View source for European Americans

{{Short description|People of European descent in the United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = European Americans
| image            = File:Largest white alone or in any combination group by county in the United States. US Census 2020.jpg
| image_caption    = Largest (non-Hispanic) white alone or in any combination group by county (2020)
| total            = '''120,114,876''' ([[2020 US census|2020]])<br>Detailed European responses only<sup>{{efn|The figure only includes those who gave a detailed write-in origins response}}</sup><br>58.8% of the White alone population<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-white-population.html|title= English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census|website=census.gov|date= October 10, 2023|accessdate= March 11, 2025}}</ref><br>'''204.3M''' [[White Americans|white]] (one race)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html|title=Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census|date=12 August 2021|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref><br>'''235.4M''' White alone or [[Multiracial Americans|in combination]]
<br>96.5 million{{efn|This group includes people who did not report a more detailed write-in response}} (Not-specified detailed write-in response)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1200130022/2020-census-results-race-ethnicity|title=These 2020 census results break down people's race and ethnicity into details|work=NPR |date= September 22, 2023|accessdate= 11 March 2025 |last1=Jin |first1=Connie Hanzhang }}</ref>
| regions          = [[Contiguous United States]] and [[Alaska]]<br />smaller populations in [[Hawaii]] and the [[Territories of the United States|territories]]
| languages        = Predominantly [[American English|English]], but also other [[languages of Europe]]
| religions        = Predominantly [[Christianity in the United States|Christianity]] (Mainly [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]] and [[Catholic Church in the United States|Roman Catholicism]]);<br />Minority religions: [[Judaism in the United States|Judaism]], [[Mormonism]], [[Islam in the United States|Islam]], [[Modern paganism in the United States|Neo-Paganism]], [[Irreligion in the United States|Irreligion]], [[Atheism]]
| footnotes        = 
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| related          = 
}}

'''European Americans''' are [[Americans]] of [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|work=Merriam Webster Dictionary|title=Euro-American|access-date=March 13, 2014|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euro-american|publisher=Merriam-Webster, Incorporated}}</ref><ref name="MinahanEuropean">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OJilCCGFCTYC&q=European+American&pg=PR9|title=Ethnic Groups of the Americas: An Encyclopedia|chapter=Americans of European descent|author=James B. Minahan|date=March 14, 2013|pages=17–18|publisher=Abc-Clio|isbn=9781610691642}}</ref> This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since the 17th century, European Americans have been the largest [[Panethnicity|panethnic group]] in what is now the United States. According to the [[2020 United States census]], 58.8% of the [[White Americans|White]] alone population and 56.1% of the White alone or in combination gave a detailed European write-in response.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-white-population.html|title= English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census|website=census.gov|date= October 10, 2023|accessdate= March 11, 2025}}</ref>

The [[Spanish Americans|Spaniards]] were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the [[contiguous United States]], although arriving in small numbers, with [[Martín de Argüelles]] ({{abbr|b.|born}} 1566) in [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], then a part of [[Spanish Florida]],<ref name=loc>{{cite web|url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_augustin_1.html|title=A Spanish Expedition Established St. Augustine in Florida|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=March 27, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWX5d27NkFgC&pg=PT35|title=Latino Chronology|access-date=February 4, 2015|isbn=9780313341540|last=Figueredo|first=D. H.|year=2007|publisher=Bloomsbury}}</ref> and the [[Russian Americans|Russians]] were the first Europeans to settle in [[Alaska]], establishing [[Russian America]]. The first [[English people|English]] child born in the [[Americas]] was [[Virginia Dare]], born August 18, 1587. She was born in [[Roanoke Colony]], located in present-day [[North Carolina]], which was the first attempt, made during the reign of [[Queen Elizabeth I]], to establish a permanent [[English overseas possessions|English settlement]] in North America.

