Ancestry of U.S. Population by Rank

Discover the top 20 ancestry groups for those people who self-identified ancestry in 2000 and 2015.

2000 Results
Rank	Ancestry group	Population
1	German	42,841,569
2	Irish	30,524,799
3	Black/African-American¹ (non-Hispanic)	24,903,412
4	English	24,509,692
5	American¹	20,188,305
6	Mexican	18,382,291
7	Italian	15,638,348
8	Polish	8,977,235
9	French	8,309,666
10	American Indian¹	7,876,568
11	Scottish	4,890,581
12	Dutch	4,541,770
13	Norwegian	4,477,725
14	Scotch-Irish	4,319,232
15	Swedish	3,998,310
16	White¹	3,834,122
17	Puerto Rican	2,652,598
18	Russian	2,652,214
19	Hispanic¹	2,451,109
20	French Canadian	2,349,684

2015 Results
Rank	Ancestry Group	Population
1	German	46,403,053
2	Black/African-American¹ (non-Hispanic)	38,785,726
3	Mexican (of any race)	34,640,287
4	Irish	33,526,444
5	English	24,787,018
6	American¹	22,746,991
7	Italian	17,285,619
8	Polish	9,385,766
9	French	8,272,538
10	Scottish	5,409,343
11	Puerto Rican	5,174,554
12	Norwegian	4,445,030
13	Dutch	4,289,116
14	Swedish	3,933,024
15	Chinese	3,852,099
16	Asian Indian	3,303,512
17	Scotch-Irish	3,046,005
18	Russian	2,843,400
19	West Indian (non-Hispanic)	2,824,722
20	Filipino	2,717,844

NOTES: Ancestry is a broad concept that can mean different things to different people. The ancestry groups listed on this table were self-identified. The Census Bureau defines ancestry as a person's ethnic origin, heritage, descent, or â€œroots,â€ which may reflect their place of birth, place of birth of parents or ancestors, and ethnic identities that have evolved within the United States. Many respondents listed more than one area of ancestry; the sum of the persons reporting the ancestry is greater than the total. Overall, about 500 different ancestries were reported during Census 2000.

1. Group may encompass several ancestries not listed separately.

2. Data is from American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2010â€“2014.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ancestry: 2000, issued June 2004; 2015 American Community Survey.

Race and Ethnicity

See also: