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]

Self-identified Race

Percent of

population

White alone   72.4%

African American   12.6%

Asian   4.8%

American Indians and Alaska Natives   0.9%

Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders   0.2%

Two or more races   2.9%

Some Other Race   6.2%

Total   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.

Florence Owens

Thompson(Cherokee)

Code

talkers(Navajo)

Pushmataha(Choctaw)

k origin e

of total

population

1 Cheroke

e

0.26% 819,105

2 Navajo 0.1% 332,129

3 Choctaw 0.06% 195,764

4 Mexican

America

n Indian

0.05% 175,494

5 Chippew

a

0.05% 170,742

6 Sioux 0.05% 170,110

All other 1.08% 3,357,23

5

America

n Indian

(total)

1.69% 5,220,57

9

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

k

Ancestry Percenta

ge

of total

population

Pop.

Anna May

Wong(Chinese)

Jose

Calugas(Filipino)

Kalpana

Chawla(Indian)

Maggie

Q(Vietnamese)

Seo Jae-pil(Korean)

Ellison

Onizuka(Japanese)

1 Chinese 1.2% 3,797,379

2 Filipino 1.1% 3,417,285

3 Indian 1.0% 3,183,063

4 Vietname 0.5% 1,737,665

se

5 Korean 0.5% 1,707,027

6 Japanese 0.4% 1,304,599

Other

Asian

0.9% 2,799,448

Asian

American

(total)

5.6% 17,320,85

6

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 Afro-

Caribbeans.[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 are—or are descended

from—immigrants 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 Mason–Dixon 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

k

Ancestry

group

Percenta

ge

of total est.

population

Pop.

estimate

s

Dred Scott

Frederick

Douglass

Martin Luther King,

Jr.

Colin

Powell(Jamaican

and Scottish)

W. E. B. Du

Bois(Haitian and

Ghanaian)

LeVar

Burton(Nigerian)

1 Jamaican 0.31% 986,897

2 Haitian 0.28% 873,003

3 Nigerian 0.08% 259,934

4 Trinidadia 0.06% 193,233

n and

Tobagoni

an

Kareem Abdul-

Jabbar(Trinidadian

and Tobagonian)

Jack

Johnson(Ghanaian)

Shirley

Chisholm(Barbadian)

5 Ghanaian 0.03% 94,405

6 Barbadian 0.01% 59,236

Sub-

Saharan

African

(total)

0.92% 2,864,067

West

Indian

(total) (exce

pt Hispanic

groups)

0.85% 2,633,149

Black and

African

American

s (total)

13.6% 42,020,74

3

2010 United

States

Census[95]

2009–2011 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

k

National

origin

Percenta

ge

of total est.

population

Pop.

Eva

Longoria(Mexican)

Humbert Roque

Versace (Puerto

Rican)

Félix

Rodríguez(Cuban)

Fernando del

Valle(Salvadoran)

Al

Horford(Dominican)

Daphne

Zuniga(Guatemalan)

Sofia

Vergara(Colombian

American)

Raquel

Welch(Bolivian)

Bill

Guerin(Nicaraguan)

1 Mexican 10.29% 31,798,2

58

2 Puerto

Rican

1.49% 4,623,71

6

3 Cuban 0.57% 1,785,54

7

4 Salvadora

n

0.53% 1,648,96

8

5 Dominican 0.45% 1,414,70

3

6 Guatemal

an

0.33% 1,044,20

9

All other 2.64% 8,162,19

3

Hispanic

and Latino

American

(total)

16.34% 50,477,5

94

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 Anti-

Discrimination 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 2000 2000 (% of US

population) 2010

2010 (% of US

population)

Afghan 53,709 0.0191% 79,775 0.0258%

Arab 1,160,729 0.4125% 1,697,570 0.5498%

Armenian 385,488 0.1370% 474,559 0.1537%

Assyrian/Chaldo-

Assyrian 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% 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 2000 2000 (% of US

population) 2010

2010 (% of US

population)

Israeli 106,839 0.0380% 129,359 0.0419%

Jewish 6,155,000 2.1810% 6,543,820 2.1157%

Kurdish 9,423 0.0033%

%

Syriac 606 0.0002%

%

Tajik 905 0.0003%

%

Turkish 117,575 0.0418% 195,283 0.0633%

"Middle Eastern" 28,400 0.0101%

%

"North Caucasian" 596 0.0002%

%

"North Caucasian

Turkic" 1,347 0.0005% 290,893 0.0942%

TOTAL 8,568,772 3.036418% 9,981,332 3.227071%

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

k

Ancestr

y

Percenta

ge

Pop.

Duke

Kahanamoku(Hawaiian)

Dwayne

Johnson(Samoan)

Sonny

Sandoval(Chamorro)

Sione

Pouha(Tongan)

1 Hawaiia

n

0.17% 527,077

2 Samoan 0.05% 184,440

3 Chamorr

o

0.04% 147,798

4 Tongan 0.01% 57,183

Other

Pacific

Islander

s

0.09% 308,697

Native

Hawaiia

n and

Other

Pacific

Islander

(total)

0.39% 1,225,19

5

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 self-

identify 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 self-

identifying 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

k

Specific

Combinatio

ns

Percenta

ge

of total

population

Pop.

Booker T.

Washington(African

American and

Olivia Munn(Asian

(Chinese) and White

(German and Irish))

1 White;

Black

0.59% 1,834,2

12

2 White;

Some

Other Race

0.56% 1,740,9

24

White)

Elvis Presley(Native

American

(Cherokee) and

White

(FrenchNorman,

German,Scots-Irish,

Scottish))

Edmonia LewisBlack

(Haitian, African

American), Native

American

(Mississauga andOjibwe)

3 White;

Asian

0.52% 1,623,2

34

4 White;

Native

American

0.46% 1,432,3

09

5 African

American;

Some

Other Race

0.1% 314,571

6 African

American;

Native

American

0.08% 269,421

All other

specific

combinatio

ns

0.58% 1,794,4

02

Multiracial

Americans

(Total)

2.9% 9,009,0

73

2010 United States Census

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 non-

Hispanic 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] Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, 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

nk

Ancestry

group

Percent

age

of total est.

population

Pop.

estimate

s

R

ef

John

Steinbeck(German)

John F.

Kennedy(Irish)

George

Washington(English)

1 German 14.60% 46,162,5

57

[177]

2 Irish 10.50% 33,348,0

49

[177]

3 English 7.70% 24,483,2

25

[177]

4 American 7.00% 22,217,9

31

[177]

5 Italian 5.40% 17,222,4

21

[177]

6 Mexican of

(European,

North African

descent)

5.40% 16,794,1

11

[182]

7 Polish 3.00% 9,383,33

2

[177]

8 French (except B

asque)

2.60% 8,227,93

8

[177]

9 Scottish 1.70% 5,310,28

5

[177]

10 Dutch 1.40% 4,271,86

9

[177]

11 Norwegian 1.40% 4,484,16

7

[177]

White and

European

American (Tot

al)

231,040,

398

[172]

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 English-

only

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

Language Percent of

population

Number of

speakers

English 80% 233,780,338

Combined total of all languages

other than English 20% 57,048,617

Spanish

(excluding Puerto Rico and Spanish Creole) 12% 35,437,985

Chinese

(including Cantonese and Mandarin) 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

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal

level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize 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 % of U.S. population

Christian 70.6

Protestant 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 22.8

Nothing in particular 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 0.6

Total 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] Non-

Christian 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]