In the [[2020 United States census]], [[English Americans]] (46.6 million), [[German Americans]] (45 million), [[Irish Americans]] (38.6 million), [[Italian Americans]] (16.8 million) and [[Polish Americans]] (8.6 million) were the five largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html|title=Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Population for More Than 200 New Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups|date=September 21, 2023|accessdate=October 30, 2023}}</ref>

The 2020 census was the first census to allow data collection on subtypes of Europeans. During previous surveys, the number of people with British ancestry was considered to be significantly under-counted, as many people in that demographic tended to identify themselves simply as [[American ancestry|Americans]] (20,151,829 or 7.2%).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&pg=PA57|title=Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America|last=Pulera|first=Dominic J.|date=October 20, 2004|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-1643-8|accessdate= October 30, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Farley, Reynolds|year=1991|title=The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us?|journal=Demography|volume=28|issue=3|pages=411–29|doi=10.2307/2061465|jstor=2061465|pmid=1936376|s2cid=41503995|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>Stanley Lieberson and Lawrence Santi, "The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns", ''Social Science Research'', Vol. 14, No. 1 (1985), pp. 44-6.</ref><ref>Stanley Lieberson and Mary C. Waters, "Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites", ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 487, No. 79 (September 1986), pp. 82–86.</ref> A 2015 genetic study of 148,789 [[European American]]s concluded that British ancestry was the most common European ancestry among white Americans, with this component ranging between 20% and 55% of the total population in all 50 states, showing its highest levels in the same states where “American” ancestry predominated on the census.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bryc |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Durand |first2=Eric Y. |last3=Macpherson |first3=J. Michael |last4=Reich |first4=David |last5=Mountain |first5=Joanna L. |date=2015-01-08 |title=The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=37–53 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010 |issn=0002-9297 |pmc=4289685 |pmid=25529636}}</ref> The same applies to the number Americans of [[Spanish Americans|Spanish]] ancestry, as most people in that demographic tend to identify themselves as [[Hispanic and Latino Americans]] (65,140,276  or 19.4%), especially since the vast majority of this group and their ancestors came to the U.S. from [[Latin America|Latin American]] countries rather than immigrating directly from Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03001 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03001&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B05006 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B05006&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> Studies show that European genetic ancestry, mainly from Spain, is the largest component in Hispanic Americans, with a mean of 55% European genetic ancestry according to one study from 2019, and 65.1% European genetic ancestry according to another study from 2014.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bryc|first1=Katarzyna|last2=Durand|first2=Eric Y.|last3=Macpherson |first3=J. Michael|last4=Reich|first4=David|last5=Mountain|first5=Joanna L.|title=The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=96|issue=1|year=2015|issn=0002-9297|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010|doi-access=free|pages=37–53|pmid=25529636|pmc=4289685}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=I. King |last2=Rishishwar |first2=Lavanya |last3=Conley |first3=Andrew B. |date=September 2019 |title=Native American admixture recapitulates population-specific migration and settlement of the continental United States |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=e1008225 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008225 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=6756731 |pmid=31545791}}</ref>

An increasing number of people ignore the ancestry or origins question or chose no specific ancestral group such as "American or United States". In the [[2000 United States census|2000 census]] this represented over 56.1 million or 19.9% of the United States population, an increase from 26.2 million (10.5%) in 1990 and 38.2 million (16.9%) in 1980 and are specified as "unclassified" and "not reported".<ref>{{cite web|title=1980 Census of Population: Ancestry of the population by state: 1980|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/1983/dec/pc80-s1-10.pdf |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ancestry: 2000 Census in Brief|url=https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/ancestry.pdf|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref> In the 2020 U.S. census, 96.58 million people did not report any detailed white ethnic origins and are "Not specified".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1200130022/2020-census-results-race-ethnicity|title=These 2020 census results break down people's race and ethnicity into details|work=NPR |date= September 22, 2023|accessdate= 11 March 2025 |last1=Jin |first1=Connie Hanzhang }}</ref>

