German ancestry is #1, English ancestry is #2

[Bismarck]

Was hoping to find a good map that doesn't separate English and American.  But I guess that ain't it.

I would also quibble with Finns being put under Scandinavian category. 

Yeah the ethnic history of America is something I find very interesting due to both personal and professional interests but the data is always hard to interpret and obtain.

[King of Kensington]

What's that "English" area in west-central IL? 

[ingemann]

Was hoping to find a good map that doesn't separate English and American.  But I guess that ain't it.

I would also quibble with Finns being put under Scandinavian category. 

Not a fan of it, but honestly just change it to Nordic inside your head and it fits.

[ingemann]

Substantial proportions in the Appalachians and wherever there was significant Appalachian diaspora later will also have Welsh ancestry: now there's your ultimate forgotten ancestral grouping, later migration to Scranton, PA and some Mormons notwithstanding.

I have significant Welsh ancestry. In fact I'm almost 100% British according to my test results, mix of English, Scottish, and Welsh. (They have updated the results a few times to show Irish or various Scandinavian is also mixed in there a tiny amount, I'm guessing because Vikings in the latter case, but the other three are much larger and constant in every update.) But I didn't even know about the Welsh part prior to taking the DNA test.

Honestly those gene test have limited value, some guy from Jutland got a test result that he was 100% from East England. Different European population are related to each other in obvious and far less obvious ways, depending on the different migrations over time. As example if you back to 1000 the north Germans are indistinguishable from Danes and the South German and French very similar, after a millennium of internal migration the population have ended up far more of a blend, but that means if you have a Danish and French parent, a gene test may show you as German. In general Danish ancestry can be a lot older than people expect, because the Danish placement outside the migration route, kept the the mixing with external groups low (you see something similar with Sardinians and Dalmatians), while at the same time shifting environment create boom and burst cycles, which sent migration waves out of Denmark. The earliest documented group of these are the Teuton, Cimbrians and Ambrones, but the earlier Germanic expansion is likely also a result of these cycles.

We also have the example of Ashkenazim and Northern Italians, who seems closely related, but this is more likely a result of both groups being a result of similar mixing events between Mediterranean, Western European, Central European and Eastern European groups.

[King of Kensington]

English or German is the most common white ancestry group in every major metro outside the Northeast, except New Orleans (French) and probably South Florida (where Jews are probably the largest NHW group).

[King of Kensington]

Here's an interesting find.  I thought German would clearly top the ancestry list in every Midwestern metro.  But in Indianapolis, English/American (19%) edges out German (17%).  I guess Indianapolis was always a more "native-born American" city.

[Sol]

Here's an interesting find.  I thought German would clearly top the ancestry list in every Midwestern metro.  But in Indianapolis, English/American (19%) edges out German (17%).  I guess Indianapolis was always a more "native-born American" city.

Indianapolis also has long been a major outmigration destination for people from Central Appalachia.

[Bismarck]

Here's an interesting find.  I thought German would clearly top the ancestry list in every Midwestern metro.  But in Indianapolis, English/American (19%) edges out German (17%).  I guess Indianapolis was always a more "native-born American" city.

Nearly every white person whose family has been in Indiana for serval generations has both German and British ancestry, including me. A decent amount of Irish Catholics here as well. Fort Wayne was probably the most historically German of the larger cities in Indiana.

[King of Kensington]

German ancestry is the most commonly reported ancestry in every Midwestern state.  But there is a split between the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest and I guess what could be called the lower Midwest, with the latter being a lot more "Anglo-Saxon."  

Basically the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes, where Yankees from New England and New York were the "founding fathers", were a lot more immigrant and had a more diverse stream of immigrants.   The Lower Midwest never saw "old-stock Americans" outnumbered and Germans dominated the smaller immigrant population.  The Great Lakes region also saw significant southern and eastern European immigration in urban centers in the early 20th century, while the Lower Midwest was bypassed for the most part.

Some figures via jimrtex:

Foreign stock, 1890

Minnesota  75%
Wisconsin  74%
Michigan  55%
Illinois  49%
Iowa  44%
Ohio  34%
Missouri  25%
Indiana  20%

Total population: German foreign stock

Wisconsin  37%
Illinois  21%
Minnesota  21%
Ohio  18%
Iowa  17%
Michigan  15%
Missouri  14%
Indiana  12%

Wisconsin is very German, Minnesota is very Scandinavian (27%), Michigan had a lot of Canadians (9%).  

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=172392.msg3721228#msg3721228

The first time the ancestry question was asked was in 1980, and English was the most common ancestry reported then.  But German was the most reported in all Midwestern states.

Ohio

German  3,605,411  33.4%
English  2,371,326  22%

Michigan

German  2,487,871  26.9%
English  2,036,021  22%

Indiana

German  1,776,144  29.7%
English  1,356,135  22.6%

Illinois

German  3,103,351  27.2%
English  1,808,333  15.8%
  
Wisconsin

German  2,413,992  51.3%
English  606,167  12.9%

Minnesota

German  1,767,770  43.4%
English  656,371  16.1%

Iowa

German  1,331,624  45.7%
English  635,956  21.8%

Missouri

German  1,575,432  32%
English  1,196,775  24.3%

There's a significant difference, however, in the number declaring "American" or leaving the form blank, along north-south lines.  At the time, they were all classified as not specifying ancestry.

Ancestry not specified (not reported or US/American)

Ohio  17.5%
Michigan  12.8%
Indiana  22.7%
Illinois  14%
Wisconsin  8.8%
Minnesota  8.6%
Iowa  13.3%
Missouri  19.5%

Ancestry not specified: US/American

Ohio  6.6%
Michigan  4.1%
Indiana  8.4%
Illinois  4.1%
Wisconsin  2.4%
Minnesota  2.2%
Iowa  4.2%
Missouri  7.4%

Not reported

Ohio  10.5%
Michigan  8.2%
Indiana  13.9%
Illinois  9.1%
Wisconsin  5.9%
Minnesota  6%
Iowa  8.7%
Missouri  11.4%

* A tiny number - less than 1% - are religious groups or unclassified responses.

If you add up the smaller Scottish and Welsh numbers and also assume the "not specified" are mostly Anglo-Saxon, the Anglo-Saxon group becomes larger.  I think it's very likely British ancestry is actually more common in Lower Midwest states of Indiana and Missouri if one accounts for the blank responses and the low level of foreign stock (20-25%) in 1890.

Michigan is likely more "British" too - given its strong Yankee and Canadian imprints.  But in Wisconsin and Minnesota it's clear that Yankees were quickly outnumbered by Germans and Scandinavians.

[RINO Tom]

Ancestry map of the US:

https://i.redd.it/tmhr7ne1avt51.png

Weird/incorrect that they count Finnish in the UP of Michigan as Scandinavian.

[King of Kensington]

How closely does the decline (and later resurgence) of English responses tail the rise (and later drop) in American responses?


1980 census

English  49,598,035  21.9%
American  13,298,761  5.9%

2000 census

English  24.5 million  8.7%
American  20.2 million  7.2%

2021 ACS

English  31,825,171  9.6%
American  17,625,957  5.3%

[King of Kensington]

States where at least 5% of the population reports only English ancestry:

English single ancestry

Utah  13.2%
Kentucky  8.3%
Maine  7.2%
Alabama  7.1%
Tennessee  7.1%
Idaho  6.7%

Some states (such as Vermont and West Virginia) not available.