European Ancestry By State

[RINO Tom]

I'll start by saying this entire thing was fueled by my dad saying that Mississippi and the Deep South would have a lot of English ancestry during a conversation about ancestry across the United States.  That got me thinking, though, that he was really talking about "among White people," as due to Mississippi's high Black population, they only have 20.10% identifying as having English ancestry, putting them behind states like Wyoming just because Wyoming is Whiter.  So, I decided to try to figure out the European ancestry statistics by state.  Here are a few disclaimers and notes:

- I calculated the numbers by taking each state's population (2016 estimate) and multiplying it by the percent of White residents (2010 Census numbers, as the 2015 estimates seemed funky to me) to get the total White population.  Then I took the reported ancestry statistics (2000 Census, as they didn't ask this question for 2010), figured out the total number for each ancestry and then divided that number to get each ancestry's portion of the state's White population.
- For simplicity's sake, I combined "English" and "American" results for my "English" numbers ... I know it's not a fool-proof method, but seriously, I hate that "American" is an option in these.
- I did NOT combine "French" and "French Canadian," as I'm totally ignorant about that subject ... should I combine them, or are they good to be separate?
- I couldn't find numbers for each state's Spanish or Portuguese ancestry unless it was listed in each state's top five.  If anyone could help with these numbers, I'd happily accept.
- If you're aware of more recent ancestry numbers for a given state, I'll gladly replace!  Just used 2000 as a nice starting point, given the data was all in one place.

THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES
Alabama
35.91% English
11.24% Irish
  8.32% German
  2.92% Scots-Irish
  2.34% Scottish

Arkansas
27.79% English
17.66% Irish
16.23% German
  3.12% French
  2.73% Scots-Irish

Florida
22.67% English
15.73% German
13.73% Irish
  8.40% Italian
  3.73% French

Georgia
33.00% English
15.91% Irish
13.74% German
  3.85% Italian
  3.18% Scottish

Kentucky
31.09% English
15.95% German
13.78% Irish
  2.28% Italian
  2.28% Scottish

Louisiana
33.55% English
19.49% French
11.34% Irish
11.34% German
  7.03% Italian

Mississippi
34.01% English
11.68% Irish
  7.61% German
  3.89% French
  3.21% Scots-Irish

North Carolina
33.87% English
13.87% German
10.80% Irish
  4.67% Scots-Irish
  3.36% Italian

Oklahoma
27.15% English
17.45% German
14.27% Irish
  3.19% French
  2.35% Scots-Irish

South Carolina
33.08% English
12.69% German
11.93% Irish
  4.38% Scots-Irish
  3.02% Italian

Tennessee
34.02% English
11.98% Irish
10.70% German
  3.35% Scots-Irish
  2.32% Scottish

Texas
20.60% English
14.06% German
10.23% Irish
  3.13% French
  2.41% Irish

Virginia
32.80% English
17.06% German
14.29% Irish
  5.25% Italian
  3.21% Scots-Irish

West Virginia
30.35% English
14.91% German
11.71% Irish
  4.15% Italian
  2.24% Scots-Irish

THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Connecticut
23.97% Italian
21.39% Irish
17.40% English
12.63% German
10.70% Polish

Delaware
26.42% English
24.09% Irish
20.75% German
13.50% Italian
  7.55% Polish

Maine
32.35% English
15.86% Irish
14.92% French
  8.60% French Canadian
  6.70% German

Maryland
26.98% German
25.09% English
20.10% Irish
  8.76% Italian
  6.01% Polish

Massachusetts
27.99% Irish
19.03% English
16.79% Italian
  9.95% French
  7.34% German

New Hampshire
25.56% English
20.66% Irish
15.55% French
10.97% French Canadian
  9.16% German

New Jersey
24.52% Italian
21.90% Irish
17.36% German
12.81% English
  6.90% Polish

New York
21.92% Italian
20.85% Irish
19.63% German
17.05% English
  7.91% Polish

Pennsylvania
31.01% German
19.66% Irish
16.00% English
14.16% Italian
  6.70% Polish

Rhode Island
23.34% Italian
22.60% Irish
18.43% English
13.39% French
10.69% Portuguese

Vermont
28.02% English
17.31% Irish
15.22% French
  9.55% German
  9.23% French Canadian

THE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES
Illinois
29.51% German
18.60% Irish
17.62% English
11.05% Polish
  8.95% Italian

