Ancestry refers to a person's ethnic origin, heritage, descent, or "roots," which may reflect their place of birth or that of previous generations of their family. Some ethnic identities, such as "Egyptian" or "Polish" can be traced to geographic areas outside the United States, while other ethnicities such as "Pennsylvania German" or "Cajun" evolved in the United States.

The intent of the ancestry question was not to measure the degree of attachment the respondent had to a particular ethnicity, but simply to establish that the respondent had a connection to and self-identified with a particular ethnic group. For example, a response of "Irish" might reflect total involvement in an Irish community or only a memory of ancestors several generations removed from the individual.

The data on ancestry were derived from answers to Question 13 in the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS). The question was based on self-identification; the data on ancestry represent self-classification by people according to the ancestry group(s) with which they most closely identify.

The Census Bureau coded the responses into a numeric representation of over 1,000 categories. To do so, responses initially were processed through an automated coding system; then, those that were not automatically assigned a code were coded by individuals trained in coding ancestry responses. The code list reflects the results of the Census Bureau's own research and consultations with many ethnic experts. Many decisions were made to determine the classification of responses. These decisions affected the grouping of the tabulated data. For example, the "Indonesian" category includes the responses of "Indonesian," "Celebesian," "Moluccan," and a number of other responses.

The ancestry question allowed respondents to report one or more ancestry groups. Generally, only the first two responses reported were coded. If a response was in terms of a dual ancestry, for example, "Irish English," the person was assigned two codes, in this case one for Irish and another for English. However, in certain cases, multiple responses such as "French Canadian," "Scotch-Irish," "Greek Cypriot," and "Black Dutch" were assigned a single code reflecting their status as unique groups. If a person reported one of these unique groups in addition to another group, for example, "Scotch-Irish English," resulting in three terms, that person received one code for the unique group (Scotch-Irish) and another one for the remaining group (English). If a person reported "English Irish French," only English and Irish were coded. If there were more than two ancestries listed and one of the ancestries was a part of another, such as "German Bavarian Hawaiian," the responses were coded using the more detailed groups (Bavarian and Hawaiian).

The Census Bureau accepted "American" as a unique ethnicity if it was given alone or with one other ancestry. There were some groups such as "American Indian," "Mexican American," and "African American" that were coded and identified separately.

The ancestry question is asked for every person in the American Community Survey, regardless of age, place of birth, Hispanic origin, or race.

Ancestry identifies the ethnic origins of the population, and Federal agencies regard this information as essential for fulfilling many important needs. Ancestry is required to enforce provisions under the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based upon race, sex, religion, and national origin. More generally, these data are needed to measure the social and economic characteristics of ethnic groups and to tailor services to accommodate cultural differences. The Department of Labor draws samples for surveys that provide employment statistics and other related information for ethnic groups using ancestry.

The ACS data on ancestry are released annually on the American FactFinder (https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml). Beginning in 2021, these tables are available through data.census.gov/. The Detailed Tables (B04001-B04006) contain estimates of over 100 different ancestry groups for the nation, states, and many other geographic areas, while the Special Population Profiles contain characteristics of different ancestry groups.

Special Population Profiles contain characteristics of different ancestry groups. Go to https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml and select "Advanced Search" to enter the table number.

In all tabulations, when respondents provided an unclassifiable ethnic identity (for example, "multi-national," "adopted," or "I have no idea"), the answer was included in "Unclassified or not reported."

The tabulations on ancestry show two types of data- one where estimates represent the number of people, and the other where estimates represent the number of responses. If you want to know how many people reported an ancestry, use the estimates based on people. If you want to know how many reports there were of a certain ancestry, use the estimates based on reports. The difference between the two types of data presentations represents the fact that people can provide more than one ancestry, and therefore can be counted twice in the same ancestry category. Examples are provided below.

The following are the types of estimates shown:

People Reporting Single Ancestry - Includes all people who reported only one ethnic group such as "German." Also included in this category are people with only a multipleterm response such as "Scotch-Irish" who are assigned a single code because they represent one distinct group. For example, in this type of table, the count for German would be interpreted as "The number of people who reported only German as their ancestry."

People Reporting Multiple Ancestries - Includes all people who reported more than one group, such as "German" and "Irish" and were assigned two ancestry codes. The German line on this table would be interpreted as "The number of people who responded that German was part of their multiple ancestry."

People Reporting Ancestry - Includes all people who reported each ancestry, regardless of whether it was their first or second ancestry, or part of a single or multiple response. This estimate is the sum of the two estimates above (for Single and Multiple ancestry). People can be listed twice in this table. For example, if someone reports their ancestry as "German and Danish," they will be listed once in German and once in Danish, and therefore the sum of the rows would not equal the total population. Interpret the German line of this table as "The total number of people who reported they had German ancestry."

Note that three other tables were available prior to 2014:

B04001 - First Ancestry Reported

B04002 - Second Ancestry Reported

B04003 -Total Ancestries Reported

These tables were removed in 2014 because they were less user-friendly than B04004-B04006. The tables were tallies of the number of people reporting each ancestry first, second, and in total, which resulted in double-counting within many ancestry groups. For example, if a respondent reported two different types of German ancestry, they would be tallied twice under German in B04003. Or, if a respondent had two different types of Arab ancestry, they would be tallied twice under Arab. Thus, table B04006 is a better table to use if a data user is interested in knowing the total number of people who responded that they had German or Arab ancestry, for example.

Question/Concept History - The question on ancestry has been asked on the ACS since 1996. The question wording has never changed, although placement of the question changed slightly. Also, the examples listed below the write-in lines changed in 1999, but have remained the same since then.

The question on ancestry was first asked in the 1980 Census. It replaced the question on parental place of birth, in order to include ancestral heritage for people whose families have been in the U.S. for more than two generations. The question also was asked in the 1990 Census and Census 2000.

The ACS editing system uses answers to the race and place of birth questions to clarify ancestry responses of "Indian," where possible. It also aids in the interpretation of two-word ancestries, such as "Black Irish."

Limitation of the Data - Although some experts consider religious affiliation a component of ethnic identity, the ancestry question was not designed to collect any information concerning religion. The Census Bureau is prohibited from collecting information on religion. Thus, if a religion was given as an answer to the ancestry question, it was coded as an "Other" response.

Beginning in 2006, the population in group quarters (GQ) was included in the ACS. Some types of GQ populations may have ancestry distributions that are different from the household population. The inclusion of the GQ population could therefore have a noticeable impact on the ancestry distribution. This is particularly true for areas with a substantial GQ population.

Comparability - The data are comparable to Census 2000, as long as some caution is used. Response rates to the ancestry question are generally higher for the ACS than for the Census, and data are never generated for missing ancestry responses; therefore, some ancestry groups are reported more heavily in the ACS than in Census 2000.

In 2010, there were two major changes to the coding rules. If up to two ancestries were listed, both were coded, even if one was the specific of the other or if one was American. Also, race groups and Hispanic groups were coded with the same priority as non-race and non-Hispanic groups. For example, "Haitian Black French" would previously have been coded Haitian and French, but now would be coded Haitian and Black. For more information, see the Ancestry Code List found within the 2021 ACS Code List. Go to http://www.census.gov and enter "ACS Code Lists, Definitions, and Accuracy" in the search box.