http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/md_native_american_displacement.html |url-status=dead }} internal warfare,{{cite book |title=Southwest USA |series=Country Regional Guides |last1=Blond |first1=Becca |last2=Dunford |first2=Lisa |last3=Schulte-Peevers |first3=Andrea |year=2008 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=9781741047134 |page=37 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlMdC4X9oXAC&q=%22internal%20warfare%22%20native%20americans&pg=PA37 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161032/https://books.google.com/books?id=KlMdC4X9oXAC&q=%22internal%20warfare%22%20native%20americans&pg=PA37 |url-status=live }} enslavement;{{cite book |title=Indian Slavery in Colonial America |last=Gallay |first=Alan |year=2010 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=9780803222007 |pages=448 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HT69BbA3Is8C}} and intermarriage.{{cite book |title=One Nation, One Blood: Interracial Marriage In American Fiction, Scandal, and Law, 1820–1870 |last=Woods Weierman |first=Karen |year=2005 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=9781558494831 |page=44 |access-date=September 9, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24mIQuLBuN8C&q=Native%20American%20intermarriage&pg=PA44 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161033/https://books.google.com/books?id=24mIQuLBuN8C&q=Native%20American%20intermarriage&pg=PA44 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Mann |first1=Kaarin |year=2007 |title=Interracial Marriage In Early America: Motivation and the Colonial Project |journal=Michigan Journal of History |issue=Fall |publisher=University of Michigan |url=http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/docs/2007-fall/Interracial_Marriage_in_Early_America_Mann.pdf |access-date=September 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515063053/http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/docs/2007-fall/Interracial_Marriage_in_Early_America_Mann.pdf |archive-date=May 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

{{Main|Native Hawaiians|Pacific Islander Americans}}

As defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are "persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands".{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-12.pdf |title=The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population: 2010 |author=Lindsay Hixson |author2=Bradford B. Hepler |author3=Myoung Ouk Kim |date=May 2012 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=July 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724093631/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-12.pdf |url-status=live }} Previously called Asian Pacific American, along with Asian Americans beginning in 1976, this was changed in 1997.{{cite web |url=http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/list/asian-americans-initiative/what-you-should-know.pdf |title=Fact Sheet:What You should Know About Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI's) |work=White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) |publisher=United States Department of Education |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=July 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710142300/http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/list/asian-americans-initiative/what-you-should-know.pdf |url-status=live }} As of the 2020 United States census, there are 622,018 who reside in the United States, and make up 0.2% of the nation's total population.{{efn|Of the foreign-born population from Oceania (217 thousand), in 2010, 36.9% were naturalized.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11-ff06.html |title=Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: May 2011 |date=April 29, 2011 |work=United States Census Bureau |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |access-date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=September 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908054957/http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11-ff06.html |url-status=live }} 14% of the population have at least a bachelor's degree, and 15.1% live in poverty, below the poverty threshold. As compared to the 2000 United States census, this population grew by 40%; and 71% live in the West; of those over half (52%) live in either Hawaii or California, with no other states having populations greater than 100,000. The United States territories in the Pacific also have large Pacific Islander populations such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (Chammoro), and American Samoa (Samoan). The largest concentration of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, is Honolulu County in Hawaii, and Los Angeles County in the continental United States.