Indiana
26.93% German
24.79% English
12.81% Irish
  3.56% Polish
  2.85% French

Iowa
39.10% German
17.74% English
14.79% Irish
  5.70% Norwegian
  4.60% Dutch

Kansas
30.91% German
23.39% English
13.72% Irish
  3.70% French
  2.86% Swedish

Michigan
25.86% German
19.14% English
13.69% Irish
10.90% Polish
  6.08% Dutch

Minnesota
43.02% German
20.28% Norwegian
11.61% Swedish
10.79% English
  5.74% Polish

Missouri
28.38% German
24.03% English
15.34% Irish
  4.23% French
  3.74% Italian

Nebraska
44.83% German
16.38% English
15.56% Irish
  6.39% Czech
  4.90% Swedish

North Dakota
48.78% German
33.44% Norwegian
  8.56% Irish
  8.11% English
  5.56% Swedish

Ohio
30.47% German
21.52% English
15.48% Irish
  7.26% Italian
  4.59% Polish

South Dakota
47.38% South Dakota
17.81% Norwegian
12.81% English
12.11% Irish
  3.90% Swedish

Wisconsin
49.54% German
12.65% Irish
11.60% English
10.79% Polish
  9.86% Norwegian

THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Alaska
24.89% German
22.94% English
16.19% Irish
  6.30% Norwegian
  4.80% French

Arizona
21.37% German
20.68% English
13.97% Irish
  6.03% Italian
  3.97% French

California
14.59% English
13.24% German
10.41% Irish
  4.30% Italian
  2.30% French

Colorado
27.06% German
20.91% English
15.01% Irish
  5.78% Italian
  4.06% French

Hawaii
23.48% German
23.08% English
17.81% Irish
17.41% French
16.19% Portuguese

Idaho
29.74% English
21.21% German
11.22% Irish
  4.04% Norwegian
  3.93% Swedish

Montana
30.20% German
19.91% English
16.67% Irish
11.86% Norwegian
  4.70% French

Nevada
22.51% English
21.30% German
16.62% Irish
  9.97% Italian
  4.83% French

New Mexico
18.57% English
14.47% German
13.60% Spanish
10.82% Irish
  3.22% Italian

Oregon
24.52% German
23.51% English
14.23% Irish
  5.14% Norwegian
  4.43% French

Utah
41.35% English
13.36% German
  7.55% Danish
  6.85% Irish
  5.11% Scottish

Washington
24.19% German
22.25% English
14.75% Irish
  8.02% Norwegian
  4.66% Swedish

Wyoming
28.56% German
24.59% English
13.30% Irish
  4.74% Norwegian
  3.86% Swedish

UNITED STATES
21.92% English
20.95% German
14.89% Irish
  7.72% Italian
  4.41% Polish
  4.14% French
  2.34% Scottish
  2.21% Dutch
  2.21% Norwegian
  2.07% Scots-Irish

Map by state:

Red - German
Blue - English
Green - Italian
Yellow - Irish

[Gass3268]

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I think you'd have to split this between English and Scots-Irish. I've almost always assumed that folks that report they are "American" are really "Scots-Irish" based on "American" being reported the heaviest in the Greater Appalachian area and White South, which was heavily settled by the Scots-Irish.

Other than that, great work!

[Kingpoleon]

I would say so one without American, and then do one where you split American 45% English, 30% Celtic, 25% German, combining Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and Scots-Irish into Celtic.

[heatcharger]

Nicely done! Arizona is not what I'd expect. Also, what's up with Utah having a high % of Danes?

[Mr. Morden]

So the Census only lets you pick one of these ethnicities?  My ethnic mix is no more than 30% any one thing, so if I was answering this, I guess I'd just go with the plurality contribution to my mix (which in my case is English).  Still, it would be interesting if someone did a study that accounted for people being multiple ethnicities.  Has AncestryDNA or one of those outfits ever released a US map of their results?

[Hydera]

A lot of states in the south with self reported irish ancestry are probably also scots-irish. Especially if theres a discrepancy between the percentage of catholics and the percentage of that self identifying as irish.

[Brittain33]

Nicely done! Arizona is not what I'd expect. Also, what's up with Utah having a high % of Danes?

LDS recruitment in Denmark a long time ago. If you start paying attention to this, you'll notice Scandinavian surnames popping up often among Utah politicians.

[cinyc]

So the Census only lets you pick one of these ethnicities?  My ethnic mix is no more than 30% any one thing, so if I was answering this, I guess I'd just go with the plurality contribution to my mix (which in my case is English).  Still, it would be interesting if someone did a study that accounted for people being multiple ethnicities.  Has AncestryDNA or one of those outfits ever released a US map of their results?

I think Census allows you to choose 2 ancestries.  There is a separate category for first-reported ancestry.  Is this correct, RINO Tom?

