Non-Hispanic whites

White Non-Hispanic population percentage by state in 2012.

Non-Hispanic whites or whites not of Hispanic or Latino origin or Anglos,^[3][4] are people in the United States who, as defined by the Census Bureau, are considered racially white and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity.^[5][6] Non-Hispanic whites are a subcategory of white Americans, the other being white Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Although generally all nations in Europe have contributed to the white population through emigration to Northern America in the last few centuries, the majority of non-Hispanic whites trace their origins to Northwestern Europe while other major sources originate in Southern and Eastern Europe; German, Irish, and English ancestries are the most common.

In the United States, this population was first derived from English (and, to a lesser degree, French) settlement of the Americas, as well as settlement by other Europeans such as the Germans and Dutch that began in the 17th century (see History of the United States). Continued growth since the early 19th century is attributed to sustained very high birth rates alongside relatively low death rates among settlers and natives alike as well as periodically massive immigration from European countries, especially Germany, Ireland, England, Italy, Greece, Sweden and Norway, as well as Poland, Russia, and many more countries. It typically refers to an English-speaking American in distinction to Spanish speakers in the Southwestern states and in Mexico;^[7][4] German speakers (Amish) in North Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania;^[8] French speakers in Canada,^[9] New England and Louisiana;^[10] and traditionally Russian and Yiddish-speaking American Jews in New York. ^[11][12] In 2011, for the first time in U.S. history, non-Hispanic whites accounted for under half of the births in the country, with 49.6% of total births.^[13] At 197.2 million in 2012, non-Hispanic whites comprise 62.8% of the total U.S. population.^[13][14]

Population by settlement

White Non-Hispanic population by state or territory (1990–2012)^[14][15]