== Terminology ==
[[File:Non-Hispanic White Americans by county.png|thumb|<div style="text-align: center">Proportion of White Americans in each county of the [[List of states and territories of the United States|fifty states]], the [[District of Columbia]], and [[Puerto Rico]] as of the [[2020 United States census]]</div>|300x300px]]
{| class="wikitable" font-size:90%;" style="float:right"
! colspan="5" | European Americans 1800–2010
|-
! Year
! Population
! % of the U.S.
|-
| [[1800 United States census|1800]] || 4,306,446 || 81.1
|-
| [[1850 United States census|1850]] || 19,553,068 || 84.3
|-
| [[1900 United States census|1900]] || 66,809,196 || 87.9
|-
| [[1950 United States census|1950]] || 134,942,028 || 89.5
|-
| [[2000 United States census|2000]] || 211,460,626 || 75.1
|-
| [[2010 United States census|2010]] || 223,553,265 || 72.4
|-
|}

=== Use ===
In 1995, as part of a review of the [[Office of Management and Budget]]'s Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting), a survey was conducted of census recipients to determine their preferred terminology for the racial/ethnic groups defined in the Directive. For the ''White'' group, ''European American'' came a distant third, preferred by only 2.35% of panel interviewees, as opposed to ''White'', which was preferred by 61.66%.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/ethnic_0595.htm |title=A Test of Methods For Collecting Racial and Ethnic Information: May 1995 |publisher=CPS Publications |date=October 26, 1995 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212044012/http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/ethnic_0595.htm |archive-date=December 12, 2011}}</ref>

The term is sometimes used interchangeably with Caucasian American, [[White American]], and [[Anglo-America]]n in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Sandra Soo-Jin Lee |author2=Joanna Mountain |author3=Barbara A. Koenig |title=The Meanings of Race in the New Genomics: Implications for Health Disparities Research |publisher=Yale University |date=May 24, 2001 |access-date=March 11, 2016 |page=54 |url=http://www.yale.edu/yjhple/issues/vi-spr01/docs/lee.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204116/http://www.yale.edu/yjhple/issues/vi-spr01/docs/lee.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref>

=== Origin ===
In contexts such as medical research, terms such as "white" and "European" have been criticized for vagueness and blurring important distinctions between different groups that happen to fit within the label.<ref name=Bhopal>{{cite journal |author=Bhopal, Raj. |title=White, European, Western, Caucasian or What? Inappropriate Labeling in Research on Race, Ethnicity and Health |year=1998 |pmc=1509085 |pmid=9736867 |volume=88 |issue=9 |journal=Am J Public Health |pages=1303–7 |doi=10.2105/ajph.88.9.1303}}</ref> Margo Adair suggests that viewing Americans of European descent as a single group contributes to the "[[Wonder Bread|wonder-breading]]" of the United States, eradicating the cultural heritage of individual European ethnicities.<ref>{{cite web |author=Adair, Margo |title=Challenging White Supremacy Workshop |year=1990 |access-date=November 5, 2006 |url=http://cwsworkshop.org/pdfs/WIWP2/3Wonder_Breading.PDF |publisher=cwsworkshop.org}}</ref>

