2020 Census Data for Nearly 1,500 Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups, Tribes and Villages

The U.S. Census Bureau released 2020 Census population counts and sex-by-age statistics for 300 detailed race and ethnic groups, as well as 1,187 detailed American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) tribes and villages.

These data come from the 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A (Detailed DHC-A). Previously, the Census Bureau released 2020 Census data on the Hispanic or Latino population and major race groups such as White, Black or African American, Asian, etc.

Today’s release adds information on detailed groups within those major categories such as German, Lebanese, Jamaican, Chinese, Native Hawaiian and Mexican — and on AIAN tribes and villages like the Navajo Nation. The release includes information about more than 200 detailed race and ethnic groups not tabulated from previous censuses.

“These 2020 Census data illuminate the rich diversity across our nation,” said Rachel Marks, chief of the Census Bureau’s Racial Statistics Branch. “We have this comprehensive picture thanks to the millions of people who responded to the census and provided their detailed racial, ethnic or tribal identity, and thanks to the stakeholders, researchers and tribal leaders who helped us improve how we collect these detailed data.”

Data Highlights

Among the highlights, the Detailed DHC-A reveals the largest detailed groups within the major race groups and the Hispanic population. For the race groups, data are available for both the race alone population and the race alone or in any combination population. The race alone population represents the minimum number of people who identified as that group. It includes those who reported only one response, such as only Fijian. The race alone or in any combination population represents the maximum number of people who identified as that group. It includes those who reported only one response, such as Fijian, and those who reported multiple responses, such as Fijian and Japanese or Fijian and Black or African American.

Hispanic or Latino Population

• The Mexican population (35.9 million) was the largest detailed Hispanic origin group in 2020, followed by Puerto Rican at 5.6 million and Salvadoran at 2.3 million.
• Detailed Hispanic origin data reveal the Colombian (1.3 million) and Honduran (1.1 million) populations topped one million for the first time.
• The Venezuelan population grew the fastest of all detailed Hispanic origin groups, nearly tripling from 215,023 in 2010 to 605,381 in 2020.

White Population

• The majority of the nation’s White population reported a detailed European identity in 2020.
• English was the most common detailed group with 25.5 million people reporting English alone and 46.6 million English alone or in any combination.
• Together, the English (46.6 million), German (45.0 million), and Irish (38.6 million) alone or in any combination populations made up over half of the White alone or in combination population in 2020.
• The Lebanese (685,672), Iranian (568,564), and Egyptian (396,854) alone or in any combination populations represented nearly half of the 3.5 million respondents who reported a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) response in the 2020 Census — the first census to include MENA examples in a write-in response area. MENA examples were included with the White category following the standards set by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 1997, which classify MENA responses as part of the White racial category.

Black or African American Population

• Among Black or African American respondents, African American was the largest detailed group reported, with 22.1 million people reporting African American alone and 24.6 million African American alone or in any combination.
• The Sub-Saharan African alone population totaled 2.3 million and the Sub-Saharan alone or in any combination population totaled 2.8 million. The Nigerian (604,077), Ethiopian (325,214), Somali (221,043), and Ghanaian (172,558) populations made up 46.9% of the Sub-Saharan African alone or in any combination population.
• The Caribbean alone population totaled 2.1 million and the Caribbean alone or in any combination population totaled 2.6 million. The Jamaican (1.0 million), Haitian (1.0 million), Trinidadian and Tobagonian (194,364), and West Indian (119,806) populations made up 91.5% of the alone or in any combination population. Together, the Jamaican and Haitian populations made up the majority (80.5%) of the nation’s Caribbean alone population in 2020.

American Indian and Alaska Native Population

• Among all American Indian and Alaska Native groups, Aztec (387,122) was the largest alone group and Cherokee (1.5 million) the largest alone or in any combination group in 2020.
• Yup’ik (Yup’ik Eskimo) was the largest Alaska Native alone group (9,026) and Tlingit the largest Alaska Native alone or in any combination group (22,601).
• Among American Indian respondents, the Navajo Nation was the most common alone response with 315,086 people, and Cherokee the most common alone or in any combination response with 1.5 million people.

Asian Population

• Among Asian respondents, Asian Indian was the largest alone group (4.4 million) and Chinese, except Taiwanese the largest alone or in any combination group (5.2 million).
• Filipino (4.4 million), Vietnamese (2.3 million), Korean (2.0 million), and Japanese (1.6 million) all had alone or in any combination populations over 1 million in 2020.
• The Nepalese population was the fastest growing Asian group among those with populations of 50,000 or more in 2010. The Nepalese alone population increased 295.5% from 51,907 in 2010 to 205,297 in 2020, and the Nepalese alone or in any combination population grew 269.0% from 59,490 to 219,503 over the decade.

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population

• Native Hawaiian was the largest Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) alone group (199,880) and alone or in any combination group (680,442).
• Nearly all NHPI groups grew from 2010 to 2020. The Chuukese alone population was the fastest growing NHPI alone group, increasing 296.2% to 10,500 in 2020.
• The fastest growing NHPI alone or in any combination group was Papua New Guinean, which increased by 249.3% to 1,453 people during the decade.

Some Other Race Population

• The vast majority (93.9%) of the 27.9 million respondents classified as Some Other Race alone were of Hispanic or Latino origin.
• The Some Other Race population also includes people who reported “Multiracial and Multiethnic” terms, such as “Biracial,” to the race question. There were 467,447 alone responses and 1.9 million alone or in any combination responses.
• Brazilian was the largest detailed Some Other Race group excluding Hispanic responses and “Multiracial and Multiethnic” responses to the race question. There were 145,180 Brazilian alone and 524,382 alone or in any combination responses.

Comparisons between the 2020 Census and 2010 Census detailed race data should be made with caution and take into account improvements made to the race question and to the way the Census Bureau codes responses. However, the detailed Hispanic origin data from the ethnicity question are comparable between the two censuses. More information about the changes made to the way detailed race and ethnicity groups were coded for the 2020 Census is available in the blog What You Should Know About the Upcoming Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A.

More information about the detailed groups is available in the America Counts stories:

New Population Counts for Nearly 1,500 Race and Ethnicity Groups

Asian Indian Was the Largest Asian Alone Population Group in 2020

Detailed Look at Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Groups

3.5 Million People Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020