[jimrtex]

- I calculated the numbers by taking each state's population (2016 estimate) and multiplying it by the percent of White residents (2010 Census numbers, as the 2015 estimates seemed funky to me) to get the total White population.  Then I took the reported ancestry statistics (2000 Census, as they didn't ask this question for 2010), figured out the total number for each ancestry and then divided that number to get each ancestry's portion of the state's White population.

The ancestry question was on the Long Form in 2000, so it was a sample of the population (roughly 1:6). Since then, the Long Form has been abandoned, and replaced with the American Community Survey (ACS), which has the content of the Long Form, but is administered on a continuing basis, and formed into 1-year sample (12 monthly samples) or 5-year sample (60 monthly samples).

The 5-year sample is equivalent to that of the Long Form, other than it is collected over 60 months. Because each monthly sample is much smaller than for the Long Form, the Census Bureau can follow-up for non-response and other questions sooner.

For the 5-year sample, you can use a sliding window, comparing 2009-2013 with 2010-2014, etc. so you get a better sense of trends compared to the old 10-year snapshots. The results for the 5-year samples is somewhat smeared.

For state-level data, a one-year sample will have sufficient statistical significance for larger ancestry groups, though comparing year-to-year may be bumpy (the MOE is greater than the annual change).

- For simplicity's sake, I combined "English" and "American" results for my "English" numbers ... I know it's not a fool-proof method, but seriously, I hate that "American" is an option in these.
- I did NOT combine "French" and "French Canadian," as I'm totally ignorant about that subject ... should I combine them, or are they good to be separate?
- I couldn't find numbers for each state's Spanish or Portuguese ancestry unless it was listed in each state's top five.  If anyone could help with these numbers, I'd happily accept.
- If you're aware of more recent ancestry numbers for a given state, I'll gladly replace!  Just used 2000 as a nice starting point, given the data was all in one place.

THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES
Alabama
35.91% English
11.24% Irish
  8.32% German
  2.92% Scots-Irish
  2.34% Scottish

On the Census website, search for "Ancestry 2010" which will point you in the right direction.

For Alabama 2010 and 2015 (relative to total population)

American 13.81% 16.38%
Irish 9.76% 8.88%
English 8.70% 7.63%
German 7.08% 6.91%
Scottish 2.04% 1.87%
French 1.92% 1.50%
Italian 1.71% 1.67%
Scotch-Irish 1.57% 1.51%
Dutch 1.04% <1%
European <1% 1.11%

"European" has supplanted Dutch in the top 9.

The less distinctive ancestries have been declining, likely shifting to American.

The Census Bureau lists various origins as subcategories of Hispanic, it does a similar division of Asian (e.g. a person is Asian Chinese, rather than an Asian of Chinese Ancestry; while her husband is a White of German and English ancestry).

There is a Portuguese ancestry. For place of birth, Azores is a subcategory of Portugal, though many Azoreans were born on the mainland Europe.

The Census Bureau does record ancestry from Africa. Most Blacks, who indicate an ancestry, indicate an ancestry of "African", rather than Nigerian, Kenyan, etc., but most Blacks do not indicate any ancestry at all.

[Bismarck]

I think people underreport English ancestry in the Midwest because they had German immigrant ancestors more recently and therefore have more knowledge about their German roots than their earlier settling English ones.

[DavidB.]

If Polish includes Jews from Poland then this is basically a useless category if ancestry means anything other than "my ancestors lived here".

[NOVA Green]

Thanks for posting--- and interesting thread!

Also, here's a tool that I frequently use to look at Census based data in deeper drill-downs, including by county, census tract, place, etc for a wide variety of information from household income levels to occupations....

It also has a pretty cool ability to run graphical maps based upon various data sets.

So for example, here's a link to their filter by Ancestry in Oregon that you can drill down and see that Owyhee in Malheur County has the highest number of people that identify as being from Norwegian Ancestry in the State (14.6%), followed by Clatskanie in Columbia County (10.1%), etc...

http://statisticalatlas.com/state/Oregon/Ancestry#figure/county-subdivision

I like taking a look at this kind of data, especially when examining precinct and locality based results, since it can frequently shed additional insight, as to where one sees unusual shifts in Voting behaviors within a particular county, rather than just raw "top-line" numbers.


Personally, I've never really been a big subscriber to the theory that "Anglo" voting behavior in Presidential Elections is predominately about Ancestry, but rather is one small sliver of these voters social identity, with other factors such as occupations/industries, shared historical experiences in smaller communities, and even religious affiliation, play a larger role than identification with ones Grandparents or Great-Grandparents European country of origin 3 to 4 generations back.

