White Americans, also known as Caucasian Americans, are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as "[a] person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa". This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. According to the 2020 census, 71%, or 235,411,507 people, were White alone or in combination, and 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were White alone. This represented a national white demographic decline from a 72.4% white alone share of the US population in 2010.
As of the latest American Community Survey in 2022, US Census Bureau estimates that 60.9% of the US population were White alone, while Non-Hispanic Whites were 57.7% of the population. Overall, 72.5% of Americans identified as White alone or in combination.[3] [4] European Americans are by far the largest panethnic group of white Americans and have constituted the majority population of the United States since the nation's founding.
The US Census Bureau uses a particular definition of "white" that differs from some colloquial uses of the term.[5][6] The Bureau defines "White" people to be those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa".[7] Within official census definitions, people of all racial categories may be further divided into those who identify as "not Hispanic or Latino" and those who do identify as "Hispanic or Latino".[8][5] The term "non-Hispanic white", rather than just "white", may be the census group corresponding most closely to those persons who identify as and are perceived to be white in common usage; similarly not all Hispanic/Latino people identify as "white", "black", or any other listed racial category.[5][6] In 2015, the Census Bureau announced their intention to make Hispanic/Latino and Middle Eastern/North African racial categories similar to "white" or "black", with respondents able to choose one, two, or more racial categories; this change was canceled during the Trump administration.[6][9] Other persons who are classified as "white" by the US census but may or may not identify as or be perceived as white include Arab Americans and Jewish Americans of European or MENA descent.[10][11][12][13][14] In the United States, the term White people generally denotes a person of European ancestry, but has been legally extended to people of West Asian and North African (Middle Eastern, West Asian, and North African) ancestry.[15][16][17] However, in 2024, the Office of Management and Budget announced that the race categories used by the federal government would be updated, and that Middle Eastern and North African Americans will no longer be classified as white in the upcoming 2030 Census.[18]
The most commonly reported ancestries of White Americans include British (12.5%), German (7.6%), Irish (5.3%), Italian (3.2%), and Polish (1.3%).[19] It is difficult to track full or partial ancestry from Spain in White Hispanics or Mestizos since people of direct Spanish descent are also classified as Hispanic, and though the census does track Hispanics' national origin, it does not classify it by race. In 2021, 995,583 people of any race claimed ancestry from Spain, 0.3% of the total population.[20] However, genetic studies have found that the vast majority of Hispanics in the US have varying amounts of European ancestry, with the largest component being Spanish or Iberian.[21][22][23] The British Americans' demography is also considered a serious under-count, as the stock tend to self-report and identify as simply "Americans" (7%), due to the length of time they have inhabited the United States, particularly if their family arrived prior to the American Revolution.[12][24][14]
A 2015 genetic study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics analyzed the genetic ancestry of 148,789 European Americans. The study concluded that British ancestry is the most common European ancestry among white Americans, with this component ranging between 20% (Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota) and 55% (Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas) of the total population in all 50 states. These states strongly correlated with those where the largest number of people identified with "American" ancestry on the census.[25] Many white Americans also have ancestry from multiple countries. According to the 2022 American Community Survey, 76,678,228 Americans identified with multiple European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry groups, with the large majority of these identifying with various European groups.[26]
Definitions of who is "White" have changed throughout the history of the United States.
The term "white American" can encompass many different ethnic groups. Although the United States census purports to reflect a social definition of race, the social dimensions of race are more complex than Census criteria. The 2000 US census states that racial categories "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They do not conform to any biological, anthropological or genetic criteria."[27]
The Census question on race lists the categories White or European American, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, plus "Some other race", with the respondent having the ability to mark more than one racial or ethnic category. The Census Bureau defines White people as follows:
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"White" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as "White" or reported entries such as German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.[7]
In US census documents, the designation White overlaps, as do all other official racial categories, with the term Hispanic or Latino, which was introduced in the 1980 census as a category of ethnicity, separate and independent of race.[28][29] Hispanic and Latino Americans as a whole make up a racially diverse group and are the largest minority in the country.[30][31]
Beginning in 1930, Mexican was added as a distinct race on the US census with the explanation that "practically all Mexican laborers are of a racial mixture difficult to classify".[32][33] The Mexican racial category was removed in 1940, with new direction that "Mexicans are to be regarded as white unless definitely of Indian or other nonwhite race"; this was continued in 1950.[34] 1970 saw the creation of the Spanish Origin category, which superseded previous classifications for Latin Americans and is now represented by the Hispanic or Latino ethnic category. Hispanic or Latino was again to be raised to racial status for the 2020 census (along with Middle Eastern and North African), but this was canceled by President Donald J. Trump.[35]
The characterization of Middle Eastern and North African Americans as white has been a matter of controversy. In the early 20th century, there were a number of cases where people of Arab descent were denied entry into the United States or deported, because they were characterized as nonwhite.[36] In the early 21st century, MENA Americans began lobbying for the creation of their own racial group and were successful; in 2015, the US Census Bureau announced that it had responded to their requests and would add a "Middle Eastern and North African" racial category to the 2020 census.[37][38] The Trump administration nullified this change after coming to power in 2016.
However, in 2024, the Office of Management and Budget under the Biden administration reinstated the proposed changes, announcing that the race categories used by the federal government would be updated, and that Middle Eastern and North African Americans will no longer be classified as white in the upcoming 2030 Census, and Hispanic and Latino will also be treated similar to a racial, rather than ethnic, category.[18] The Census Bureau defines the planned definition of White people as follows:
"Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, including, for example, British, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, French, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian."[39]
In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the US census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value.
On some government documents, such as the 2007 SEER program's Coding and Staging Manual, people who reported Muslim (or a sect of Islam such as Shia or Sunni), Jewish, Zoroastrian, Caucasian, or a MENA or Latin American ethnicity as their race in the "Some other race" section, without noting a country of origin or Native American tribal affiliation, were automatically tallied as White. [40] The 1990 US census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) listed "Caucasian" or "Aryan" among other terms as subgroups of "white" in their ancestry code listing,[41] but 2005 and proceeding years of PUMS codes do not.[42]
In the contemporary United States, essentially anyone of European descent is typically considered white. People of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent may also be considered white. However, many of the ethnic groups classified as white by the US census, such as Arab Americans, Berber Americans, Jewish Americans of European or MENA descent, and Hispanics and Latinos of European or MENA descent may not always identify as, and may not always be perceived to be, white.[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]
Social perceptions of whiteness have evolved over the course of American history. For example, Benjamin Franklin commented that the Saxons of Germany and the English "make the principal Body of White People on the Face of the Earth".[51] Historically, many individuals of European descent were not readily integrated into mainstream American society and found themselves caught on the "dark" side of the white/black binary, including Irish, Italians, Greeks and Slavs.[52] In Minnesota, increasing numbers of Finnish immigrant