Census Bureau Releases Detailed 2020 Census Data for Nearly 1,500 Racial and Ethnic Groups, Tribes, and Villages

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023  — The U.S. Census Bureau today released population counts and statistics by sex and age for the 2020 Census for 300 detailed racial and ethnic groups, as well as 1,187 detailed tribes and villages of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN).

These data come from the Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A (Detailed DHC-A) . Previously, the Census Bureau had published the 2020 Census data corresponding to the Hispanic or Latino population and the main racial groups, such as white, black or African American, Asian, etc. groups.

Today’s release adds information on detailed groups within those major categories, such as the German, Lebanese, Jamaican, Chinese, Native Hawaiian, and Mexican groups, and on AIAN tribes and villages, such as the Navajo Nation. Additionally, this publication includes information on more than 200 detailed racial and ethnic groups that were not tabulated in previous censuses.

“These 2020 Census data illustrate the rich diversity that exists in our country,” said Rachel Marks, chief of the Census Bureau’s Race Statistics Branch. “We have this comprehensive picture thanks to the millions of people who responded to the census and provided detailed data about their racial, ethnic and tribal identity, and thanks to the stakeholders, researchers and tribal leaders who helped us improve how we we collect this detailed data,” he added.

Among the highlights, the Detailed DHC-A shows the largest detailed groups within major racial groups and the Hispanic population. For racial groups, data are available for both the population that identified one race only, the population that identified one race only, or in any combination. The population that identified a race only represents the minimum number of people who identify as that group. This category includes those who reported only one response, such as Fijian only. The population that identified itself as being of one race alone or in any combinationrepresents the maximum number of people who identify as that group. This category 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.  

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

• Most of the country’s white population reported a detailed European identity in 2020. The most common detailed group was of English origin, with 25.5 million people reporting English only and 46.6 million reporting English only or in any combination.
•  Together, the English (46.6 million), German (45.0 million) and Irish (38.6 million) populations alone or in any combination made up in 2020 more than half of the white population alone or in combination.
• The Lebanese (685,672), Iranian (568,564) and Egyptian (396,854) populations alone or in any combination represented about half of the 3.5 million people surveyed reporting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the 2020 Census, the first census to include examples of MENA in the area to write a response. The MENA examples were included in the White category, following standards established in 1997 by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which classify MENA responses as part of the White category.

• Among black or African American people surveyed, the largest detailed group reported was African American, with 22.1 million people reporting African American only and 24.6 million reporting African American only or in any combination.
• The sub-Saharan African population alone totaled 2.3 million people and the sub-Saharan African population alone or in any combination 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 population alone or in any combination.
• The Caribbean population alone totaled 2.1 million people and the Caribbean population alone or in any combination totaled 2.6 million. The Jamaican (1.0 million), Haitian (1.0 million), Trinidadian (194,364), and West Indian (119,806) populations made up 91.5% of the Caribbean population alone in any combination. Together, the Jamaican and Haitian populations made up the majority of the country’s population (80.5%) that identified as Caribbean in 2020 alone.

• In 2020, among all American Indian and Alaska Native groups, the Aztec was the largest group identifying with only one race (387,122). The Cherokee group (1.5 million) was the largest of the groups that identified with one race alone or in any combination.
• The Yup’ik (Yup’ik Eskimo) group was the largest of those who identified as Alaska Native only (9,026) and the Tlingit group was the largest of those who identified as Alaska Native only or in any combination (22,601 ).
• Among people surveyed who identified as Native American, the most common response of those who identified with one group only was Navajo Nation (315,086 people), and Cherokee was the most common response of those who identified with one group only or in any combination (1.5 million people). 

• Among Asian people surveyed, the largest group that identified with one race alone was the Asian Indian group (4.4 million) and the largest group that identified with one race alone or in any combination was the Chinese group (5.2 million), except the Taiwanese group.
• The Filipino (4.4 million), Vietnamese (2.3 million), Korean (2.0 million), and Japanese (1.6 million) populations each had more than 1 million people who identified with one race alone or in any combination in 2020.
• Among populations in the Asian group with 50,000 people or more in 2010, the Nepalese population had the fastest growth. The Nepalese population alone increased 295.5%, from 51,907 people in 2010 to 205,297 in 2020, and the Nepalese population alone or in any combination increased 269.0%, from 59,490 people to 219,503 over the decade. 

• Native Hawaiian was the largest group in the Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) category, both for the category alone (199,880) and for alone or in any combination (680,442).  
• The population of almost all NHPI groups increased from 2010 to 2020. The Chuukese-only population had the greatest growth of the groups that identified as NHPI only, with a 296.2% increase resulting in 10,500 people in 2020.
• The NHPI group alone or in any combination that had the greatest growth was the Papuan New Guinean population, with an increase of 249.3%, resulting in 1,453 people over the decade.

• The vast majority (93.9%) of the 27.9 million people surveyed who classified themselves as some other race only were of Hispanic or Latino origin.
• The some other race population also includes people who reported “multiracial and multiethnic” terms, such as “biracial,” in the race question. There were 467,447 responses that identified with one group only and 1.9 million that identified with one group only or in any combination. 
• The Brazilian category was the largest detailed group of any other race, excluding responses in the Hispanic category and “multiracial and multiethnic” responses in the race question. There were 145,180 people who identified as Brazilian only and 524,382 million who identified as Brazilian only or in any combination.

When comparing detailed race data from the 2020 Census and the 2010 Census, caution should be taken to take into account improvements to the race question and the way the Census Bureau codes responses. However, the detailed data on Hispanic origin in the ethnicity question are comparable between the two censuses. More information about changes to how detailed racial and ethnic groups are coded in the 2020 Census is available on the What You Should Know About the Upcoming Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A blog. the next Detailed File A of Demographic and Housing Characteristics).

More information on the detailed groups is available in the “America Counts” stories:

• New Population Counts for Nearly 1,500 Race and Ethnicity Groups
• 3.5 Million People Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020
• Asian Indian Was the Largest Asian Alone Population Group in 2020
• Detailed Look at Nation’s Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Groups

The Census Bureau also released a draft document on how to understand Afro-Latino response counts in the 2020 Census , presenting different ways to tabulate Afro-Latino responses.

In the coming weeks, the Census Bureau will publish detailed population stories within the Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native, white, black or African American, and some other race populations.

Detailed DHC-A data is available in the interactive visualization Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census . This visualization displays the first and second largest detailed groups, by state and county, and provides sorting lists of detailed groups by racial/ethnic group and by geographic entity.

The complete set of Detailed DHC-A tables is also available at data.census.gov . If you need help accessing and using the data, see the short videos and how-to guides with screenshots in the DHC-A Detailed press kit .

The amount of data available on detailed racial and ethnic groups, as well as detailed AIAN tribes and villages, depends on their population size within a specific geographic entity. This approach allows the Census Bureau to produce the most detailed information possible, while ensuring strong confidentiality protection. A more detailed description of this approach can be found in the blog Data Quality for Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups and American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Villages in the 2020 Census . and American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in the 2020 Census).