White Americans

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 U.S. 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."[24]

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:

"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.[8]

In U.S. 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.[25][26] Hispanic and Latino Americans as a whole make up a racially diverse group and are the largest minority in the country.[27][28]

Beginning in 1930, Mexican was added as a distinct race on the U.S. census with the explanation that "practically all Mexican laborers are of a racial mixture difficult to classify".[29][30] 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or other nonwhite race"; this was continued in 1950.[31] 1970 saw the creation of the Spanish Origin category, which superseded previous classifications for Latin Americans and is now represented by the Hispanic or Latino ethnic category.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.[32]

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.[33] 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.[34][35] However, the Trump administration nullified this change after coming to power in 2016.

President Abraham Lincoln was descended from Samuel Lincoln and was of English and Welsh ancestry.

Gloria Vanderbilt, noted artist and designer, was of Dutch descent.

In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the U.S. 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. [36] The 1990 U.S. census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) listed "Caucasian" or "Aryan" among other terms as subgroups of "white" in their ancestry code listing,[37] but 2005 and proceeding years of PUMS codes do not.[38]

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 U.S. Census, such as Arab Americans, Berber Americans, Romani 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.[39][40][41][42][43][44]

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".[45] 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.[46] In Minnesota, increasing numbers of Finnish immigrants led to a debate surrounding Finnish whiteness and whether Finns should be classified as a Mongoloid peoples.[44]

David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves.[47] The process of officially being defined as white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship.[48]

White Americans (alone/single race) population pyramid in 2020

White Americans of one race (or alone) in 2020

White Americans of one race (or alone) from 1960 to 2020

White Americans are the majority racial group in almost all of the United States. They are not the majority in Hawaii, many American Indian reservations, parts of the South, the District of Columbia, all US territories, and in many urban areas throughout the country.

Overall the highest concentration of those referred to as "non-Hispanic whites" by the Census Bureau are found in the Midwest, New England, the northern Rocky Mountain states, Kentucky, West Virginia, and East Tennessee.[58] The lowest concentration of whites was found in southern and mid-Atlantic states.[9][59][60]

Although all large geographical areas are dominated by White Americans, much larger differences can be seen between specific parts of large cities.

States with the highest percentages of White Americans, either White Alone or in combination with another race as of 2020:[61]

1. Vermont 95.6%
2. Maine 95.4%
3. West Virginia 94.4%
4. New Hampshire 93.7%
5. Wyoming 92.0%
6. Montana 90.9%
7. Idaho 90.2%
8. Iowa 89.8%
9. North Dakota 88.0%
10. Kentucky 87.5%

States with the highest percentages of non-Latino/Hispanic whites, as of 2020:[62]

1. Maine 92.0%
2. Vermont 91.3%
3. New Hampshire 91.3%
4. West Virginia 90.4%
5. Wyoming 90.7%
6. Idaho 90.7%
7. Utah 88.7%
8. Iowa 88.7%
9. Montana 86.7%
10. Nebraska 86.0%

White Americans have the second highest median household income and personal income levels in the nation, by cultural background. The median income per household member was also the highest, since White Americans had the smallest households of any racial demographic in the nation. In 2006, the median individual income of a White American age 25 or older was $33,030, with those who were full-time employed, and of age 25 to 64, earning $34,432. Since 42% of all households had two income earners, the median household income was considerably higher than the median personal income, which was $48,554 in 2005. Jewish Americans rank first in household income, personal income, and educational attainment among White Americans.[63] In 2005, White households had a median household income of $48,977, which is 10% above the national median of $44,389. Among Cuban Americans, with 86% classified as White, those born in the US have a higher median income and educational attainment level than most other Whites.[64]

The poverty rates for White Americans are the second-lowest of any racial group, with 11% of white individuals living below the poverty line, 3% lower than the national average.[65] However, due to Whites' majority status, 48% of Americans living in poverty are white.[66]

White Americans' educational attainment is the second-highest in the country, after Asian Americans'. Overall, nearly one-third of White Americans had a Bachelor's degree, with the educational attainment for Whites being higher for those born outside the United States: 38% of foreign born, and 30% of native born Whites had a college degree. Both figures are above the national average of 27%.[67]

Gender income inequality was the greatest among Whites, with White men outearning White women by 48%. Census Bureau data for 2005 reveals that the median income of White females was lower than that of males of all races. In 2005, the median income for White American females was only slightly higher than that of African American females.[68]

White Americans are more likely to live in suburbs and small cities than their black counterparts.[69]

• White American population distribution over time
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Three members of the Kennedy political dynasty, John, Robert and Ted Kennedy. All eight of their great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland.

