AMERICAN PEOPLE

Overview[edit]
Main articles: Race and ethnicity in the United States, Colonial United States and Immigration to the
United States
The majority of Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries, with the
exception of the Native American population and people from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and
the Philippine Islandswho became American through expansion of the country in the 19th
century,[42] and American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th
century.[43]
Despite its multi-ethnic composition,[44][45] the culture of the United States held in common by most
Americans can also be referred to as mainstream "American culture", a Western culture largely
derived from the traditions of Northern and Western European colonists, settlers, and
immigrants.[44] It also includes influences of African-American culture.[46] Westward expansion
integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought
close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements. Immigration
from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad
bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged
distinctive cultural characteristics.[44]
In addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found
internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, and make up
the American diaspora.[47][48][49]

Racial and ethnic groups[edit]

Main article: Race and ethnicity in the United States
See also: Demographics of the United States
2010 U.S Census [50]Table 1[51]
Percent of
population

Self-identified Race

White alone
African American
Asian
American Indians and Alaska Natives
Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
Two or more races

72.4%
12.6%
4.8%
0.9%
0.2%
2.9%

Some Other Race

Total

6.2%
100%

Hispanic and Latino American (of any race): 16.3%[52]

The United States of America is a diverse country, racially, and ethnically.[53] Six races are officially
recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes: White, American Indian and Alaska
Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people of
two or more races. "Some other race" is also an option in the census and other surveys.[54][55][56]
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.[54][55][57]

American Indians and Alaska Natives[edit]

Main article: Native Americans in the United States
See also: Blood quantum laws and Bureau of Indian Affairs
According to the 2010 Census, there are 5.2 million people who are American Indian or Alaska
Native alone, or in combination with one or more races; they make up 1.7% of the total
population.[a][59] According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a "American Indian or
Alaska Native" is a person whose ancestry have origins in any of the original peoples of North,
Central, or South America.[59] 2.3 million individuals who are American Indian or Alaskan Native are
multiracial;[59] additionally the plurality of American Indians reside in the Western United
States (40.7%).[59] Collectively and historically this race has been known by several names;[60] 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.[61]
Native Americans, whose ancestry is indigenous to the Americas, originally migrated to the two
continents between 10,000-45,000 years ago.[62] These Paleoamericans spread throughout the two
continents and evolved into hundreds of distinct cultures during the pre-Columbian era.[63] Following
the first voyage of Christopher Columbus,[64] the European colonization of the Americas began,
with St. Augustine, Florida becoming the first permanent European settlement in the continental
United States.[65] From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans
declinedin the following ways: epidemic diseases brought from Europe;[66] genocide and warfare at
the hands of European explorers and colonists,[67][68][69] as well as between tribes;[70][71]displacement
from their lands;[72] internal warfare,[73] enslavement;[74] and intermarriage.[75][76]

Population by selected tribal groups[59][77]

Ran

National

Percentag

Pop.

Code
talkers(Navajo)
Florence Owens

Pushmataha(Choctaw)

origin

e
of total
population

Cheroke

0.26%

819,105

Navajo

0.1%

332,129

Choctaw

0.06%

195,764

Mexican

0.05%

175,494

0.05%

170,742

Sioux

0.05%

170,110

All other

1.08%

3,357,23

America
n Indian

Chippew
a

America

1.69%

5,220,57

n Indian

(total)

2010 United States Census

Asian Americans[edit]
Main articles: Asian American and Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans

Another significant population is the Asian American population, comprising 17.3 million in 2010, or
5.6% of the U.S. population.[b][78][79] California is home to 5.6 million Asian Americans, the greatest
number in any state.[80] In Hawaii, Asian Americans make up the highest proportion of the population
(57 percent).[80] 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.[81]
They are by no means a monolithic group. 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.[82] Additionally, Asians have a higher education attainment level than all other racial groups in
the United States.[83][84]For better or worse, the group has been called a model minority.[85][86][87]
While Asian Americans have been in what is now the United States since before the Revolutionary
War,[88][89][90] relatively large waves of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese immigration did not begin until
the mid-to-late 19th century.[90] Immigration and significant population growth continue to this
day.[91] Due to a number of factors, Asian Americans have been stereotyped as "perpetual
foreigners".[92][93]