{{Main|Multiracial Americans}}

The United States has a growing multiracial identity movement, and this group is one of the fastest growing demographics in the country.{{cite book|author=Jon M. Spencer|title=The New Colored People: The Mixed-Race Movement in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zq4UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR1|date=August 2000|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-8072-5|access-date=February 8, 2019|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161034/https://books.google.com/books?id=zq4UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}
{{cite book|author1=Loretta I. Winters|author2=Herman L. DeBose|title=New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beNY-_ooPWoC&pg=PP1|year=2003|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-0-7619-2300-8|access-date=February 8, 2019|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161535/https://books.google.com/books?id=beNY-_ooPWoC&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Multiracial Americans numbered 7.0 million in 2008, or 2.3% of the population; by the 2020 census the multiracial increased to 13,548,983, or 4.1% of the total population.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf |title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 |author=Karen R. Humes |author2=Nicholas A. Jones |author3=Roberto R. Ramirez |date=March 2011 |work=2010 Census Briefs |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=February 22, 2013 |archive-date=April 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf |url-status=live }} They can be any combination of races (White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, "some other race") and ethnicities.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-6.pdf |title=The Two or More Races Population: 2000. Census 2000 Brief |access-date=May 8, 2008 |last=Jones |first=Nicholas A. |author2=Amy Symens Smith |publisher=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128222310/https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-6.pdf |url-status=live }} The largest population of Multiracial Americans were those of White and African American descent, with a total of 1,834,212 self-identifying individuals. Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, is multiracial — his mother is white (of English and Irish descent) and his father is black (of Kenyan descent) {{cite news |author1=Ewen MacAskill |author2=Nicholas Watt |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/20/obama-irish-roots-european-tour |title=Obama looks forward to rediscovering his Irish roots on European tour |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=May 20, 2011 |access-date=August 3, 2011 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112054825/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/20/obama-irish-roots-european-tour |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Mason |first=Jeff |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-ireland-idUSTRE74M09F20110523 |title=Obama visits family roots in Ireland |work=Reuters |date=May 23, 2011 |access-date=August 3, 2011 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112054832/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-ireland-idUSTRE74M09F20110523 |url-status=live }} — though he identifies only as African American.{{cite news |title=Obama's census-form choice: 'Black' |author=Oscar Avila |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-04-la-na-obama-census4-2010apr04-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 4, 2010 |access-date=February 22, 2013 |archive-date=May 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524142628/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/04/nation/la-na-obama-census4-2010apr04 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Asked to Declare His Race, Obama Checks 'Black' |author=Sam Roberts |author2=Peter Baker |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/us/politics/03census.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 2, 2010 |access-date=February 22, 2013 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112053412/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/us/politics/03census.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}

According to the 2020 United States census, 8.4% or 27,915,715 Americans chose to self-identify with the "some other race" category, the third most popular option. The vast majority of this group was Hispanic or Latino. “Some other race” formed the single largest racial group of Hispanics, with 42.2% of Hispanic/Latino Americans, or 26,225,882 people, choosing to identify as some other race, as these Hispanic/Latinos may feel the United States census does not describe their mixed European and American Indian ancestry as they understand it to be.{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010|access-date=December 9, 2017|archive-date=April 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|url-status=live}}

A significant portion of the Hispanic and Latino population self-identifies as Mestizo, particularly the Mexican and Central American community.{{cite web | last=Gonzalez-Barrera | first=Ana | title='Mestizo' and 'mulatto': Mixed-race identities among U.S. Hispanics | website=Pew Research Center | date=18 August 2020 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/07/10/mestizo-and-mulatto-mixed-race-identities-unique-to-hispanics/ | access-date=12 December 2023}} Mestizo is not a racial category in the United States census, but signifies someone who has both European and American Indian ancestry.

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Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the American government, with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly white man with white hair and a goatee beard, and dressed in clothing that recalls the design elements of the flag of the United States – for example, typically a top hat with red and white stripes and white stars on a blue band, and red and white striped trousers.

Columbia is a poetic name for the Americas and the feminine personification of the United States of America, made famous by African American poet Phillis Wheatley during the American Revolutionary War in 1776. It has inspired the names of many persons, places, objects, institutions, and companies in the Western Hemisphere and beyond, including the District of Columbia, the seat of government of the United States.

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{{Main|Languages of the United States|English language|American English|English-only}}