In his 1989 book Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, David Hackett Fischer explores the details of the folkways of four groups of settlers from the British Isles that moved to the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries from distinct regions of Britain and Ireland. His thesis is that the culture of each group persisted (albeit in modified form), providing the basis for the modern United States.[81]

According to Fischer, the foundation of America's four regional cultures was formed from four mass migrations from four regions of the British Isles by four distinct ethno-cultural groups. New England's formative period occurred between 1629 and 1640 when Puritans, mostly from East Anglia, settled there, thus forming the basis for the New England regional culture.[82] The next mass migration was of southern English Cavaliers and their working class English servants to the Chesapeake Bay region between 1640 and 1675. This spawned the creation of the American Southern culture.[83]

Then, between 1675 and 1725, thousands of Irish, Cornish, English and Welsh Quakers plus many Germans sympathetic to Quaker ideas, led by William Penn, settled the Delaware Valley. This resulted in the formation of the General American culture, although, according to Fischer, this is really a "regional culture", even if it does today encompass most of the U.S. from the mid-Atlantic states to the Pacific Coast.[84] Finally, a huge number of settlers from the borderlands between England and Scotland, sometimes by way of northern Ireland, migrated to Appalachia between 1717 and 1775. This resulted in the formation of the Upland South regional culture, which has since expanded to the west to West Texas and parts of the American Southwest.[85]

In his book, Fischer brings up several points. He states that the U.S. is not a country with one "general" culture and several "regional" cultures, as is commonly thought. Rather, there are only four regional cultures as described above, and understanding this helps one to more clearly understand American history as well as contemporary American life. Fischer asserts that it is not only important to understand where different groups came from, but when. All population groups have, at different times, their own unique set of beliefs, fears, hopes and prejudices. When different groups moved to America and brought certain beliefs and values with them, these ideas became, according to Fischer, more or less frozen in time, even if they eventually changed in their original place of origin.[86]

White Americans have a mean of 98.6% European, 0.19% Sub-Saharan African, and 0.18% Native American ancestry.[87] However, non-European ancestry in White Americans is highly variable; for example, Black ancestry (2% or greater) is found in over five percent of European Americans in Louisiana and South Carolina, and Native American ancestry (2% or greater) is found in over three percent of European Americans in Louisiana and North Dakota. African ancestry is most common in the South and least common in the Midwest; Native American ancestry is more common in Western states than Eastern states.[88]

Older studies have also been performed. DNA analysis on White Americans by geneticist Mark D. Shriver showed an average of 0.7% Sub-Saharan African admixture and 3.2% Native American admixture.[89] The same author, in another study, claimed that about 30% of all White Americans, approximately 66 million people, have a median of 2.3% of Black African admixture.[90] Shriver discovered his ancestry is 10 percent African, and Shriver's partner in DNA Print Genomics, J.T. Frudacas, contradicted him two years later stating "Five percent of European Americans exhibit some detectable level of African ancestry."[91]

In a 2007 study, Gonçalves et al. reported Sub-Saharan and Amerindian mtDNA lineages at a frequency of 3.1% (respectively 0.9% and 2.2%) in a sample of 1387 American Caucasians as compared to 62% in white Brazilians (respectively 29% and 33%), 98% for white Colombians (respectively 8% and 90%) and similarly high levels for Argentines, Chileans, and Costa Ricans.[92] A 2003 study on Y-chromosomes and mtDNA found African admixture in European-Americans to be "below the limits of detection".[93]

In contrast to non-Hispanic or Latino whites, whose average European ancestry is 98.6%,[94][95] genetic research has found that the average European admixture among White Hispanic and Latino Americans is 73%, while the average European admixture for Hispanic Americans overall (regardless of their self-identified race) is 65.1%.