=== Subgroups ===
[[File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18161635395).jpg|right|thumb|320px|Racial types of European Americans as published in "The American Museum Journal" between 1900 and 1918.]]
There are several subgroupings of European Americans.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Lois Ann Lorentzen|author=Victor C. Romero|title=Hidden Lives and Human Rights in the United States (3 volumes): Understanding the Controversies and Tragedies of Undocumented Immigration|chapter=The Criminalization of Undocumented Migrants|date=2014|isbn=978-1440828478|publisher=[[Praeger Publications]]|page=16|quote=The 1924 act also sought to curtail the large number of eastern and southern European migrants who began entering the United States in 1890. Through the [[National Origins Act|National Origins Quota]] formula, the act pegged future immigration at up to 2 percent of the number of foreign-born persons from a particular country already in the [[1890 United States census|United States as of the 1890 census]]. Through race-neutral in language, the formula favored northwestern Europeans by using the 1890 census as its referent}}</ref> While these categories may be approximately defined, often due to the imprecise or cultural regionalization of Europe, the subgroups are nevertheless used widely in cultural or ethnic identification.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Spickard|author-link=Paul Spickard|title=Almost All Aliens: Immigration, Race, and Colonialism in American History and Identity: Race, Colonialism, and Immigration in American History and Identity|chapter=The Great Wave, 1870-1930|date=2007|isbn=978-0415935937|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=176|quote=Although many histories of immigration describe this period from the 1870s to the 1920s as one when the sources of migrants shifted from Northwest Europe to Southern and Eastern Europe - "Old Immigration" versus the "New Immigration," Northwest Europeans continued to come and stay in huge numbers.}}</ref> This is particularly the case in diasporic populations, as with European people in the United States generally.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Benjamin Bailey|title=Language, Race, and Negotiation of Identity: A Study of Dominican Americans|chapter=Introduction|date=2002|publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]|page=15|quote=During the heightened immigration associated with the 1880-1920 period, many doubted that the largely Southern and Eastern European newcomers would ever assimilate to the culture of the dominant groups, who were of predominantly Northwestern European origin ... Social differences between these immigrants and European Americans who were already in America were perceived as insurmountable.}}</ref> In alphabetical order, some of the subgroups are:
* '''Northwestern European Americans''', including [[Austrian Americans]], [[Belgian Americans]], [[British Americans]] ([[Cornish Americans]], [[English Americans]], [[Manx Americans]], [[Scotch-Irish Americans]], [[Scottish Americans]], [[Welsh Americans]]), [[Dutch Americans]], [[French Americans]] ([[Breton Americans]]), [[German Americans]], [[Irish Americans]], [[Luxembourger Americans]], [[Nordic and Scandinavian Americans]] ([[Danish Americans]], [[Finnish Americans]], [[Icelandic Americans]], [[Norwegian Americans]], [[Swedish Americans]]), and [[Swiss Americans]], or "Old Immigrants" (the first waves of which arrived pre-1881)
* '''Eastern European Americans''', including [[Belarusian Americans]], [[Czech Americans]], [[Estonian Americans]], [[Hungarian Americans]], [[Latvian Americans]], [[Lithuanian Americans]], [[Polish Americans]], [[Russian Americans]], [[Slovak Americans]], and [[Ukrainian Americans]], or "New Immigrants" (the first large waves of which arrived 1881–1965)
* '''Southern European Americans''', including [[Albanian Americans]], [[Bosnian Americans]], [[Bulgarian Americans]], [[Croatian Americans]], [[Cypriot Americans]], [[Greek Americans]], [[Italian Americans]], [[Maltese Americans]], [[Macedonian Americans]], [[Moldovan Americans]], [[Montenegrin Americans]], [[Portuguese Americans]], [[Romanian Americans]], [[Serbian Americans]], [[Slovenian Americans]], and [[Spanish Americans]] ([[Basque Americans]], [[Catalan Americans]], [[Galician Americans]]), also "New Immigrants" or "New Immigrants"(the first large waves of which arrived 1881–1965)

== History ==
{{Main|European immigration to the Americas}}
{{See also|European colonization of the Americas}}

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right"
|-
! colspan=3 | Historical immigration estimates<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jw3kn_AgNTkC&dq=ancestry+in+the+united+states+1790&pg=PA361 |title=The source: a guidebook to American genealogy|last1=Loretto |first1=Dennis Szucs|first2=Sandra|last2=Hargreaves Luebking|date=2006 |publisher=Ancestry |isbn=978-1-59331-277-0 |quote=(excludes African population)|accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref>Data From Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPS).</ref>
|-
! Country
! Immigration<br /> before 1790
! Ancestry 1790
|-
| England* || 230,000 || 1,900,000
|-
| France || 150,000 || 500,000
|-
| Ulster Scotch-Irish* || 135,000 || 320,000
|-
| Germany{{efn|Germany in this time period consisted of a large number of separate countries, the largest of which was Prussia.}}  || 103,000 || 280,000
|-
| Scotland* || 48,500 || 160,000
|-
| Ireland|| 8,000 || 200,000
|-
| Netherlands || 6,000 || 100,000
|-
| Wales* || 4,000 || 120,000
|-
| Sweden and Other{{efn|The ''Other'' category probably contains mostly English ancestry settlers. However, the loss of several states' census records makes closer estimates difficult. The summaries of the 1790 and 1800 censuses from all states surveyed.}}|| 500 || 20,000
|-
| *Totals, British|| 417,500 || 2,500,000+
|-
! {{flagicon|USA|1777}} United States{{efn|Total represents total immigration over the approximately 130-year span of colonial existence of the U.S. colonies as found in the 1790 census. At the time of the [[American Revolution]], the foreign-born population was estimated to be from 300,000 to 400,000.}}  || 950,000 || 3,929,214
|-
|}