State/Territory	Pop 1990	% pop 1990	Pop 2000	% pop 2000	Pop 2010	% pop 2010	Pop 2012	% pop 2012	% growth 2000-2012	% pop 1990-2012
Alabama	2,960,167	73.3%	3,125,819	70.3%	3,204,402	67.0%	3,212,468	66.6%	+2.8%	-6.7 pp
Alaska	406,722	73.9%	423,788	67.6%	455,320	64.1%	460,453	63.0%	+8.7%	-10.9 pp
Arizona	2,626,185	71.7%	3,274,258	63.8%	3,695,647	57.8%	3,730,370	56.9%	+13.9%	-14.8 pp
Arkansas	1,933,082	82.2%	2,100,135	78.6%	2,173,469	74.5%	2,179,168	73.9%	+3.8%	-8.3 pp
California	17,029,126	57.2%	15,816,790	46.7%	14,956,253	40.1%	14,904,055	39.2%	-5.8%	-18.0 pp
Colorado	2,658,945	80.7%	3,202,880	74.5%	3,520,793	70.0%	3,599,838	69.4%	+12.4%	-11.3 pp
Connecticut	2,754,184	83.8%	2,638,845	77.5%	2,546,262	71.2%	2,512,773	70.0%	-4.8%	-13.8 pp
Delaware	528,092	79.3%	567,973	72.5%	586,752	65.3%	589,642	64.3%	+3.8%	-15.0 pp
District of Columbia	166,131	27.4%	159,178	27.8%	209,464	34.8%	222,975	35.3%	+40.1%	+7.9 pp
Florida	9,475,326	73.2%	10,458,509	65.4%	10,884,722	57.9%	10,966,711	56.8%	+4.9%	-16.4 pp
Georgia	4,543,425	70.1%	5,128,661	62.6%	5,413,920	55.9%	5,460,416	55.0%	+6.5%	-15.1 pp
Hawaii	347,644	31.4%	277,091	22.9%	309,343	22.7%	317,032	22.8%	+14.4%	-8.6 pp
Idaho	928,661	92.2%	1,139,291	88.0%	1,316,243	84.0%	1,330,942	83.4%	+16.8%	-8.8 pp
Illinois	8,550,208	74.8%	8,424,140	67.8%	8,167,753	63.7%	8,093,687	62.9%	-3.9%	-11.9 pp
Indiana	4,965,242	89.6%	5,219,373	85.8%	5,286,453	81.5%	5,289,249	80.9%	+1.3%	-8.7 pp
Iowa	2,663,840	95.9%	2,710,344	92.6%	2,701,123	88.7%	2,705,704	88.0%	-0.2%	-7.9 pp
Kansas	2,190,524	88.4%	2,233,997	83.1%	2,230,539	78.2%	2,234,826	77.4%	0.0%	-11.0 pp
Kentucky	3,378,022	91.7%	3,608,013	89.3%	3,745,655	86.3%	3,760,302	85.8%	+4.2%	-5.9 pp
Louisiana	2,776,022	65.8%	2,794,391	62.5%	2,734,884	60.3%	2,748,748	59.7%	-1.6%	-6.1 pp
Maine	1,203,357	98.0%	1,230,297	96.5%	1,254,297	94.4%	1,250,688	94.1%	+1.7%	-3.9 pp
Maryland	3,326,109	69.6%	3,286,547	62.1%	3,157,958	54.7%	3,166,263	53.8%	-3.7%	-15.8 pp
Massachusetts	5,280,292	87.8%	5,198,359	81.9%	4,984,800	76.1%	5,003,798	75.3%	-3.7%	-12.6 pp
Michigan	7,649,951	82.3%	7,806,691	78.6%	7,569,939	76.6%	7,523,647	76.1%	-3.6%	-6.2 pp
Minnesota	4,101,266	93.7%	4,337,143	88.2%	4,405,142	83.1%	4,424,944	82.3%	+2.0%	-11.4 pp
Mississippi	1,624,198	63.1%	1,727,908	60.7%	1,722,287	58.0%	1,717,214	57.5%	-0.6%	-5.6 pp
Missouri	4,448,465	86.9%	4,686,474	83.8%	4,850,748	81.0%	4,848,758	80.5%	+3.5%	-6.4 pp
Montana	733,878	91.8%	807,823	89.5%	868,628	87.8%	876,782	87.2%	+8.5%	-4.6 pp
Nebraska	1,460,095	92.5%	1,494,494	87.3%	1,499,753	82.1%	1,509,066	81.3%	+1.0%	-11.2 pp
Nevada	946,357	78.7%	1,303,001	65.2%	1,462,081	54.1%	1,455,200	52.7%	+11.7%	-26.0 pp
New Hampshire	1,079,484	97.3%	1,175,252	95.1%	1,215,050	92.3%	1,212,389	91.8%	+3.2%	-5.5 pp
New Jersey	5,718,966	74.0%	5,557,209	66.0%	5,214,878	59.3%	5,134,994	57.9%	-7.6%	-16.1 pp
New Mexico	764,164	50.4%	813,495	44.7%	833,810	40.5%	827,066	39.7%	+1.7%	-10.7 pp
New York	12,460,189	69.3%	11,760,981	62.0%	11,304,247	58.3%	11,227,534	57.4%	-4.5%	-11.9 pp
North Carolina	4,971,127	75.0%	5,647,155	70.2%	6,223,995	65.3%	6,292,533	64.5%	+11.4%	-10.5 pp
North Dakota	601,592	94.2%	589,149	91.7%	598,007	88.9%	616,194	88.1%	+4.6%	-6.1 pp
Ohio	9,444,622	87.1%	9,538,111	84.0%	9,359,263	81.1%	9,309,291	80.6%	-2.4%	-6.5 pp
Oklahoma	2,547,588	81.0%	2,556,368	74.1%	2,575,381	68.7%	2,585,779	67.8%	+1.2%	-13.2 pp
Oregon	2,579,732	90.8%	2,857,616	83.5%	3,005,848	78.5%	3,026,649	77.6%	+5.9%	-13.2 pp
Pennsylvania	10,422,058	87.7%	10,322,455	84.1%	10,094,652	79.5%	10,035,953	78.6%	-2.8%	-9.1 pp
Rhode Island	896,109	89.3%	858,433	81.9%	803,685	76.4%	791,560	75.4%	-7.8%	-13.9 pp
South Carolina	2,390,056	68.5%	2,652,291	66.1%	2,962,740	64.1%	3,016,843	63.9%	+13.7%	-4.6 pp
South Dakota	634,788	91.2%	664,585	88.0%	689,502	84.7%	698,504	83.8%	+5.1%	-7.4 pp
Tennessee	4,027,631	82.6%	4,505,930	79.2%	4,800,782	75.6%	4,840,886	75.0%	+7.4%	-7.6 pp
Texas	10,291,680	60.6%	10,933,313	52.4%	11,397,345	45.3%	11,554,528	44.3%	+5.7%	-16.3 pp
Utah	1,571,254	91.2%	1,904,265	85.3%	2,221,719	80.4%	2,278,904	79.8%	+19.7%	-11.4 pp
Vermont	552,184	98.1%	585,431	96.2%	590,223	94.3%	588,138	94.0%	+0.5%	-4.3 pp
Virginia	4,701,650	76.0%	4,965,637	70.2%	5,186,450	64.8%	5,234,502	63.9%	+5.4%	-12.1 pp
Washington	4,221,622	86.7%	4,652,490	78.9%	4,876,804	72.5%	4,927,042	71.4%	+5.9%	-15.3 pp
West Virginia	1,718,896	95.8%	1,709,966	94.6%	1,726,256	93.2%	1,721,901	92.8%	+0.7%	-3.0 pp
Wisconsin	4,464,677	91.3%	4,681,630	87.3%	4,738,411	83.3%	4,738,842	82.8%	+1.2%	-8.5 pp
Wyoming	412,711	91.0%	438,799	88.9%	483,874	85.9%	487,672	84.6%	+11.1%	-6.4 pp
American Samoa			682	1.2%	611	1.1%			-10.4%
Guam			10,666	6.9%	11,001	6.9%			+3.1%
Northern Mariana Islands			1,274	1.8%	916	1.7%			-28.1%
Puerto Rico			33,966	0.9%	26,946	0.7%	23,542	0.6%	-30.7%
U.S. Virgin Islands			8,580	7.9%	3,830	3.6%			-55.3%
United States of America	188,128,296	75.6%	194,552,774	69.1%	196,817,552	63.7%	197,243,423	62.8%	+1.4%	–11.9 pp

