Are there really more Americans of German ancestry than English ancestry?

[RINO Tom]

I redid my stats for the other topic I posted, and when combining "English" and "American" (and using the awesome site that was linked for me, http://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Ancestry!), English and German are literally tied (% of Whites):

15.30% English (21.13%)
15.30% German (21.13%)
11.10% Irish (15.33%)
  5.60% Italian (7.73%)
  3.50% French (4.83%)
  3.10% Polish (4.28%)
  1.80% Scottish (2.49%)
  1.50% Dutch (2.07%)
  1.40% Norwegian (1.93%)
  1.30% Swedish (1.80%)
  1.00% Scots-Irish (1.38%)
  1.00% Russian (1.38%)
    .60% Welsh (.83%)
    .40% Spanish (.55%)

I know combining American and English isn't perfect, but whatever ... most people citing "American" are probably originally of English ancestry, minus a few Scots-Irish folks in Appalachia.

It also varies pretty significantly by Census region:

SOUTH
18.50% English (31.09%)
10.70% German (17.98%)
  9.50% Irish (15.97%)
  3.30% Italian (5.55%)
  2.50% French (4.20%)
  1.80% Scottish (3.03%)
  1.50% Polish (2.52%)
  1.40% Scots-Irish (2.35%)
  1.00% Dutch (1.68%)
    .60% Swedish (1.01%)

MIDWEST
27.50% German (35.48%)
14.60% English (18.84%)
12.50% Irish (16.13%)
  5.30% Polish (6.84%)
  4.40% Italian (5.68%)
  3.30% Norwegian (4.26%)
  2.90% French (3.74%)
  2.40% Dutch (3.10%)
  2.30% Swedish (2.97%)
  1.60% Scottish (2.06%)

NORTHEAST
16.10% Irish (23.61%)
13.90% Italian (20.38%)
13.70% German (20.09%)
12.40% English (18.18%)
  5.70% Polish (8.36%)
  5.40% French (7.92%)
  1.90% Russian (2.79%)
  1.60% Scottish (2.35%)
  1.30% Dutch (1.91%)
  1.20% Portuguese (1.76%)

WEST
12.80% English (24.443%)
12.70% German (24.24%)
  8.60% Irish (16.41%)
  4.00% Italian (7.63%)
  2.40% French (4.58%)
  2.00% Norwegian (3.82%)
  2.00% Scottish (3.82%)
  1.80% Swedish (3.44%)
  1.60% Polish (3.05%)
  1.10% Dutch (2.10%)

[RINO Tom]

Why is there an easily findable ancestry map for the 2000 census, but not for the 2010 census? Was ancestry asked in 2010?

I don't believe it was ... I'm working on getting a county ancestry map put together for just European ancestry (so, % of Whites in that state who identify with each European ancestry, pretty much) and with English and American added together, but I have only JUST finished Illinois.

[RINO Tom]

Why is there an easily findable ancestry map for the 2000 census, but not for the 2010 census? Was ancestry asked in 2010?

I don't believe it was ... I'm working on getting a county ancestry map put together for just European ancestry (so, % of Whites in that state who identify with each European ancestry, pretty much) and with English and American added together, but I have only JUST finished Illinois.

Responses of non-white ancestry are recorded by the Census Bureau, but their tabular ancestry in American Fact Finder, excludes Asian, NHOPI, Hispanic, AIAN, and African American, most of which are included under the racial or ethnic categories.

The Census Bureau does not actually ask if someone is of "Asian" race. They have a number of specific "races" such as Chinese, Japanese, etc. which they aggregate as Asian. Presumably, most people who say that their "race" is Vietnamese also indicate Vietnamese ancestry. There are similar separation for Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Hispanic/Spanish). African American ancestry is not included in the ancestry data, but other ancestries generally considered black, such as Jamaican or Nigerian are). So you could estimate African American ancestry as being the same as Black-non Hispanic excluding other black ancestries.

In 2000, German was the largest ancestry from Pennsylvania through the Midwest and pushing out to the West Coast, excluding only Utah. By 2000, German was also the largest ancestry in Alaska, Oklahoma, and Florida.

African American was the largest ancestry along the southern coast from Louisiana to Maryland.

Irish was the largest ancestry in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Delaware, English the largest in Maine, Vermont, and Utah, Mexican in the four border states; and Japanese the largest in Hawaii. Italian is the largest in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.

American was the largest in the Inland South: West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. These areas have seen particularly large drops in reported English ancestry.

Which, again, while not perfect ... is one of the main reasons I chose to add American and English ancestry together into one "English" category in my own, personal, just-for-fun "study."  The states with the highest American ancestry totals seemed to also have the highest English totals in past Census studies, so I thought it was a pretty fair (if simplistic) assumption.