English is the unofficial national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2020, about 245 million, or 78% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 13.4% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0053.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|work=Statistical Abstract of the United States 2010|title=Table 53—Languages Spoken at Home by Language: 2007|access-date=September 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327063255/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0053.pdf|archive-date=March 27, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991127104400/http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 27, 1999 |title=Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Learning |date=Fall 2002 |publisher=MLA |access-date=October 16, 2006 }} Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least 30 out of the 50 states.{{cite web|author=Feder, Jody|url=http://www.ilw.com/immigrationdaily/news/2007,0515-crs.pdf|title=English as the Official Language of the United States—Legal Background and Analysis of Legislation in the 110th Congress|date=January 25, 2007|publisher=Ilw.com (Congressional Research Service)|access-date=June 19, 2007|archive-date=July 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724223647/http://www.ilw.com/immigrationdaily/news/2007,0515-crs.pdf|url-status=live}} Both English and Hawaiian are official languages in Hawaii by state law.{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/con/conart15.html |title=The Constitution of the State of Hawaii, Article XV, Section 4 |publisher=Hawaii Legislative Reference Bureau |date=November 7, 1978 |access-date=June 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705235552/http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/con/conart15.html |archive-date=July 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }} Alaska has declared its 20 Native American languages to be official, along with English.[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/24/alaskas-indigenous-languages-official "Alaska's indigenous languages attain official status"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212093511/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/24/alaskas-indigenous-languages-official |date=February 12, 2017 }}, Reuters.com, October 24, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20216&session=28|title=Bill History/Action for 28th Legislature HB 216|website=The Alaska State Legislature|access-date=January 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204183710/http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20216&session=28|archive-date=February 4, 2017|url-status=live}} In South Dakota, both dialects of the Sioux language have been declared official, along with English.{{cite web| publisher=Argus Leader| title=South Dakota recognizes official indigenous language| author=Kaczke, Lisa| date=March 25, 2019| url=https://eu.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/22/south-dakota-recognizes-official-indigenous-language-governor-noem/3245113002/| access-date=2020-05-24| archive-date=2020-07-28| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728143643/https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/22/south-dakota-recognizes-official-indigenous-language-governor-noem/3245113002/| url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://sdlegislature.gov/docs/legsession/2019/Amendments/amd126ca.htm |title= Amendment for printed bill |website=MyLRC+ |access-date=July 9, 2019 |archive-date=July 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709163507/http://sdlegislature.gov/docs/legsession/2019/Amendments/amd126ca.htm |url-status=live}}

While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.{{cite book|author=Dicker, Susan J.|title=Languages in America: A Pluralist View|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/languagesinameri00dick/page/216 216, 220–25]|location=Clevedon, UK|publisher=Multilingual Matters|isbn=1-85359-651-5|url=https://archive.org/details/languagesinameri00dick/page/216}} Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents. The latter include court forms.{{cite web|url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=ccp&group=00001-01000&file=412.10-412.30|title=California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 412.20(6)|publisher=Legislative Counsel, State of California|access-date=December 17, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722010302/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=ccp&group=00001-01000&file=412.10-412.30|archive-date=July 22, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} {{cite web|url=http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/allforms.htm|title=California Judicial Council Forms|publisher=Judicial Council, State of California|access-date=December 17, 2007|archive-date=February 10, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210100209/http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/allforms.htm|url-status=live}} Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.

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{{Main|Religion in the United States}}

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Religion in the United States has a high adherence level compared to other developed countries and a diversity in beliefs. The First Amendment to the country's Constitution prevents the Federal government from making any "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this as preventing the government from having any authority in religion. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a "very important" role in their lives, a proportion unusual among developed countries. However, similar to the other nations of the Americas.{{cite web | title =U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion | work=Pew Global Attitudes Project | date=December 19, 2002 | url = http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167 | access-date =January 1, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070208155508/http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167| archive-date= February 8, 2007 | url-status= live}} Many faiths have flourished in the United States, including both later imports spanning the country's multicultural immigrant heritage, as well as those founded within the country; these have led the United States to become the most religiously diverse country in the world.{{cite book |title= A New Religious America: the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation|last=Eck |first=Diana |year= 2002|publisher=HarperOne|isbn= 978-0-06-062159-9 |page=432 |url=https://archive.org/details/newreligiousamer00eckd|url-access= registration}}

The United States has the world's largest Christian population.{{cite web |author=ANALYSIS |url=http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-exec.aspx |title=Global Christianity |publisher=Pewforum.org |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012 |archive-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226061838/http://www.pewforum.org/christian/global-christianity-exec.aspx |url-status=live }} The majority of Americans (76%) are Christians, mostly within Protestant and Catholic denominations; these adherents constitute 48% and 23% of the population, respectively.{{Cite news|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx|title=Five Key Findings on Religion in the U.S.|last=Newport|first=Frank|date=23 December 2016|work=Gallup|access-date=2018-04-05|language=en-us|archive-date=September 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912113030/http://www.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx|url-status=live}} Other religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, which collectively make up about 4% to 5% of the adult population.{{cite web | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/documents/aris030609.pdf | title = American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008 | author = Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar | year = 2009 | publisher = Trinity College | location = Hartford, Connecticut, US | access-date = 2009-04-01 | archive-date = January 22, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220122222558/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/documents/aris030609.pdf | url-status = live }}{{cite web|title=CIA Fact Book|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/|publisher=CIA World Fact Book|year=2002|access-date=December 30, 2007|archive-date=January 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108075606/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/affiliations-all-traditions.pdf|title=Religious Composition of the U.S.| publisher=Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life|work=U.S. Religious Landscape Survey|year=2007|access-date=May 9, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090506212506/http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/affiliations-all-traditions.pdf| archive-date= May 6, 2009 | url-status= live}} Another 15% of the adult population identifies as having no religious belief or no religious affiliation. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, religious belief varies considerably across the country: 59% of Americans living in Western states (the "Unchurched Belt") report a belief in God, yet in the South (the "Bible Belt") the figure is as high as 86%.{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/109108/Belief-God-Far-Lower-Western-US.aspx|title=Belief in God Far Lower in Western U.S.|author=Newport, Frank|publisher=The Gallup Organization|date=July 28, 2008|access-date=September 4, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100828073931/http://www.gallup.com/poll/109108/belief-god-far-lower-western-us.aspx| archive-date= August 28, 2010 | url-status= live}}