Asian ancestries[78]

Ran

Ancestry

Percenta

Pop.

ge
of total
population

Chinese

1.2%

3,797,379

Filipino

1.1%

3,417,285

Indian

1.0%

3,183,063

Anna May

Jose

Kalpana

Wong(Chinese)

Calugas(Filipino)

Chawla(Indian)

Maggie

Seo Jae-pil(Korean)

Ellison

Q(Vietnamese)

Vietname

0.5%

1,737,665

Onizuka(Japanese)

se

Korean

0.5%

1,707,027

Japanese

0.4%

1,304,599

Other

0.9%

2,799,448

5.6%

17,320,85

Asian

Asian
American

(total)

2010 United States Census

Black and African Americans[edit]

Main articles: African American and Black Hispanic and Latino Americans
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.[94] According to the Office of Management and Budget, the racial
category include those who self-identify as African American, Sub-Saharan Africans, and AfroCaribbeans.[95] According to the 2009 American Community Survey, there were 38,093,725 blacks in
the United States, which represented 12.4% of the population. In addition, there were 37,144,530
non-Hispanic blacks, which represented 12.1% of the population.[96] This number increased to 42
million according to the 2010 United States Census, when including Multiracial African
Americans,[95] making up 14% of the total population of the United States.[c][97] African Americans
make up the second largest race in the United States, but the third largest group after White
Americans and Hispanic or Latino Americans (of any race);[98] the majority of the population (55%)
live in theSouth, while compared to 2000 Census there is a decrease of African Americans in
the Northeast and Midwest.[97]
Most African Americans are the direct descendants of captive Africans who survived the slavery
era within the boundaries of the present United States, although some areor are descended
fromimmigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations.[99] As an

adjective, the term is usually spelled African-American.[100] More recent immigrants from Africa may,
or may not, self-identify as "African-American";[101][102] and may experience conflict with American-born
African-Americans.[103][104][105][106]
The first 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 theCaribbean.[107] 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);[108] by the
beginning of the American Revolutionary War 1/5th of the total population was enslaved.[109] During
the revolution, some would serve in the Continental Army or Continental
Navy,[110][111] while others would serve the British Empire in Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, and
other units.[112]By 1804, the northern states (north of the MasonDixon line)
had abolished slavery.[113] However, slavery would persist in the southern states until the end of
the American Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.[114] Following the end of
theReconstruction Era, which saw the first African American representation in Congress,[115] African
Americans became disenfranchised and subject to Jim Crow laws,[116] legislation that would persist
until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act due to the Civil Rights
Movement.[117]

Population by ancestry group[118]

Ran

Ancestry

Percenta

Pop.

group

ge

estimate

of total est.

population

Dred Scott

Jamaican

0.31%

986,897

Haitian

0.28%

873,003

Nigerian

0.08%

259,934

Trinidadia

0.06%

193,233

Frederick

Martin Luther King,

Douglass

Jr.

Colin

W. E. B. Du

LeVar

Powell(Jamaican

Bois(Haitian and

Burton(Nigerian)

and Scottish)

Ghanaian)

n and
Tobagoni
an

Ghanaian

0.03%

94,405
Kareem AbdulJabbar(Trinidadian

Barbadian

0.01%

59,236

Sub-

0.92%

2,864,067

0.85%

2,633,149

13.6%

42,020,74

Jack

Shirley

Johnson(Ghanaian) Chisholm(Barbadian)

and Tobagonian)

Saharan
African
(total)

West
Indian
(total) (exce
pt Hispanic
groups)

Black and
African
American
s (total)

3
2010 United
States
Census

[95]

20092011 American Community Survey

Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity[edit]

Main article: Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans (of any race) make up the largest ethnic minority in the United
States and form the second largest group after non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, making up
16.3% of the population, according to the 2010 United States Census.[d][98][119]

Hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather
than a race.[120][121][122][123]
People of Spanish or Hispanic descent have lived in what is now the United States since the
founding of St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. In the State of
Texas, Spaniards first settled the region in the late 1600s and formed a uniquecultural group known
as Tejanos.

