German ancestry is #1, English ancestry is #2

[King of Kensington]

Although English ancestry topped the list when the ancestry question was first asked, German has topped the list since.  The number reporting English ancestry was halved by 2000 (falling from 50 million to 24.5 million) Looks like there's been a reversal in the decline of English ancestry and now edges out (or basically on par with) Irish ancestry.

2021 ACS (1-year estimates)

German  42,220,180  12.7%
English  31,825,171  9.6%
Irish  31,495,897  9.5%

It's most likely English is tops when one counts all those "American" ancestry responses (a majority of whom are of British Isles ancestry).

[King of Kensington]

From the 2000 census:

German  42.8 million
Irish  30.5 million
English  24.5 million

German and Irish basically the same, English ancestry up.

[King of Kensington]

English ancestry

Alabama  613,556  12.2%
Arizona  724,763  10%
Arkansas  356,361  11.8%
California  2,523,128  6.4%
Colorado  729,850  12.6%
Connecticut  330,489  9.2%
Delaware  99,499  9.9%
Florida  1,823,374  8.4%
Georgia  1,161,528  10.8%
Idaho  370,596  19.5%
Illinois  882,448  7%
Indiana  787,185  11.6%
Iowa  330,528  10.4%
Kansas  382,918  13%
Kentucky  681,168  15.1%
Louisiana  338,376  7.4%
Maine  313,944  22.9%
Maryland  536,568  8.7%
Massachusetts  682,203  9.8%
Michigan  1,077,828  10.7%
Minnesota  384,865  6.7%
Missouri  736,445  11.9%
Montana  143,162  13%
Nebraska  183,874  9.4%
Nevada  273,613  9.3%
New Hampshire  246,307  17.7%
New Jersey  452,137  4.9%
New Mexico  175,635  8.3%
New York  1,127,170  5.7%
North Carolina  1,369,470  13%
Ohio  1,324,874  11.2%
Oklahoma  454,596  11.4%
Oregon  619,918  14.6%
Pennsylvania  1,071,276  8.3%
Rhode Island  117,615  10.8%
South Carolina  641,310  12.4%
Tennessee  940,489  13.5%
Texas  2,309,873  7.8%
Utah  965,421  28.9%
Virginia  1,035,264  12%
Washington  969,180  12.5%
Wisconsin  396,490  6.7%

American ancestry

Alabama  646,627  12.8%
Arizona  279,718  3.8%
Arkansas  232,059  7.7%
California  1,074,862  2.8%
Colorado  199,105  3.4%
Connecticut  129,238  3.6%
Delaware  48,242  4.8%
Florida  1,799,505  8.3%
Georgia  785,566  7.3%
Idaho  107,829  5.7%
Illinois  410,552  3.2%
Indiana  456,786  6.7%
Iowa  139,437  4.4%
Kansas  178,975  6.1%
Kentucky  513,872  11.4%
Louisiana  306,914  6.6%
Maine  77,060  5.6%
Maryland  245,255  4%
Massachusetts  250,540  3.6%
Michigan  405,977  4%
Minnesota  183,524  3.2%
Missouri  388,411  6.2%
Montana  59,617  5.4%
Nebraska  71,724  3.6%
Nevada  96,504  3.1%
New Hampshire  61,404  4.4%
New Jersey  334,739  3.6%
New Mexico  78,749  3.7%
New York  815,512  4.1%
North Carolina  899,504  8.5%
Ohio  645,601  5.5%
Oklahoma  237,440  6%
Oregon  182,600  4.3%
Pennsylvania  573,997  4.4%
Rhode Island  46,810  4.3%
South Carolina  446,888  8.6%
Tennessee  817,015  11.7%
Texas  1,354,526  4.6%
Utah  133,801  4%
Virginia  778,101  9%
Washington  270,721  3.5%
Wisconsin  187,551  3.2%

[King of Kensington]

^ Increase in English ancestry responses corresponds with decline in "American" responses (data not available for all states).

[King of Kensington]

