English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census

Table 2 shows the 10 counties (with 5,000 or more total population) with the highest DI in 2020 and their scores in 2010. Similarly, we do not see the same large increase in the Multiracial non-Hispanic population from 2010 to 2020 using these cross-tabulated categories. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic has sparked new interest in homeschooling and the appeal of alternative school arrangements has suddenly exploded.

Less than 4% were unemployed in 2019 – not significantly different than the national average. English alone or in any combination was the largest detailed White group in approximately two-thirds (2,050) of the counties in the United States and Puerto Rico. The English population was the most prevalent group in northern New England, the South, and throughout the West, as well as in Puerto Rico (Figure 4). Middle Eastern and North African responses, such as Lebanese, Iranian, and Egyptian, represented over 1% of the White alone and White alone or in combination populations.

Together, the English (46.6 million), German (45 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.
Italian was the largest group in several counties in New Jersey and the Long Island area of New York.
These diversity calculations require the use of mutually exclusive racial and ethnic (nonoverlapping) categories.
Figure 2 displays the breakdown of age and nativity for the five most commonly spoken languages other than English in 2019.
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.

County-Level Findings

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.
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.
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).
Middle Eastern and North African responses, such as Lebanese, Iranian, and Egyptian, represented over 1% of the White alone and White alone or in combination populations.

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.

Census Academy

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.

Data safety

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.

Categorizing Race and Ethnicity

APRIL 30, 2025 — In the 2024 presidential election, 73.6% (or 174 million people) of the citizen voting-age population was registered to vote and 65.3% (or 154 million people) voted according to new voting and registration tables released today by the U.S. These data come from the 2024 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration Supplement for the November 2024 presidential election, which surveyed the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States. During the same period, the largest racial or ethnic group has changed for some states and counties, and local level results illuminate new areas of diversity across the country.

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 popular forex chart patterns pandemic on American households.

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.

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).

Related Statistics

Together, the English (46.6 million), German (45 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. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. There is more variation in the map for the second-most prevalent racial or ethnic group. More racial or ethnic groups are represented and the patterns are not as tightly clustered in specific regions. This calculation tells us how diverse and “diffused” the population is relative to the largest groups. The higher the score, the less concentrated the population is in the three largest race and ethnic groups.

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.

Differences by Race and Hispanic Origin

Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Arabic speakers were more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens than not U.S. citizens. Spanish speakers were less likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens (18%) than not U.S. citizens (28%). More than half (55%) of Spanish speakers were U.S.-born, four times the share (13%) of Tagalog speakers. Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Arabic speakers were more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens than not U.S. citizens. Spanish speakers were less likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens (18%) than not U.S. citizens (28%). At the same time, the number of people who spoke only English also increased, growing by approximately one-fourth from 187.2 million in 1980 to 241 million in 2019 (Figure 1).

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.