Population by national origin[124][125]

Ran

National

Percenta

origin

ge

Pop.

of total est.
population

Mexican

10.29%

31,798,2

Eva

Humbert Roque

Flix

Longoria(Mexican)

Versace (Puerto

Rodrguez(Cuban)

58

Puerto

1.49%

Rican

Cuban

4,623,71
6

0.57%

1,785,54
7

Salvadora

0.53%

Dominican

Rican)

Fernando del

Guatemal
an

Daphne

Valle(Salvadoran) Horford(Dominican) Zuniga(Guatemalan)

1,648,96
8

0.45%

1,414,70

Sofia

Raquel

Bill

Vergara(Colombian

Welch(Bolivian)

Guerin(Nicaraguan)

American)

Al

0.33%

1,044,20
9

All other

2.64%

8,162,19
3

Hispanic

16.34%

50,477,5

and Latino

94

American
(total)

2010 United States Census

Middle Easterners and North Africans[edit]

Main articles: Middle Eastern Americans, North Africans in the United States, Iranian
Americans, Arab Americans and Jewish Americans
See also Estevanico and Joachim Gans
Some of the first Middle Easterners and North Africans, i.e. Jews and Berbers, arrived in the
Americas between the late 14th and mid-16th centuries,[126][127][128][129] many either fleeing racial
and ethnoreligious persecution,[130][131] or taken to the Americas as slaves.[127]
According to the Arab American Institute (AAI), countries of origin for Arab
Americans include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Li
bya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Saudi
Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria,Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[132] The Arab American
National Museum indicates that the first Middle Easterners and North Africans (MENA) arrived in
the Americas between the late 14th and mid-16th centuries.[127]
In 1909, the Superior Court and the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. ruled on a case
that redefined Middle Easterners and their racial distinction. According to the Arab American
Historical Foundation and the Los Angeles Herald, a case in which George Shishim a Lebanese
policeman, arrested a "white" man, who claimed that because Shishim was Lebanese, he must
not be racially "white," but rather "Chinese-Mongolian."[133] Shishim, his attorneys, and the
Syrian-Lebanese and Arab American communities rallied to prove that Lebanese, Syrians, and
all Arabs and Middle Easterners were in fact "white" to both gain official citizenship in the United
States, as well as avoid other exclusive and restrictive penalties of being labeled as
Asian.[134] One of the Shishim's arguments appealed to the white justices' desire to connect to
their revered religious figure, Jesus. Shishim said: If I am a Mongolian, then so was Jesus,
because we came from the same land.[135] As noted in the 1909 publication of the "Proceedings

of the Asiatic Exclusion League," the presiding Judge Hutton concluded that Syrians had
descended from Hebrews, who descended from "the Semitic family of the 'Indo-Aryan race,'" but
because the Mongol conquerors had killed the Syrian men, and interbred with the Syrian
women, "western nations have been unable to restore [the Syrians'] original characteristics"
(6). [136] Shishim won, was granted citizenship, and from 1909 on, Middle Easterners were legally
considered "white" in the United States.
However, in 1910, Congress passed a bill that defined "Armenians, Assyrians, and Jews" as
"Asiatics," while still approving their claims to citizenship.[137] This declaration, while not taking
away their citizenship, affirms the ethnic origins and identities of Armenians, Assyrians, and
Jews as "non-white."
Over the decades of the 20th century, as more Jews, Arab Americans, Mexican Americans, and
other ethnic groups, had their increased populations in the Untied States, the racial
discrimination they faced also increased. Due to the ruling in Shishim's case and the
interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,
United States citizens could not sue one another for discrimination if they belonged to "the same
race."[138] In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled "unanimously today that Arabs, Jews and members
of other ethnic groups may sue under a post-Civil War law's broad prohibition against
discrimination."[139]
Following the events of September 11, 2001, [140] the United States Census Bureau still considers
MENA Americans as "white,"[141] and only counts Jews as members of a religion.[142] Many
members of these groups, from Jews, to North Africans, to Arab Americans, do not consider
themselves "white."[143][144][145]
In addition, as modern scientific data has improved, more information on the true origins and
ethnic distinctions have emerged. For example, studies have shown that Jews share more
genetic relativity to other Jews around the world than to the surrounding non-Jewish ethnic
groups.[146] Some studies also suggest that other Middle Eastern (non-Jewish) ethnic groups
remain one of the closest relations to Jews.[147]
The United States Census Bureau is presently finalizing the ethnic classification of MENA
populations. This process does not pertain to Jewish, Muslim, Christian or Sikh adherents,
whom the bureau tabulates as followers of a religion rather than members of an ethnic
group.[148] In 2012, prompted in part by post-9/11 discrimination, the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee petitioned the Department of Commerce's Minority Business
Development Agency to designate the MENA populations as a minority/disadvantaged
community.[149] 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" category that these populations