German ancestry

Alabama  335,647  6.7%
Arizona  916,084  12.6%
Arkansas  292,213  9.7%
California  2,794,110  7.1%
Colorado  1,024,780  20.4%
Connecticut  293,430  8.1%
Delaware  128,684  12.8%
Florida  1,951,581  9%
Georgia  703,816  6.5%
Idaho  310,222  16.3%
Illinois  2,112,629  16.7%
Indiana  1,369,189  20.1%
Iowa  999,949  31.3%
Kansas  683,530  23.3%
Kentucky  615,140  13.6%
Louisiana  329,328  7.1%
Maine  106,464  7.8%
Maryland  720,846  11.7%
Massachusetts  379,343  5.4%
Michigan  1,780,230  17.7%
Minnesota  1,684,951  29.5%
Missouri  1,350,440  21.9%
Montana  256,210  23.2%
Nebraska  623,462  31.7%
Nevada  293,465  9.2%
New Hampshire  110,506  8%
New Jersey  818,757  8.8%
New Mexico  192,615  9.1%
New York  1,735,084  8.7%
North Carolina  1,024,469  9.7%
Ohio  2,647,117  22.5%
Oklahoma  488,694  12.3%
Oregon  705,380  16.6%
Pennsylvania  2,824,532  21.8%
Rhode Island  49,586  4.5%
South Carolina  494,209  9.5%
Tennessee  677,696  9.7%
Texas  2,436,718  8.3%
Utah  342,087  10.2%
Virginia   903,339  10.5%
Washington  1,148,464  14.8%
Wisconsin  2,128,574  36.1%

[King of Kensington]

The Midwest and Pennsylvania is clearly the German American heartland, while most southern whites are of British ancestry.

[King of Kensington]

Yes, the increases were in the South, while elsewhere more or less the same.  American responses declined.

2021 ACS:

Alabama  12.2%
Arkansas  11.8%
Kentucky  15.1%
North Carolina  13%
South Carolina  12.4%
Tennessee  13.5%

2000 Census:

Alabama  7.8%
Arkansas  7.9%
Kentucky  9.7%
North Carolina  9.2%
South Carolina  8.2%
Tennessee  9.1%

[King of Kensington]

In the 2000 United States Census, 6.9% of the American population chose to self-identify itself as having "American ancestry.  The four states in which a plurality of the population reported American ancestry were Arkansas (15.7%), Kentucky (20.7%), Tennessee (17.3%), and West Virginia (18.7%). Sizable percentages of the populations of Alabama (16.8%), Mississippi (14.0%), North Carolina (13.7%), South Carolina (13.7%), Georgia (13.3%), and Indiana (11.8%) also reported American ancestry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_ancestry

[King of Kensington]

Regional distribution:


English ancestry

Northeast  4,470,376
Midwest  6,597,026
South  13,017,354
West  7,740,315

American ancestry

Northeast  2,327,089
Midwest  3,143,033
South  9,604,178
West  2,551,657

German ancestry

Northeast  6,383,529
Midwest  15,961,078
South  11,578,159
West  8,297,414

Irish ancestry

Northeast  7,651,157
Midwest  7,535,454
South  10,354,771
West  5,954,515

Italian ancestry

Northeast  6,513,333
Midwest  2,665,795
South  4,011,238
West  2,756,772

[King of Kensington]

In addition to the "American" responses, a lot of English ancestry (or Scottish or Scots-Irish) is just not reported at all I think.

Even the Irish ancestry group is largely "Anglo Saxon American" so to speak.  The majority of people with Irish ancestry outside the Northeast are Protestant. 

[King of Kensington]

This is true, but it probably depends on which part of the Midwest you are talking about. Indiana and Missouri, for example, were largely settled by Southern/Appalachian whites, and therefore are likely also more British to this day. The upper Midwest on the other hand is much more German.

Indiana

German  20.1%
English/American  18.3%

Missouri

German  21.9%
English/American  18.1%

Although German comes out slightly ahead of English + American, I would agree with this.  Add up the Scottish, Scots-Irish, Irish Protestant and Welsh (even with some double-counting) and the "forgotten" English ancestors, the "British" group would almost certainly come ahead in Indiana and Missouri.  A look at the 1890 census showed mostly a "native stock" population in these states too.  

Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas on the other hand is the German-Scandinavian heartland, and English/British ancestry is rarer.  

[King of Kensington]

German ancestry is less common in New England

New England

Irish  2,550,467  16.9%
English/American  2,422,634  16.1%
Italian  1,715,523  11.4%
French/French Canadian  1,491,299  9.9%
German  1,005,156  6.7%

In the least German state, Rhode Island (4.5%), German ancestry is the sixth most common ancestry among whites (behind Irish, Italian, English/American, French/French Canadian and Portuguese).

[King of Kensington]

The increase in "English" is strongly correlated with the drop in "American" responses. A plurality report English ancestry in Tennessee now. 

The only state where "American" has a plurality is Alabama (and maybe Mississippi and West Virginia but the Census Bureau didn't have data for the states).

But yes, I'm sure there's an educational difference.  Though it's interesting English ancestry domianted in the South when the ancestry question was first asked, but it dropped significantly after that.

[King of Kensington]

Yes, and the least "German" regions - New England and the Deep South - feel the least "mainstream American." 

[King of Kensington]

Another area with relatively low German ancestry.  3x as many English/American as German ancestry responses in Utah.

