- Americans come from a wide variety of ancestries.
- Using data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, we found how common various ancestries are in all 50 states.
- For instance, Irish ancestry is most concentrated in the northeast, while Mexican and Mexican-American ancestry is most common in the states that share a border with Mexico.
Americans come from all over the world, and American families have countless stories about their origins.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey asks several questions about residents’ economic, social, and demographic characteristics and situations. One of the questions on the survey asks respondents to report their families’ ancestries.
Using individual-level data from the Minnesota Population Center’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for the 2016 American Community Survey, we found the total number of respondents in each state reporting various ancestries as either their first or second response to that question.
About 84% of respondents listed at least one ancestry. The following maps show the percentage of those who gave at least one answer that said they had a particular ancestry for 17 of the most common ancestries in the US.
Americans with German ancestry are common in the upper Midwest
Irish ancestry is most concentrated in the northeast
A large part of the African American and Afro-American population in the US lives in the south
Mexican and Mexican-American ancestry is most common in the states that share a border with Mexico
States with a relatively high proportion of residents identifying as English are scattered across the country
Americans who simply identified their ancestry as being from the United States are common in the inland southern states
The mid-Atlantic region is home to many Americans of Italian ancestry
Alaska, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have large numbers of residents with American Indian ancestry
Many Americans with Polish ancestry live in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Connecticut
French ancestry is most common in Louisiana and the northeast
Scottish ancestry is common in the northeast and Utah
Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin all have many residents with Norwegian ancestry
Puerto Rican ancestry is most common in the mid-Atlantic states and Florida
California and Hawaii have relatively large shares of residents with Chinese ancestry
South Dakota, Iowa, and Michigan have relatively large numbers of residents with Dutch ancestry
Swedish ancestry is most common in the Great Plains and mountain states
New Jersey and Connecticut have large Asian Indian populations
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