had previously been tabulated under. The expert groups felt that the earlier "white" designation
did not accurately represent MENA identity, so they successfully lobbied for a distinct
categorization.[150]
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 Turkish, Sudanese, Djiboutian, Somali, Mauritanian, Armenian, Cypriot, Afghan, Azerbaijani a
nd Georgiangroups.[151]

Middle Eastern Americans in the 2000[152] - 2010 U.S. Census,[153] the Mandell L. Berman
Institute, and theNorth American Jewish Data Bank[154]

Ancestry

Afghan

2000

2000 (% of US
population)

2010 (% of US

2010

population)

53,709

0.0191%

79,775

0.0258%

1,160,729

0.4125%

1,697,570

0.5498%

385,488

0.1370%

474,559

0.1537%

81,749

0.0290%

106,821

0.0346%

Azerbaijani

14,205

0.0050%

Cypriot

7,643

0.0027%

Georgian

6,298

0.0022%

Iranian

338,266

0.1202%

Arab

Armenian

Assyrian/ChaldoAssyrian

463,552

0.1501%

Middle Eastern Americans in the 2000[152] - 2010 U.S. Census,[153] the Mandell L. Berman
Institute, and theNorth American Jewish Data Bank[154]

Ancestry

Israeli

2000

2000 (% of US
population)

2010 (% of US

2010

population)

106,839

0.0380%

129,359

0.0419%

6,155,000

2.1810%

6,543,820

2.1157%

9,423

0.0033%

606

0.0002%

Tajik

905

0.0003%

Turkish

117,575

0.0418%

"Middle Eastern"

28,400

0.0101%

"North Caucasian"

596

0.0002%

1,347

0.0005%

290,893

0.0942%

8,568,772

3.036418%

9,981,332

3.227071%

Jewish

Kurdish

Syriac

"North Caucasian
Turkic"

TOTAL

195,283

0.0633%

Although tabulated, "religious responses" were reported as a single total and not differentiated,
despite totaling 1,089,597 in 2000.[152]

Independent organizations provide improved estimates of the total populations of races and
ethnicities in the US using the raw data from the US Census and other surveys.
For example, although any respondents who self-identified as Jewish were included under the
religious responses in the census, as Jews are an ethnoreligious group with culture and ethnicity
intertwined, estimates from the Mandell L. Berman Institute and the North American Jewish Data
Bank put the total population of Jews between 5.34 and 6.16 million in 2000 and around
6.54 million in 2010.[154] Similarly, the Arab-American Institute estimated the population of Arab
Americans at 3.7 million in 2012.[155]
The majority of Arab Americans are Christian.[156][157] Most Maronites tend to be of Lebanese,
Syrian, or Cypriot extraction; the majority of Christians of Cypriot and Palestinian background
are often Eastern Orthodox.
Estimated African MENA populations in the United States:

Algerian American: 8,752 (2000 Census[152])

Canarian American: 45,000-75,000 (2000 statistics)

Djiboutian American: 300 (2000 Census[158])

Egyptian American: 190,078 (2010 census.[159] In 2008 them were estimated in 800,000 2,000,000[160])

Libyan American: 9,000 (2010 Census)

Mauritanian American: 992 (2000 Census)

Moroccan American: 82,073 (2010 Census)

Somali American: 85,700 (2012 ACS)

Sudanese American: 42,249 (2010 Census)

Tunisian American: 4,735 (2000 Census)

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders[edit]

Main article: Pacific Islands American
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."[161] Previously called Asian
Pacific American, along with Asian Americans beginning in 1976, this was changed in
1997.[162] As of the 2010 United States Census there are 1.2 million who reside in the United
States, and make up 0.4% of the nation's total population, of whom 56% are multiracial.[e][163] 14%
of the population have at least a bachelor's degree,[163] and 15.1% live in poverty, below
the poverty threshold.[163] As compared to the 2000 United States Census this population grew by
40%;[161] 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.[161] The largest concentration of

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, is Honolulu County in Hawaii,[163] and Los Angeles
County in the continental United States.[161]

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander by ancestries[161]

Ran

Ancestr

Percenta

ge

Hawaiia

0.17%

Pop.