[King of Kensington]

English/American ancestry

Utah   32.9%
Maine 28.5%
Kentucky 26.5%
Idaho 25.2%
Tennessee 25.2%
Alabama 25%
New Hampshire 22.1%
North Carolina 21.5%
South Carolina 21%
Virginia 21%
Arkansas 19.5%
Kansas 19.1%
Oregon 18.9%
Montana 18.4%
Indiana 18.3%
Georgia 18.1%
Missouri 18.1%
Oklahoma 17.4%
Florida 16.7%
Ohio 16.7%
Colorado 16%
Washington 16%
Rhode Island 15.1%
Iowa   14.8%
Delaware 14.7%
Michigan 14.7%
Louisiana 14%
Arizona 13.8%
Nebraska 13%
Connecticut 12.8%
Maryland 12.7%
Pennsylvania 12.7%
Nevada 12.4%
Texas 12.4%
New Mexico 12%
Illinois 10.2%
Minnesota   9.9%
Wisconsin   9.9%
New York 9.8%
California 9.2%
New Jersey 8.5%

[King of Kensington]

All of the 20%+ English/American states are in the South, New England or Mormon belt.

20%+ German ancestry in Pennsylvania, most of the Midwest and Great Plains.

[King of Kensington]

Danish American plurality in the West.  I think there was a good number of Danish Mormons.

Also, Basque Americans.  There's only 60,000, and there's a Basque community in Idaho.

[King of Kensington]

Here are the remaining European ancestries with at least 3 million.

Polish

Northeast  2,524,970
Midwest  2,965,897
South  1,670,678
West  1,075,481

French/French Canadian

Northeast  2,197,921
Midwest  1,676,271
South  2,696,592
West  1,549,749

Scottish

Northeast  759,135
Midwest  1,032,914
South  2,059,036
West  1,393,703

Norwegian

Northeast  235,166
Midwest  1,826,733
South  555,373
West  1,268,108

Swedish

Northeast  420,720
Midwest  1,197,837
South  613,748
West  1,086,273

Dutch

Northeast  426,269
Midwest  1,164,460
South  754,791
West  737,521

[King of Kensington]

Also the Scandinavians had a bit of a head-start.  Peak decade of Scandinavian immigration was in the 1880s.  More Norwegians and Swedes immigrated between 1870-1900 than between 1900-1930.  The shift to Southern and Eastern Europe was after 1890.  Immigration from Russia peaked 1900-1910.

https://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/pdfs/by_region/region_table.pdf

[King of Kensington]

Very few ethnic Russians emigrated.

In the 1930 census, 64% of those born in Russia had a Yiddish mother tongue.

https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/16440598v2ch08.pdf

There were also ethnic Germans.  Many Germans from Russia went to the Great Plains, especially North Dakota.  Norwegians and Germans from Russia were the main settlers of North Dakota.

[King of Kensington]

In rural Illinois, and I’m guessing Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, etc., Brauns and Schneiders vastly outnumber Browns and Taylors.

I doubt it (except maybe in Wisconsin)

Btw, ‘American’ ancestry pretty much means Ulster/Protestant Irish settlers that dotted the southern frontiers and stopped referring to themselves as Irish when the other kind of Irish people started showing up in large numbers.

Most Southern whites are of English ancestry.  The Scotch-Irish presence, while not insignifcant, is overstated.  There's a weird cottage industry claiming that white Southerners are actually "Celtic."

[King of Kensington]

Most common last names by state:

https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/whats-the-most-popular-surname-in-your-state/

Interestingly no German surnames show up in the top three in any state, not even in Wisconsin.  Besides the obvious Spanish dominance in California, Texas and the Southwest, and Asians in Hawaii - you see a few ethnic identifiers (Sullivan in Massachusetts, Olson in North Dakota, more Johnsons and Andersons in the Upper Midwest).

[King of Kensington]

English ancestry is common among whites everywhere except the NYC area and Wisconsin/Minnesota/Dakotas.

[King of Kensington]

It's kind of ironic that the vast majority of Americans with German ancestry vote Republican while that party wouldn't get 20% of the vote here. The Republican Party is pretty much seen as a joke here, even among a lot of conservatives.

It’s even more extreme with Dutch-Americans.

At the time of Dutch immigration to the US, Dutch culture was very religious and conservative, and Dutch-Americans have avoided the cultural revolution that swept over the Netherlands in the intervening decades. For instance in 1922, the vote broke down as follows
Catholic Parties: 29.86%
Protestant Parties: 25.52%
Socialist/Communist Parties: 21.21%
Classical Liberal Parties: 14.81%

There was Dutch immigration post-WWII to Canada, Australia and California as well and they tended to be socially and politically conservative and many went into farming.