Sure in the more tribal politics of parts of the NorthEast/Mid Atlantic, and parts of New England, as well as some large Metro areas and cities like Chicago, for example, it is certainly a potential factor in various Statewide and Local races where the various European immigrant populations started to become a major electoral influence starting in the early 1900s (And even prior in some of the largest cities in the US).

[King of Kensington]

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I think you'd have to split this between English and Scots-Irish. I've almost always assumed that folks that report they are "American" are really "Scots-Irish" based on "American" being reported the heaviest in the Greater Appalachian area and White South, which was heavily settled by the Scots-Irish.

Other than that, great work!

This English Americans = middle/upper class WASPs, Scots-Irish = poor Appalachian whites myth needs to die.

More English than Scots-Irish settled in Appalachia.

It's true many of these "Americans" have both but most certainly have a good deal of English ancestry. 

[NOVA Green]

If Polish includes Jews from Poland then this is basically a useless category if ancestry means anything other than "my ancestors lived here".

That's a very good point....

Obviously the Census Bureau for well over a century ago can't include questions regarding "religious affiliation", and instead most of the Ancestry items are defined by "Country of Origin", there are many Jewish-Americans from the Diaspora that would likely selected "Jewish" as their Ancestry if that option were provided, since many American Jews view themselves as an Ethnicity with the American Historical Context, rather than as a Religion.

So yes--- I totally see your point...

Those Jewish-Americans who fled the Pograms in Russia and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1800s/Early 1900s... Those who made their way to America directly to New York, or later from places like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or even London when Fascism and Nazism was ascendant in Europe  (As I'm sure you are well aware Mexico did a better job than the US in quickly processing the paperwork for those fleeing for their lives in the '30s)....

Of course in more recent years, there was a massive influx of Jews from Russia and the Former Russian Republics when Gorbachev changed various policies in the Mid '80s.... (An Ex-GF of mine was from Moldavia that ended up in South Texas as a Teenager as a result).

I think I understand why the Census Bureau does things the way that it does, but certainly data involving "countries of origin", from certain parts of Central and Eastern Europe (Obviously Poland and Russia stand out) needs to be viewed with a pinch of salt, and anyone trying to read electoral results from this data, needs to do a deeper dive, and unfortunately rely on some alternate sources before making any grand assumptions....

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Combine French and French Canadian. The majority of those labeling themselves as "French" have their French ancestry by way of Canada (Quebec and/or Acadia) in any case.

[RINO Tom]

A little late here, so sorry!  I'm also too dumb to multi-quote or whatever.

Gass - yeah, I never know what to do with that.  In a previous, worse version of this "experiment" or whatever, I counted "American" as "Scots-Irish" back when I had less of an understanding of the term.  The results were less than satisfying, and I have to believe that English ancestry is being underreported somehow.

Kingpoleon - Sounds like too much work, we'll see how boring my lunch hours become.

Mr. Morden - I believe they let you pick multiple, this was just the highest reported "primary" ancestries.  It could have ranged from being 100% German to a plurality of 43.75% German like me.   At least that is how I read their report.

cinyc - Correct, at least AFAIK.

jimrtex - Wow, thanks!  I will definitely be taking a look at that.

St. Alphonso - Probably right.  I have noticed, too, that English ancestry (the way I calculated it) tends to be higher when a Midwestern state has a significant "Southernized" component.  For example, Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana have sections that are pretty culturally Southern, and there are probably people out there who outright consider Missouri somewhat of a Southern state.

DavidB - Valid point, but I'm not sure how I will get around that.

NOVA Green - Wow, thanks! That link gives this information for the Peoria metropolitan area, which certainly jives with my experience:

31.9% German
21.2% Other (guessing this has a high African number)
18.7% English (using the way I was calculating it)
13.6% Irish
4.1% Italian
2.7% French
2.4% Polish
2.3% Swedish
1.7% Scottish
1.7% Dutch
1.2% Norwegian

Compared with my current Iowa City metropolitan area:

35.5% German
18.5% Other
16.6% Irish
12.6% English
4.0% Norwegian
3.8% Czech
3.2% Italian
2.8% French
2.8% Dutch
2.7% Swedish
2.1% Polish
2.1% Scottish

shua - Will do!  That will make the results more interesting in Upper New England, for sure.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Nicely done! Arizona is not what I'd expect. Also, what's up with Utah having a high % of Danes?

AZ has a lot of people from other states. Off the top of my head I can think of 2 people I know pretty well who almost certainly have german ancestry(and tucson isn't even where most of the growth is happening).

[Gass3268]

Maybe you could combine American (maybe remove like 15-25% for the Germans et al that are in this category), British, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish into a British category?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Maybe you could combine American (maybe remove like 15-25% for the Germans et al that are in this category), British, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish into a British category?