527,077

Duke

Dwayne

Kahanamoku(Hawaiian) Johnson(Samoan)

Samoan

0.05%

184,440

Chamorr

0.04%

147,798

Sonny
Sandoval(Chamorro)

Sione
Pouha(Tongan)

Tongan

0.01%

57,183

Other

0.09%

308,697

0.39%

1,225,19

Pacific
Islander
s

Native
Hawaiia
n and
Other
Pacific
Islander
(total)

2010 United States Census

Some other Race[edit]

Main articles: Multiracial Americans and Mestizos in the United States
According to the 2010 United States Census, 6.2% or 19,107,368 Americans chose to selfidentify with the "Some other Race" category; the third most popular option. Also, 36.7% or
18,503,103 Hispanic/Latino Americans chose to identify as some other race as these
Hispanic/Latinos may feel the U.S. census does not describe their European or American Indian
ancestry as they understand it to be.[164] A significant portion of the Hispanic and Latino
population self-identifies as Mestizo, particularly the Mexican and Central American
community. Mestizo is not a racial category in the U.S. Census, but signifies someone who has
both European and American Indian ancestry.

Two or more races[edit]

Main article: Multiracial American
The U.S. has a growing multiracial identity movement. Multiracial Americans numbered
7.0 million in 2008, or 2.3% of the population;[79] by the 2010 census the Multiracial increased to
9,009,073, or 2.9% of the total population.[165] 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.[166] The largest population of Multiracial
Americans were those of White and African American descent, with a total of 1,834,212 selfidentifying individuals.[165] Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, is biracial with his
mother being of English and Irish descent and his father being of Kenyan birth;[167][168] however,
Obama only self-identifies as being African American.[169][170]

Population by selected Two or More Races Population[171]

Ran

Specific

Percenta

Combinatio

ge

ns

of total

Pop.

population

White;
Black

0.59%

1,834,2
12

Booker T.

Olivia Munn(Asian

Washington(African

(Chinese) and White

American and

(German and Irish))

White;

0.56%

1,740,9

Some

White)

24

Other Race

White;

0.52%

1,623,2

Asian

White;

34

0.46%

1,432,3

Native

09

American

Elvis Presley(Native Edmonia LewisBlack

American

(Haitian, African

(Cherokee) and

American), Native

White

American

(FrenchNorman,

(Mississauga andOjibwe)

German,Scots-Irish,
Scottish))

African

0.1%

314,571

0.08%

269,421

0.58%

1,794,4

American;
Some
Other Race

African
American;
Native
American

All other
specific

02

combinatio
ns

Multiracial

2.9%

9,009,0

Americans
(Total)

2010 United States Census

73

White and European Americans[edit]

Main articles: European Americans, White Americans and White Hispanic and Latino Americans
People of European descent, or whites, constitute the majority of the 308 million people living in
the United States, with 72.4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census.[f][50][172] They
are considered people who trace their ancestry to the original peoples of Europe, the Middle
East, and North Africa.[50] Of those reporting to be White American, 7,487,133 reported to be
Multiracial; with largest combination being white and black.[172] Additionally, there are 29,184,290
White Hispanics or Latinos.[172] Non-Hispanic Whitesare the majority in 46 states. There are
four minority-majority states: California, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii.[50] In addition, the
District of Columbia has a non-white majority.[50] The state with the highest percentage of nonHispanic White Americans is Maine.[173]
The largest continental ancestral group of Americans are that of Europeans who have origins in
any of the original peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North
American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations that have a
large European diaspora.[174]
The Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the
United States.[175] Martn de Argelles born 1566, San Agustn, La Florida, was the first person of
European descent born in what is now the United States.[176] Twenty-one years later, Virginia
Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in
the Thirteen Colonies to English parents.
In the 2013 American Community Survey, German Americans (14.6%), Irish
Americans (10.5%), English Americans (7.7%) and Italian Americans (5.4%) were the four
largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States forming 38.2% of the total
population.[177]
Overall, as the largest group, European Americans have the lowest poverty rate[178] and the
second highest educational attainment levels, median household income,[179] and
median personal income[180] of any racial demographic in the nation.

