Understanding Who Reported Multiple Races in the U.S. Decennial Census: Results From Census 2000 and the 2010 Census

• Author: Jungmiwha J. Bullock,Nicholas A. Jones
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00759.x
• Published date: 01 February 2013
• Date: 01 February 2013

NICHOLAS A. JONES AND JUNGMIWHA J. BULLOCK U.S. Census Bureau

Understanding Who Reported Multiple Races in the

U.S. Decennial Census: Results From Census 2000

and the 2010 Census

The United States’s collection of race data in

Census 2000 and the 2010 Census provides

a historical and landmark opportunity to

compare results from two decennial censuses

on the distributions of people reporting multiple

races in response to the census. This research

provides insights on the number of people

who reported more than one race and details

on various multiple-race combinations (e.g.,

White and Black or African American; White

and Asian; White and American Indian and

Alaska Native). This article presents analyses

of the Two or More Races population and the

largest multiple-race groups at the national

and state level. The results inform data users

and the public about an evolving portrait of the

multiple-race population in the United States.

Increasing numbers of Americans identify with

a combination of multiple race groups. The

ability to self-identify with more than one race

on the U.S. Census was enacted about a decade

ago, with Census 2000 being the first decennial

census to allow individuals to self-identify with

more than one race, and, as such, this census

marked a significant milestone for people of

multiple-race backgrounds in this country.

Ten years later, the 2010 Census offered a

second opportunity for people who identify

Racial Statistics Branch, Population Division,

U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-8800

(nicholas.a.jones@census.gov).

Key Words: 2010 Census, multiple race, two or more races.

with multiple racial heritages to wholly identify

on the United States Census, and this provides

researchers and the public with a unique

occasion for analyzing and understanding

data from both censuses on the multiple-race

population as two major data points for the first

time in U.S. Census history.

One of the most effective ways to compare

the 2000 and 2010 data is to examine changes

in specific race combination groups, such as

people who reported White as well as Black or

African American. This population grew by over

one million people, increasing by 134%. Also,

people who reported White as well as Asian

grew by about three quarters of a million people,

with an increase of 87%. These two groups

exhibited some of the most significant growth

in size and proportion since 2000 and exemplify

the important changes that have occurred among

people who reported more than one race over

the last decade.

This article provides an overview of the num-

bers and geographic distribution of people who

reported more than one race as well as details

on the largest multiple-race combinations. Anal-

yses are presented for the national level and

geographic comparisons across states. In the

Findings, we discuss the size and growth of

multiple-race combinations in the context of

what the Census Bureau learned in Census 2000

about the population reporting more than one

race and how the results from the 2010 Census

inform data users and the public about an evolv-

ing portrait of the multiple-race population in

the United States. The new census findings shed

Family Relations 62 (February 2013): 5 –16 5

DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00759.x