Finally, 2020 Census results showed that Hawaii (21.8%) was the state with the highest diffusion score, followed by Alaska (17.9%), Oklahoma (17.8%) and Nevada (16.0%). In West Virginia, the Multiracial non-Hispanic population (4.0%) became the second-most prevalent group, surpassing the Black or African American alone non-Hispanic population (3.6%). In Wisconsin, the Hispanic or Latino population (7.6%) became the second-most prevalent group, surpassing the Black or African American alone non-Hispanic population (6.2%). The Household Pulse Survey is designed to provide near-real-time information about the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American households.
By fall, 11.1% of households with school-age children reported homeschooling (Sept. 30-Oct. 12). A clarification was added to the school enrollment question to make sure households were reporting true homeschooling rather than virtual learning through a public or private school. The majority of households across all five languages were family households, defined as having at least two members (including the householder) related by birth, marriage or adoption. On average, these households each had zero to one child under age 18 and three to four persons in the family. Employment status of speakers ages 16 and over did not vary much across the five languages (Figure 3).
Redistricting & Voting Rights Data Office (RDO)
Detailed European responses accounted for 58.8% of the White alone and 56.1% of the White alone or in combination populations. Figures 2 and 3 show the most and second-most prevalent racial or ethnic groups by county in 2020. The most prevalent racial or ethnic group for the United States was the White alone non-Hispanic population at 57.8%. Possible contributing factors include local homeschooling variation that predated the pandemic, local rates of coronavirus infections, and local decisions about how school is being conducted during the pandemic. In households where respondents identified as Black or African American (Table 1), the proportion homeschooling increased by five times, from 3.3% (April 23-May 5) to 16.1% in the fall (Sept. 30-Oct. 12). The size of the increases for the other Race/Hispanic origin groups were not statistically different from one another.
Census Results
In contrast, Tagalog-speaking households were more likely to be “non-limited” English speaking. About 92% of Tagalog-speaking households were non-limited English speaking and 8% were limited English speaking. In contrast, only 4% of Tagalog speakers were ages 5 to 14 but a third (33%) were 60 or older.
In the first week (April 23-May 5) of Phase 1 of the Household Pulse Survey, about 5.4% of U.S. households with school-aged children reported homeschooling . Using a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. households, the survey shows homeschooling is notably higher than the national benchmarks and offers a glimpse of changes in homeschooling patterns during the pandemic. A limited English-speaking household is one in which no members ages14 and over speak only English or speak English “very well.” About a third of Chinese (33%) and Vietnamese (31%) households were limited English-speaking households – four times greater than Tagalog households. The number of people in the United States who spoke a language other than English at home nearly tripled from 23.1 million (about 1 in 10) in 1980 to 67.8 million (almost 1 in 5) in 2019, according to a recent U.S. The Technical Documentation PDF 10.6 MB provides more information on data quality and how the Census Bureau collects, codes and tabulates statistics on race and Hispanic or Latino origin. Norwegian was the most common group in 15 counties, all in northern Minnesota, North Dakota or Montana.
- In this article we refer to foreign-language “speakers” as those who report speaking a language other than English (LOTE) at home, not necessarily all those who can speak that language.
- Using the same Diversity Index calculation for 2020 and 2010 redistricting data, the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different racial or ethnic groups has increased to 61.1% in 2020 from 54.9% in 2010.
- The White alone non-Hispanic population was the largest — or most prevalent — racial or ethnic group for most counties in the United States.
- About two-thirds of the White alone and White alone or in combination populations reported a detailed response, such as German, Irish, Lebanese or French Canadian.
- In this format, the DI tells us the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups.
- In contrast, Tagalog-speaking households were more likely to be “non-limited” English speaking.
U.S. States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico
The federal government relies on data on language use and English proficiency to provide language services under the Voting Rights Act, as well as to allocate educational funds to state English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. Both had the greatest share (16%) of speakers ages 5 to 14 years and a small share of older speakers – 14% of Spanish speakers and 13% of Arabic speakers were ages 60 and over. In this article we refer to foreign-language “speakers” as those who report speaking a language other than English (LOTE) at home, not necessarily all those who can speak that language. German was the largest group in over 1,000 counties, particularly in the Midwest, Pennsylvania, and parts of Texas, including the Texas Hill Country. Maricopa County, Arizona, home to Phoenix, had the largest English and German populations of all counties in the nation (620,199 and 639,586 respectively).