Population by ancestry group[181][118]

Ra

Ancestry

Percent

nk

group

age
of total est.

Pop.

estimate ef
s

population

John

John F.

George

Steinbeck(German)

Kennedy(Irish)

Washington(English)

German

14.60%

46,162,5

[177]

57

Irish

10.50%

33,348,0

[177]

49

English

7.70%

24,483,2

[177]

25

American

7.00%

22,217,9

[177]

31

Italian

5.40%

17,222,4

[177]

21

Mexican of

5.40%

(European,

16,794,1

[182]

11

North African
descent)

Polish

3.00%

9,383,33

[177]

French (except B 2.60%

8,227,93

asque)

Scottish

1.70%

5,310,28
5

[177]

[177]

10

Dutch

1.40%

4,271,86

[177]

11

Norwegian

1.40%

4,484,16

[177]

White and

231,040,

European

398

[172]

American (Tot
al)

2010 United States Census & 2013 American Community Survey

National personification[edit]

"Uncle Sam" is a national personification of the United States. The image bears resemblance to the
real Samuel Wilson. The female personification, primarily popular during the 18th and 19th centuries,
is "Columbia".

A national personification is an anthropomorphism of a nation or its people; it can appear in

both editorial cartoons and propaganda.
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 Warin 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.

Language[edit]
Main articles: Languages of the United States, English language, American English and Englishonly

Languages spoken at home by more than 1 million persons in 2010[183]

Language

English

Percent of

Number of

population

speakers

80%

233,780,338

20%

57,048,617

12%

35,437,985

0.9%

2,567,779

Tagalog

0.5%

1,542,118

Vietnamese

0.4%

1,292,448

French

0.4%

1,288,833

Korean

0.4%

1,108,408

German

0.4%

1,107,869

Combined total of all languages

other than English

Spanish
(excluding Puerto Rico and Spanish Creole)

Chinese
(including Cantonese and Mandarin)

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal
level, some lawssuch as U.S. naturalization requirementsstandardize English. In 2007,
about 226 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at
home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common
language and the most widely taught second language.[184][185] Some Americans advocate making

English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight

states.[186] BothHawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[187]
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.[188] Other states, such as
California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents. The
latter include court forms.[189] 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.

Religion[edit]
Main article: Religion in the United States

Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2014)[190]

Affiliation

Christian

Protestant

% of U.S. population

70.6

46.5

Evangelical Protestant

25.4

Mainline Protestant

14.7

Black church

6.5

Catholic

20.8

Mormon

1.6

Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2014)[190]

Affiliation

% of U.S. population

Jehovah's Witnesses

0.8

Eastern Orthodox

0.5

Other Christian

0.4

Non-Christian faiths

5.9

Jewish

1.9

Muslim

0.9

Buddhist

0.7

Hindu

0.7

Other Non-Christian faiths

1.8

Unaffiliated

Nothing in particular

22.8

15.8

Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2014)[190]

Affiliation

% of U.S. population

Agnostic

4.0

Atheist

3.1

Don't know/refused answer

Total

0.6

100

Religion in the United States has a high adherence level compared to other developed
countries, as well as 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, although similar to the other nations of the Americas.[191] 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.[192]
The majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant and
Catholic denominations, accounting for 51% and 25% of the population respectively.[193] NonChristian religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism), collectively make up
about 4% to 5% of the adult population.[193][194][195] Another 15% of the adult population identifies as
having no religious belief or no religious affiliation.[193] 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%.[193][196]
Several of the original Thirteen Colonies were established by settlers who wished to practice
their own 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.[197] Modeling the provisions concerning religion
within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the Constitution rejected any
religious test for office, and 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. The decision was mainly influenced by European Rationalist and
Protestant ideals, but 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.[198]