In 2012, in 37 out of the 50 U.S. states non-Hispanic whites made up a greater percentage of the state's population than the U.S. overall share of 62.8%; however, the 13 states with greater shares of non-whites include the four most populous states (California, Texas, New York, and Florida). Also, note that while the total non-Hispanic white population has grown since 2000 in 36 out of the 50 states, the relative share of non-Hispanic whites in the overall state population has declined in all 50 states during that same time period.

As of 2012, four states are majority-minority: Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

Historical population by state or territory

Non-Mexican white (1910-1930) and Non-Hispanic white % of population (1940-2010) by U.S. State^[16][17][18]

State/Territory	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010
Alabama				65.3%			73.3%	73.3%	73.3%	70.3%	67.0%
Alaska			48.3%				77.2%	75.8%	73.9%	67.6%	64.1%
Arizona				65.1%			74.3%	74.5%	71.7%	63.8%	57.8%
Arkansas				75.2%			81.0%	82.2%	82.2%	78.6%	74.5%
California				89.5%			76.3%	66.6%	57.2%	46.7%	40.1%
Colorado				90.3%			84.6%	82.7%	80.7%	74.5%	70.0%
Connecticut				97.9%			91.4%	88.0%	83.8%	77.5%	71.2%
Delaware				86.4%			84.1%	81.3%	79.3%	72.5%	65.3%
District of Columbia				71.4%			26.5%	25.7%	27.4%	27.8%	34.8%
Florida				71.5%			77.9%	76.7%	73.2%	65.4%	57.9%
Georgia				65.2%			73.4%	71.6%	70.1%	62.6%	55.9%
Hawaii						31.5%	38.0%	31.1%	31.4%	22.9%	22.7%
Idaho				98.4%			95.9%	93.9%	92.2%	88.0%	84.0%
Illinois				94.7%			83.5%	78.0%	74.8%	67.8%	63.7%
Indiana				96.3%			91.7%	90.2%	89.6%	85.8%	81.5%
Iowa				99.2%			98.0%	96.9%	95.9%	92.6%	88.7%
Kansas				95.6%			92.7%	90.5%	88.4%	83.1%	78.2%
Kentucky				92.5%			92.4%	91.7%	91.7%	89.3%	86.3%
Louisiana				63.7%			68.2%	67.6%	65.8%	62.5%	60.3%
Maine				99.7%			99.1%	98.3%	98.0%	96.5%	94.4%
Maryland				83.3%			80.4%	73.9%	69.6%	62.1%	54.7%
Massachusetts				98.6%			95.4%	92.3%	87.8%	81.9%	76.1%
Michigan				95.7%			87.1%	84.1%	82.3%	78.6%	76.6%
Minnesota				99.0%			97.7%	96.1%	93.7%	88.2%	83.1%
Mississippi				50.6%			62.6%	63.6%	63.1%	60.7%	58.0%
Missouri				93.4%			88.6%	87.7%	86.9%	83.8%	81.0%
Montana				96.2%			94.7%	93.4%	91.8%	89.5%	87.8%
Nebraska				98.2%			95.2%	94.0%	92.5%	87.3%	82.1%
Nevada				91.6%			86.7%	83.2%	78.7%	65.2%	54.1%
New Hampshire				99.9%			99.1%	98.4%	97.3%	95.1%	92.3%
New Jersey				94.3%			84.7%	79.1%	74.0%	66.0%	59.3%
New Mexico				50.9%			53.8%	52.6%	50.4%	44.7%	40.5%
New York				94.6%			80.1%	75.0%	69.3%	62.0%	58.3%
North Carolina				71.9%			76.5%	75.3%	75.0%	70.2%	65.3%
North Dakota				98.3%			96.9%	95.5%	94.2%	91.7%	88.9%
Ohio				95.0%			89.8%	88.2%	87.1%	84.0%	81.1%
Oklahoma				89.9%			88.1%	85.0%	81.0%	74.1%	68.7%
Oregon				98.6%			95.8%	93.3%	90.8%	83.5%	78.5%
Pennsylvania				95.1%			90.3%	89.1%	87.7%	84.1%	79.5%
Rhode Island				98.3%			96.1%	93.4%	89.3%	81.9%	76.4%
South Carolina				57.1%			69.0%	68.3%	68.5%	66.1%	64.1%
South Dakota				96.2%			94.6%	92.3%	91.2%	88.0%	84.7%
Tennessee				82.5%			83.7%	83.1%	82.6%	79.2%	75.6%
Texas				74.1%			69.6%	65.7%	60.6%	52.4%	45.3%
Utah				98.2%			93.6%	92.4%	91.2%	85.3%	80.4%
Vermont				99.7%			99.2%	98.5%	98.1%	96.2%	94.3%
Virginia				75.3%			80.1%	78.2%	76.0%	70.2%	64.8%
Washington				97.7%			93.6%	90.2%	86.7%	78.9%	72.5%
West Virginia				93.7%			95.7%	95.6%	95.8%	94.6%	93.2%
Wisconsin				99.2%			95.6%	93.6%	91.3%	87.3%	83.3%
Wyoming				95.9%			92.1%	92.0%	91.0%	88.9%	85.9%
Puerto Rico										0.9%	0.7%