Figure 2 displays the breakdown of age and nativity for the five most commonly spoken languages other than English in 2019. Speakers of Spanish and Arabic, the first and fifth most common foreign languages spoken, had similar age compositions. The estimates presented in this table package may differ from those based on administrative data or exit polls due to factors such as survey nonresponse, vote misreporting and methodological issues related to question wording and survey administration. French Canadian and Canadian were the two largest detailed groups in the “Other White” population, with their alone or in any combination populations each exceeding half a million. About two-thirds of the White alone and White alone or in combination populations reported a detailed response, such as German, Irish, Lebanese or French Canadian. Again, the way to interpret the DI is that there was a 73.7% chance in Prince William County, Virginia, that two people chosen at random were from different racial or ethnic groups.
English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census
Here, we see results that are not as impacted by the race reporting patterns of Hispanic or Latino respondents. In this America Counts story on racial and ethnic diversity, we cross-tabulate the race and Hispanic origin statistics, as data users often do, such as with the 2020 Census redistricting tables. Here we present highlights on racial and ethnic diversity from the 2020 Census and explain what each measure tells us about the nation’s population. More detailed data for the nation, states, counties and Puerto Rico are available in our interactive data visualization.
The county with the largest Norwegian population (135,077) was Hennepin, Minnesota, which includes Minneapolis. An additional 11 detailed White alone or in any combination groups had at least 1 million people, including Swedish (3.8 million), Norwegian (3.8 million), and Dutch (3.6 million) (Figure 1). In the 2020 Census, over 235 million people reported they were White alone or in combination with another race group, such as Black or African American.
We use the Diversity Index (DI) to measure the probability that two people chosen at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups. We know that cross tabulating the race and Hispanic origin categories yields a relatively small Some Other Race alone non-Hispanic population. This is because the vast majority (94%) of responses to the race question that are classified as Some Other Race alone are from people of Hispanic or Latino origin identifying as “Mexican,” “Latino” and other Hispanic origin groups. These diversity calculations require the use of mutually exclusive racial and ethnic (nonoverlapping) categories. The overall racial and ethnic diversity of the country has increased since 2010, according to U.S. Comparisons of estimates take sampling error into account and are significant at the 90% confidence level, unless otherwise noted.
The White alone non-Hispanic population was the largest — or most prevalent — racial or ethnic group for most counties in the United States. We explored using alternative racial and ethnic categories for our analysis but found that they did not have a substantial impact on the overall results. Our recent blog, Measuring Racial and Ethnic Diversity for the 2020 Census, includes detailed information about these specific diversity measures and how to interpret them. The 2020 Census used the required two separate questions (one for Hispanic or Latino origin and one for race) to collect the races and ethnicities of the U.S. population — following the standards set by the U.S. Education is one of many topics covered by the survey and the data are not designed to provide a highly detailed look at the many different types of educational arrangements and innovations pursued by households in this unusual school year.
Using the same Diversity Index calculation for 2020 and 2010 redistricting data, the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different racial or ethnic groups has increased to 61.1% in 2020 from 54.9% in 2010. We have converted the probabilities into percentages to make them easier to interpret. In this format, the DI tells us the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups. These demographic changes as well as improvements to the ways in which race and ethnicity data are collected and processed reveal the U.S. population is more racially and ethnically diverse than measured in 2010. The concept of “diversity” we use refers to the representation and relative size of different racial and ethnic groups within a population and is maximized when all groups are represented in an area and have equal shares of the population. The improvements and updates enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people self-identify, yielding a more accurate portrait of how people report their Hispanic origin and race within the context of a two-question format.
The English alone population was the largest detailed White group nationally, in 35 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The German alone population was the largest in 10 states, the Italian alone population in four, and the Irish alone population only in Massachusetts. In contrast, the District of Columbia’s Black or African American alone non-Hispanic population was 50.0% and the White alone non-Hispanic population was 34.8% in 2010, a difference of 15.2 percentage points. For the District of Columbia, the difference in the size of the Black or African American alone non-Hispanic population (40.9%) and the White alone non-Hispanic population (38.0%) narrowed dramatically in 2020 with only a 2.9 percentage point difference. In Texas, the first- and second-most prevalent group rankings did not change between 2010 and 2020, but the difference in size between the White alone non-Hispanic population (39.7%) and the Hispanic or Latino population (39.3%) shrank to 0.4 percentage points. You can explore the Diversity Index for all states and counties by interacting with the data visualization.