Several of the original Thirteen Colonies were established by settlers who wished to practice their religion without discrimination: the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by English Puritans, Pennsylvania by Irish and English Quakers, Maryland by English and Irish Catholics, and Virginia by English Anglicans. Although some individual states retained established religious confessions well into the 19th century, the United States was the first nation to have no official state-endorsed religion.Feldman, Noah (2005). Divided by God. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pg. 10 ("For the first time in recorded history, they designed a government with no established religion at all.") Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the Constitution rejected any religious test for office. The First Amendment specifically denied the federal government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, thus protecting any religious organization, institution, or denomination from government interference. European Rationalist and Protestant ideals mainly influenced the decision. Still, it was also a consequence of the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups and small states that did not want to be under the power or influence of a national religion that did not represent them.Marsden, George M. 1990. Religion and American Culture. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp.45–46.

File:First Baptist Church in America from Angell St 2.jpg|The First Baptist Church in America in Providence, Rhode Island

File:Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.jpg|The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. is the most significant Catholic church in the United States.

File:Sunset in Utah.jpg|The Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest LDS temple.

File:Louis Sullivan - exterior - Holy Trinity Russian & Greek Orthodox Church, 1121 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, Cook County, IL.jpg|Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago's Ukrainian Village

File:GENERAL VIEW - Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Cook County, IL HABS ILL,16-OAKPA,3-6 (CT).tif|Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois

File:Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island.jpg|Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island is America's oldest surviving synagogue.

File:Islamic Center of America.jpg|The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan is the largest mosque in North America.

File:Lightmatter Hsi Lai Temple 4.jpg|Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere.

File:Malibu Hindu Temple 11.jpg|Hindu Temple in Malibu, California

File:Willmette how.jpg|The Bahá'í House of Worship, in Wilmette, Illinois

File:Jain Temple -02 by Jain Center of Greater Phoenix (JCGP).jpg|The Jain Center of Greater Phoenix (JCGP) in Phoenix, Arizona

File:San Jose Gurdwara Sahib (2448909577).jpg|Sikh Gurdwara in Evergreen, San Jose, California

{{Main|Culture of the United States}}

File:Motherhood and apple pie.jpg and baseball are icons of American culture.]]

American culture is primarily a Western culture, but is influenced by Native American, West African, Latin American, East Asian, and Polynesian cultures.

The United States of America has its own unique social and cultural characteristics, such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore.

Its chief early European influences came from English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish settlers of colonial America during British rule. British culture, due to colonial ties with Britain that spread the English language, legal system and other cultural inheritances, had a formative influence.{{cite book|author=Carlos E. Cortés|title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|date=September 3, 2013|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-7626-7|page=220|quote=The dominance of English and Anglo values in U.S. culture is evident in the country's major institutions, demonstrating the melting pot model.|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161535/https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Other important influences came from other parts of Europe, especially Germany,{{cite book|last=Kirschbaum|first=Erik|title=The eradication of German culture in the United States, 1917–1918|year=1986|publisher=H.-D. Heinz|isbn=3-88099-617-2|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvUMAQAAMAAJ|access-date=September 27, 2016|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161536/https://books.google.com/books?id=JvUMAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} France,{{cite book|author=Peter J. Parish|title=Reader's Guide to American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnQTAXf4NuIC&pg=PA276|date=January 1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-22-0|page=276|quote=However, France was second only to Britain in its influence upon the formation of American politics and culture.|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161537/https://books.google.com/books?id=DnQTAXf4NuIC&pg=PA276#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} and Italy.{{cite book|author1=Marilyn J. Coleman|author2=Lawrence H. Ganong|title=The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3VpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA775|date=September 16, 2014|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-8615-0|page=775|quote=As the communities grew and prospered, Italian food, entertainment, and music influenced American life and culture.|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161540/https://books.google.com/books?id=R3VpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA775#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