Trends

The Non-Hispanic white population in the United States has been declining since the 1940s as a percentage of the total US population due to a number of factors:

1. Lower birth rates. Non-Hispanic whites are having fewer children relative to other groups. Preliminary 2012 data show that non-Hispanic whites have a total fertility rate of 1.76 children per woman, compared to 1.90 for non-Hispanic blacks, 2.19 for Hispanics, and 1.77 for Asians.^[19] Since 1990, rates for other races have been falling while the non-Hispanic white rate has been more or less stable, but the two largest groups, Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks, remain higher.^[20] Since 1997, Asian fertility has been lower than that of non-Hispanic whites except during a Year of the Dragon (2000 and 2012), but the Asian population structure has relatively more women of childbearing age and fewer elderly than the white population does, leading to Asians having a higher crude birth rate and lower crude death rate than whites.

2. Immigration. The U.S. takes more immigrants than the rest of the world combined with the vast majority coming from countries where the population is of non-white and/or Hispanic origin. Immigration to the U.S. from European countries has been in a steady decline since World War II averaging 56% of all immigrants in the 1950s and declining to 35% of all immigrants in the 1960s, 20% in the 1970s, 11% in the 1980s, 14% in the 1990s, and 13% in the 2000s. In 2009, approximately 90% of all immigrants came from non-European countries.^[21] The U.S. does receive a small number of non-Hispanic white immigrants, mainly from countries such as Brazil, Canada, Poland, Russia, and the U.K., as well as Egypt and Iran.^[22]

3. Intermarriage. The USA is seeing an unprecedented increase in intermarriage between the various racial and ethnic groups. In 2008, a record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another. 9% of non-Hispanic whites who married in 2008 married either a non-white or Hispanic. Among all newlyweds in 2008, intermarried pairings were primarily white-Hispanic of any race (41%) as compared to white-Asian (15%), white-black (11%), and other combinations (33%). Other combinations consists of pairings between different minority groups, multi-racial people, and American Indians.^[23] The children of such unions would not generally be classified as white Non-Hispanic (although note that one self-identifies their racial and/or ethnic category).

4. Methodology. In the 2000 Census, people were allowed to check more than one race in addition to choosing "Hispanic." There was strong opposition to this from some civil rights activists who feared that this would reduce the size of various racial minorities. The government responded by counting those who are white and of one minority race or ethnicity as minorities for the purposes of civil-rights monitoring and enforcement. Hence one could be 1/8th black and still be counted as a minority.^[24] Also, because this does not apply to Hispanic origin (one is either Hispanic or not, but cannot be both Hispanic and non-Hispanic), the offspring of Hispanics and non-Hispanics are usually counted as Hispanic.^[25]

5. Attrition. Minority populations are younger than non-Hispanic whites. The national median age in 2011 was 37.3 with non-Hispanic whites having the oldest median age (42.3) while Hispanics have the youngest (27.6). Non-Hispanic blacks (32.9) and non-Hispanic Asians (35.9) also are younger than whites.^[26] In 2013, the Census Bureau reported that for the first time, due to the more advanced age profile of the non-Hispanic white population, non-Hispanic whites died at a faster rate than non-Hispanic white births.^[27]

Although non-Hispanic whites are declining as a percentage, in actual numbers they have still been growing. From 2000 - 2010 the non-Hispanic white population grew from 194,552,774 to 196,817,552 - A growth of 1.2% over the 10-year period, due to residual population momentum.^[28]

References