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Race and Hispanic Origin

Race is a complex issue, and no less so with Census data. A large proportion of Census tables are broken down by race.

Overview

As with age and sex, Census data of all types is reported by race. However, there are a small number of tables which specifically tabulate answers to the Census question on race.

The primary tabulation of responses to the race question is the table B02001. However, be warned: Census data about race is complicated. While casual language and even much reporting proceeds as if each person had exactly one race, the Census Bureau allows each person to select as many as six race options, one of which is simply "some other race." Furthermore, "hispanic/latino" is not a race, but a characteristic tracked independently. Note that hispanic respondents disproportionately choose "some other race alone": nationwide, more than 25% of hispanics make that choice, compared to a fraction of a percent of non-hispanics.

In many cases, reporters wish to treat “hispanic” as a race-like category. In that case, use the B03002 table. If your geography is included in the ACS 1-year release, you may prefer to use the C03002 table, which has the same data, but omits the columns detailing the race of hispanics. (This table is not included in the ACS 5-year release.) If you simply want the total of people who are Hispanic/Latino in a given geography, you can simplify further using the B03003 table, which has three columns: total population, hispanic, and not-hispanic.

If you do not want or need to distinguish “hispanic/latino” as a race-like category, you can use the B02001 table, which provides counts of people who selected only one race for each of the six choices, as well as a count of people who selected two or more races. In 2012, about 97% of the population were estimated to be of one race alone, and less than 0.2% were estimated to be of more than two races.

There are six tables summarizing the number of people claiming each of the six race choices. Each table has exactly one column.

Code Title
B02008 White Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02009 Black or African American Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02010 American Indian and Alaska Native Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02011 Asian Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02012 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02013 Some Other Race Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races

Of course, a single person may be counted in more than one of these tables, so the sum of these for a given geography will almost certainly be more than the total estimated population for that geography. Do not make the mistake of adding them.

Details

Finally, there are a number of "detailed" tables which can be used to find estimates of specialized populations and subgroups. However, because of sample size and privacy concerns, many of the detailed tables are only provided at the state and national level.

B02003: Detailed Race

This table provides estimates for all possible combinations of the six race choices. It is only available at the national level.

Subgroups: Choctaw, Chinese and more

When considering race, the Census Bureau treat "Black" and "White" as simple "yes/no" questions. However, for the other race options, respondents can be much more specific. The ACS question on race has specific checkboxes for "Chinese," "Japanese," "Guamian," "Samoan," and others, as well as a blank where respondents can enter a race which is not already listed when checking "Other Asian" or "Other Pacific Islander."

In the 2011 American Community Survey, the Census Bureau changed the way these responses were reported. Previously, there had been tables for each of "American Indian and Alaska Native," (AIAN) "Asian," and "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander" (NHPI). The tables estimated the population for people of one of these races alone in many subgroupings. With the 2011 1-year data release, those tables were discontinued, replaced by three tables with the same name but different codes, and three more tables tabulating estimates for all people specifying that race, alone or in any combination.

race alone, or hispanic origin alone or in any combo
AIAN B02014 (55 columns), C02014 (9 columns) B02017 (54 columns)
Asian B02015 (25 columns), C02015 (8 columns) B02018 (24 columns)
NHPI B02016 (12 columns), C02016 (5 columns) B02019 (11 columns)
Hispanic B03001 (31 columns), C03001 (10 columns) n/a
Here is the complete listing of tables which the Census Bureau classifies as directly concerning race or Hispanic/Latino origin:
Code Title
B02001 Race
B02003 Detailed Race
B02008 White Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02009 Black or African American Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02010 American Indian and Alaska Native Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02011 Asian Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02012 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02013 Some Other Race Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races
B02014 American Indian and Alaska Native Alone for Selected Tribal Groupings
B02015 Asian Alone by Selected Groups
B02016 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone by Selected Groups
B02017 American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Alone or in Any Combination by Selected Tribal Groupings
B02018 Asian Alone or in Any Combination by Selected Groups
B02019 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone or in Any Combination by Selected Groups
B03001 Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin
B03002 Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race
B03003 Hispanic or Latino Origin
B25006 Race of Householder
Table also available in "collapsed" version: change "B" to "C" for table code.

Note: Separately from the race question, Census allows people to specify their ancestry. Detailed answers for race can be the same as answers for ancestry. See our Ancestry page for some more information. At this time, we can't make a recommendation about when to use each table. Some discussion of the two questions can be found in the Pew Research Center's 2015 report, "Multiracial in America"

Detailed information by race or latino origin

In addition to the tables specifically about race and Latino origin, many other Census tables are provided in multiple racial tabulations. Each of the tables listed below is offered in nine variations. (Or 18, if there is a C table, or 36 if there are B and C tables for the US and for Puerto Rico.) To identify the iterated table, add one of the following letters after the table code. (For Puerto Rico tables, the racial iteration code goes after the numbers but before "PR").
A
White alone
B
Black or African American Alone
C
American Indian and Alaska Native Alone
D
Asian Alone
E
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone
F
Some Other Race Alone
G
Two or More Races
H
White Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino
I
Hispanic or Latino
Code Title
B01001 Sex by Age
B01002 Median Age by Sex
B05003 Sex by Age by Nativity and Citizenship Status
B06004§ª Place of Birth
B07004§ª Geographical Mobility in the Past Year for Current Residence
B07404§ª Geographical Mobility in the Past Year for Residence 1 Year Ago
B08105ª Means of Transportation to Work
B08505ª Means of Transportation to Work for Workplace Geography
B10051 Grandparents Living With Own Grandchildren Under 18 Years by Responsibility for Own Grandchildren by Presence of Parent of Grandchildren and Age of Grandparent
B11001 Household Type (Including Living Alone)
B11002 Household Type by Relatives and Nonrelatives for Population in Households
B12002 Sex by Marital Status by Age for the Population 15 Years and Over
B12007 Median Age at First Marriage
B13002 Women 15 to 50 Years Who Had a Birth by Marital Status and Age
B14007 School Enrollment by Detailed Level of School for the Population 3 Years and Over
B15002 Sex by Educational Attainment for the Population 25 Years and Over
B16005 Nativity by Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over
B16006 Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (Hispanic or Latino)
B17001 Poverty Status by Sex by Age
B17010 Poverty Status of Families by Family Type by Presence of Related Children Under 18 Years by Age of Related Children
B17020ª Poverty Status by Age
B18101 Sex by Age by Disability Status
B19001 Household Income
B19013 Median Household Income
B19025 Aggregate Household Income
B19037 Age of Householder by Household Income
B19101 Family Income
B19113 Median Family Income
B19202 Median Nonfamily Household Income
B19301 Per Capita Income
B19313 Aggregate Income
B20005 Sex by Work Experience by Earnings
B20017 Median Earnings by Sex by Work Experience With Earnings
B21001 Sex by Age by Veteran Status for the Civilian Population 18 Years and Over
B22005ª Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP by Race of Householder
B23002ª Sex by Age by Employment Status
B24010 Sex by Occupation for the Civilian Employed Population 16 Years and Over
B25003 Tenure
B25014 Tenure by Occupants Per Room
B25032 Tenure by Units in Structure
B27001 Health Insurance Coverage Status by Sex by Age
Table also available in "collapsed" version: change "B" to "C" for table code.
ªNo basic 'B' table is offered.
§Tabulated for Puerto Rico. Add 'PR' to the table code. Column names may vary slightly from non-PR version.