Today’s release of 2020 Census redistricting data provides a new snapshot of the racial and ethnic composition of the country as a result of improvements in the design of the race and ethnicity questions, processing and coding.
Nearly all groups saw population gains this decade and the increase in the Two or More Races population (referred to throughout this story as the Multiracial population) was especially large (up 276%). The White alone population declined by 8.6% since 2010.
The 2020 Census shows (Figures 1, 2 and 3):
It is important to note that these data comparisons between the 2020 Census and 2010 Census race data should be made with caution, taking into account the improvements we have made to the Hispanic origin and race questions and the ways we code what people tell us.
Nearly all groups saw population gains this decade and the increase in the Two or More Races population (referred to throughout this story as the Multiracial population) was especially large (up 276%). The White alone population declined by 8.6% since 2010.
Accordingly, data from the 2020 Census show different but reasonable and expected distributions from the 2010 Census for the White alone population, the Some Other Race alone or in combination population and the Multiracial population, especially for people who self-identify as both White and Some Other Race.
These results are not surprising as they align with our expert research and corresponding findings this past decade, particularly with the results from the 2015 National Content Test, about the impacts of question format on race and ethnicity reporting.
To present the results, we use the concepts of race alone, race in combination, and race alone or in combination to frame the discussion of racial and ethnic composition, and these three concepts are central to understanding our country’s changing demographics.
In addition, we have a companion data visualization that expands on these statistics, providing a comprehensive overview of racial and ethnic composition at national, state and county levels.
This story highlights national-level data. Data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are available in our interactive data visualization.
The Hispanic or Latino population grew from 50.5 million (16.3% of the U.S. population) in 2010 to 62.1 million (18.7%) in 2020.
Overall, 235.4 million people reported White alone or in combination with another group.
The observed changes in the White population could be attributed to a number of factors, including demographic change since 2010. But we expect they were largely due to the improvements to the design of the two separate questions for race and ethnicity, data processing and coding, which enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people prefer to self-identify.
The Black or African American in combination population grew by 88.7% since 2010.
From 2010 to 2020, the American Indian and Alaska Native in combination population increased by 160%.
Approximately 19.9 million people (6% of all respondents) identified as Asian alone in 2020, up from 14.7 million people (4.8%) in 2010.
Over half of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders identified with more than one race.
The Some Other Race population was the second-largest alone or in combination race group, comprising 15.1% of the total population.
The observed changes in the Some Other Race population could be attributed to a number of factors, including demographic change since 2010. But we expect they were largely due to the improvements to the design of the two separate questions for race and ethnicity, data processing and coding, which enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people prefer to self-identify.
In 2020, the percentage of people who reported multiple races changed more than all of the race alone groups, increasing from 2.9% of the population (9 million people) in 2010 to 10.2% of the population (33.8 million people) in 2020.
The observed changes in the Multiracial population could be attributed to a number of factors, including demographic change since 2010. But we expect they were largely due to the improvements to the design of the two separate questions for race and ethnicity, data processing, and coding, which enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people prefer to self-identify.
Another way to examine data on race and ethnicity is to cross-tabulate Hispanic or Latino origin by race. As we saw with the 2010 Census, many Hispanic or Latino respondents answered the separate question on race by reporting their race as “Mexican,” “Hispanic,” “Latin American,” “Puerto Rican,” etc.
These and other responses to the race question that reflect a Hispanic or Latino origin were classified in the Some Other Race category, as people of Hispanic or Latino origin may be of any race per the 1997 OMB standards.
Between 2010 and 2020, the number of people of Hispanic or Latino origin reporting more than one race increased 567% from 3 million (6.0%) to 20.3 million (32.7%) (Figure 4).
We are confident these differences in racial distributions were largely due to the improvements to the design of the two separate questions for race and ethnicity, data processing, and coding, which enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people prefer to self-identify.
The 2020 Census data also enable us to examine the racial and ethnic composition of the population under age 18 (children) and the population age 18 and over (adults) (Figure 5).
The racial and ethnic composition among children is quite different from adults. This comparison offers insights into the demographics of younger generations in this country and glimpses of what the future may bring.
The observed changes in the White population, Some Other Race population, and Multiracial population could be attributed to a number of factors, including demographic change since 2010. But we expect they were largely due to the improvements to the design of the two separate questions for race and ethnicity, data processing, and coding, which enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people prefer to self-identify.
Supplemental tables related to this story are available.
For more information on how the Census Bureau collects, codes and tabulates statistics on race and Hispanic or Latino origin, explore our 2020 Census subject definitions pages and the 2020 Census Redistricting Technical Documentation.
Information on the application of differential privacy and data accuracy for the 2020 Census at various levels of geography are available on 2020 Census Data Products: Disclosure Avoidance Modernization website.
All the authors are in the Census Bureau’s Population Division:
Nicholas Jones is director of Race and Ethnicity Research and Outreach.
Rachel Marks is chief of the Racial Statistics Branch.
Roberto Ramirez is assistant division chief for Special Population Statistics.
Merarys Ríos-Vargas is chief of the Ethnicity & Ancestry Branch.
As a supplement to the America Counts story, Improved Race and Ethnicity Measures Reveal U.S. Population is Much More Multiracial, Tables 1-5 provide race and ethnicity statistics for the Nation (50 states, and the District of Columbia) from the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171).