Original elements also play a strong role, such as Jeffersonian democracy.[https://books.google.com/books?id=nf22_zMVdqsC "Mr. Jefferson and the giant moose: natural history in early America"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404205911/https://books.google.com/books?id=nf22_zMVdqsC |date=April 4, 2023 }}, Lee Alan Dugatkin. University of Chicago Press, 2009. {{ISBN|0-226-16914-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-226-16914-9}}. University of Chicago Press, 2009. Chapter x. Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia was perhaps the first influential domestic cultural critique by an American and a reaction to the prevailing European consensus that America's domestic originality was degenerate. Prevalent ideas and ideals that evolved domestically, such as national holidays, uniquely American sports, military tradition,{{cite book|author1=M. D. R. Evans|author2=Jonathan Kelley|title=Religion, Morality and Public Policy in International Perspective, 1984–2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwuLhMDUKdkC&pg=PA302|date=January 2004|publisher=Federation Press|isbn=978-1-86287-451-0|page=302|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161616/https://books.google.com/books?id=QwuLhMDUKdkC&pg=PA302|url-status=live}} and innovations in the arts and entertainment give a strong sense of national pride among the population as a whole.{{cite news |author= |agency=Associated Press |date=June 27, 2006 |title=America tops in national pride survey finds |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13577802 |newspaper=NBC News |access-date=October 22, 2014 |archive-date=September 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923115558/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13577802/ns/us_news-life/t/america-tops-national-pride-survey-finds/#.VEiGMyLF-8A |url-status=live }}
{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Theiss-Morse|author-link=Elizabeth Theiss-Morse|title=Who Counts as an American?: The Boundaries of National Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2SXphY-DvIC&pg=PA133|date=July 27, 2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48891-4|page=133|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928161544/https://books.google.com/books?id=A2SXphY-DvIC&pg=PA133#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. individualism, egalitarianism, faith in freedom and democracy), the American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity.

{{Main|American diaspora}}

[[File:Map of the American Diaspora in the World (Updated).svg|thumb|300x300px|Map of the American diaspora in the world (includes people with American citizenship or children of Americans):

{{Legend|#000000|United States}}

{{Legend|#000070|+ 1,000,000}}

{{Legend|#0404be|+ 100,000}}

{{Legend|#3d7aff|+ 10,000}}

{{Legend|#a7bdf6|+ 1,000}}]]

Americans have migrated to many places around the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Unlike migration from other countries, United States migration is not concentrated in specific countries, possibly as a result of the roots of immigration from so many different countries to the United States.{{cite news |last1=Dam |first1=Andrew Van |title=Why have millions of Americans moved to these countries instead? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/american-emigrants/ |access-date=4 April 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=23 December 2022 |language=en |archive-date=February 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215001422/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/american-emigrants/ |url-status=live }} {{as of|2016}}, there were approximately 9 million United States citizens living outside of the United States.{{cite web|url=https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/travel/CA_By_the_Numbers.pdf|title=CA by the Numbers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616233331/https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/travel/CA_By_the_Numbers.pdf|archive-date=2016-06-16}} As the result of U.S. tax and financial reporting requirements that apply to non-resident citizens, record numbers of American citizens renounced their U.S. citizenship in the decade from 2010 to 2020.{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Robert W. |title=Renouncing American Citizenship Hits All-Time Record |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2021/02/07/renouncing-american-citizenship-hits-all-time-record/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=Forbes |language=en}} In 2024 a new organization was created to lobby the U.S. Congress for relief from citizenship-based taxation that is often cited as the reason for the record renunciations.{{Cite web |title=Tax Fairness For Americans Abroad |url=https://www.taxfairnessabroad.org/blog/americans-abroad-launch-new-global-campaignnbspfor-independence-from-us-tax-discriminationnbsp |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=Tax Fairness For Americans Abroad |language=en-US}}

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