In addition to language information, the ACS collects data on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Among nonfamily households, defined either as a person living alone or one who shares the housing unit with nonrelatives such as boarders or roommates, a greater proportion (30%) of Chinese-speaking households were nonfamily compared to households speaking the other four languages. In addition to individual differences, there were also differences in the U.S. households that spoke the five most frequently spoken non-English languages (Figure 5). About a third (33%) of Spanish speakers did not graduate from high school, the largest share of speakers of the five most common languages other than English. In 2019, 51% of Tagalog and 54% of Chinese speakers had a bachelor’s degree or higher (these two groups were not statistically different from each other) compared to only 17% of Spanish speakers. Figure 3 shows educational attainment for the U.S. population ages 25 years and older by language spoken at home.
- Homeschooling is a legal instructional option in all 50 states and national homeschooling rates grew rapidly from 1999 to 2012 but had since remained steady at around 3.3%.
- Spanish speakers were less likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens (18%) than not U.S. citizens (28%).
- Table 2 shows the 10 counties (with 5,000 or more total population) with the highest DI in 2020 and their scores in 2010.
As a result, data are now available from the decennial census for 104 detailed White groups, including Lithuanian, Irish, Libyan, Syrian, Pennsylvania Dutch and Australian. In 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population became the largest racial or ethnic group in California, comprising 39.4% of the total population, up from 37.6% in 2010. This differs from 2010, when the largest racial or ethnic group in California was the White alone non-Hispanic population, whose share declined from 40.1% in 2010 to 34.7% in 2020. The remaining racial and ethnic groups combined to make up 11.4% of the total population, representing the diffusion score. We also calculate the diffusion score, which measures the combined percentage of all racial and ethnic groups that are not in the first-, second- or third-largest racial and ethnic group. The American Community Survey is a nationally representative survey of households in the United States administered annually to a sample of approximately 3.5 million housing unit addresses (obtaining information about every household member).
For data from previous presidential election years, visit the Voting and Registration page. Italian was the largest group in several counties in New Jersey and the Long Island area of New York. Italian was also the largest group in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, New Haven County, Connecticut and Guaynabo Municipio, Puerto Rico. The largest Italian population (360,345) was in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. Together, the two states accounted for over a quarter (1,712,976) of those who reported Italian alone. For the first time ever, respondents to the 2020 Census who reported White as a race could write in more details such as Italian, Palestinian or Cajun.
In Hawaii County, Hawaii, there was a 77.7% chance that two people chosen at random were from different racial or ethnic groups. A value of 0 indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 1 indicates that almost everyone in popular forex chart patterns the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics.
Expectations of what it means for a population to be racially and ethnically diverse may differ. Building upon our research over the past decade, we improved the design of the two separate questions and updated our data processing and coding procedures for the 2020 Census. Additionally, the rates are likely affected by local rates of coronavirus infections and local public school decisions about modes of instruction. Homeschooling is a legal instructional option in all 50 states and national homeschooling rates grew rapidly from 1999 to 2012 but had since remained steady at around 3.3%.
For information on sampling and estimation methods, confidentiality protection and sampling and nonsampling errors, refer to Accuracy of the Data documents for 2021. JUNE 3, 2025 — More than 1 in 5 people (22%) age 5 and older in the United States spoke a language other than English at home during the five-year period from 2017 to 2021, according to new data released today by the U.S. The table package shows patterns of voter turnout by race, Hispanic origin, age and other characteristics such as educational attainment and family income. Other White responses, such as Canadian and Pennsylvania German, represented around 2% of the White alone and White alone or in combination populations. For more information on how the Census Bureau collects, codes and tabulates statistics on Hispanic or Latino origin and race, explore our 2020 Census subject definitions pages and the 2020 Census Redistricting Technical Documentation. These multiple measures of diversity complement the 2020 Census redistricting data release and enable us to explore the richness and complexity of our nation’s population in a new light.