Scottish and English aren't similar enough to do that.

[Gass3268]

Maybe you could combine American (maybe remove like 15-25% for the Germans et al that are in this category), British, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish into a British category?

Scottish and English aren't similar enough to do that.

You could have one with things separate and another with them combined. You could also combine the Scandinavian nationalities too, which would be interesting.

[King of Kensington]

Use first ancestry and combine some groupings.  The disadvantage of first ancestry reported is it doesn't capture "everyone" but it helps avoid overlap. 

So you can have a British/American group (incorporating English, Scottish, Welsh, unspecified British and American ancestry), a Scandinavian group, French/French Canadian and maybe bring German and Swiss together. 

[RINO Tom]

Use first ancestry and combine some groupings.  The disadvantage of first ancestry reported is it doesn't capture "everyone" but it helps avoid overlap. 

So you can have a British/American group (incorporating English, Scottish, Welsh, unspecified British and American ancestry), a Scandinavian group, French/French Canadian and maybe bring German and Swiss together. 

I might be wrong, but this would be kind of inaccurate, no?  From the reading I've done, someone with ancestry from Northern Germany would actually be more genetically comparable with someone from Denmark or Sweden (both originally Germanic in origin) than they would from someone in Bavaria.

[White Trash]

I think that American as an ethnic group makes sense, considering that those who identify with it tend to be a mix of the ethnic groups in the British Isles with some minimal admixture from the rest of Western Europe. These folks usually have roots in the States going back before the revolution, and have very very little connection or identification with their European ancestry.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Use first ancestry and combine some groupings.  The disadvantage of first ancestry reported is it doesn't capture "everyone" but it helps avoid overlap. 

So you can have a British/American group (incorporating English, Scottish, Welsh, unspecified British and American ancestry), a Scandinavian group, French/French Canadian and maybe bring German and Swiss together. 

I might be wrong, but this would be kind of inaccurate, no?  From the reading I've done, someone with ancestry from Northern Germany would actually be more genetically comparable with someone from Denmark or Sweden (both originally Germanic in origin) than they would from someone in Bavaria.

Genetics doesn't correlate all that well to ethnic identification or to linguistic branches in any case.  But combining German and Swiss doesn't take into account French, Italian and Romansh influences or the distinctive Swiss identity.

[jimrtex]

If Polish includes Jews from Poland then this is basically a useless category if ancestry means anything other than "my ancestors lived here".

That's a very good point....

Obviously the Census Bureau for well over a century ago can't include questions regarding "religious affiliation", and instead most of the Ancestry items are defined by "Country of Origin", there are many Jewish-Americans from the Diaspora that would likely selected "Jewish" as their Ancestry if that option were provided, since many American Jews view themselves as an Ethnicity with the American Historical Context, rather than as a Religion.

So yes--- I totally see your point...

Those Jewish-Americans who fled the Pograms in Russia and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1800s/Early 1900s... Those who made their way to America directly to New York, or later from places like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or even London when Fascism and Nazism was ascendant in Europe  (As I'm sure you are well aware Mexico did a better job than the US in quickly processing the paperwork for those fleeing for their lives in the '30s)....

Of course in more recent years, there was a massive influx of Jews from Russia and the Former Russian Republics when Gorbachev changed various policies in the Mid '80s.... (An Ex-GF of mine was from Moldavia that ended up in South Texas as a Teenager as a result).

I think I understand why the Census Bureau does things the way that it does, but certainly data involving "countries of origin", from certain parts of Central and Eastern Europe (Obviously Poland and Russia stand out) needs to be viewed with a pinch of salt, and anyone trying to read electoral results from this data, needs to do a deeper dive, and unfortunately rely on some alternate sources before making any grand assumptions....

There are separate codes for GERMAN, BAVARIAN, BERLINER, HAMBURGER, HANNOVER, HESSIAN,
LUBECKER, POMERANIAN, PRUSSIAN, SAXON, SUDETENLANDER, WESTPHALIAN, EAST GERMAN, and
WEST GERMAN.

All but Prussian are aggregated.

"German from Russia" and "Volga" are distinct from German.

It is possible that some of these are based on numbers of respondents. Hamburger is a valid response but Frankfurter is not. So if someone entered "Frankfurter" they would likely be converted to "German" and this is not only because Frankfurt is not a Lander, since there are other Landers not recognized as a coded entry.

48 States are folded into American, while Texas and Hawaii are distinct. I doubt that the Census Bureau would recognize a distinct identity for Texas - but rather a lot more Texans give Texas as their ancestry than do persons in the other (lesser) States.