Before the arrival of Europeans, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] predominantly inhabited the United States. The earliest Europeans to colonize North America were the small number of Spaniards. The first Spanish colonization was in 1565 at [[St. Augustine, Florida]].<ref>[https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/european-colonization-north-america EUROPEAN COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA]</ref> One of the most significant Spanish explorers was [[Hernando De Soto]], a conquistador who accompanied [[Francisco Pizzaro]] during his [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|conquest of the Inca Empire]].

Leaving Havana, Cuba, in 1539, De Soto's expedition landed in Florida. It explored the southeastern area of the United States. They reached as far as the Mississippi River in search of riches and fortune. Another Spaniard who explored the United States, [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]], set out from [[New Spain]] in 1540 in search of the mythical [[Seven Cities of Gold]]. Coronado's expedition traveled to Kansas and the Grand Canyon but failed to discover gold or treasure. However, Coronado left a gift of horses to the Plains Indians. Italian explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazano]] and Frenchman [[Jacques Cartier]] are other Europeans who explored the United States. The Spaniards viewed the French as threatening their trade route along the Gulf Stream.<ref>[https://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-4.htm United States History - The First Europeans]</ref>

Since 1607, some 57 million immigrants from other lands have come to the United States. Approximately 10 million passed through on their way to some other place or returned to their homelands, leaving a net gain of 47 million people.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-y_q4J_eCEC&q=52+million+europeans+immigrated+to+united+states&pg=PA15 |title=The New Americans |access-date=February 4, 2015|isbn=9780674044937 |last1=Waters |first1=Mary C. |last2=Ueda |first2=Reed |last3=Marrow |first3=Helen B. |date=June 30, 2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref>

===Shifts in European migration===
Before 1881, the vast majority of immigrants, almost 86% of the total, arrived from [[Northwestern Europe]], principally [[Great Britain]], [[Ireland]], [[Germany]], and [[Scandinavia]], known as "Old Immigration". Between 1881 and 1893, the pattern shifted in the sources of U.S. "New Immigration." Between 1894 and 1914, immigrants from [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], and [[Southern Europe]] accounted for 69% of the total.<ref>{{cite web |author=Raymond L. Cohn |url=http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cohn.immigration.us |title=Immigration to the United States |publisher=EH.Net Encyclopedia |date=August 15, 2001 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113114938/http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cohn.immigration.us |archive-date=January 13, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/fb.2.shtml |title=MPI Data Hub Graph |publisher=migrationinformation.org |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422114514/http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/fb.2.shtml |archive-date=April 22, 2007}}</ref><ref name="SzucsLuebking2006">{{cite book |author1=Loretto Dennis Szucs |author2=Sandra Hargreaves Luebking |title=The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy |url=https://archive.org/details/sourceguidebooko00lore |url-access=registration |access-date=March 11, 2016 |year=2006 |publisher=Ancestry Publishing |isbn=978-1-59331-277-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sourceguidebooko00lore/page/367 367]}}</ref> Prior to 1960, the overwhelming majority came from Europe or of [[European Canadians|European descent]] from Canada. Immigration from Europe as a proportion of new arrivals has declined since the mid-20th century, with 75.0% of the total foreign-born population born in Europe compared to 12.1% recorded in the 2010 census.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |author1=Elizabeth M. Grieco |author2=Yesenia D. Acosta |author3=G. Patricia de la Cruz |author4=Christine Gambino |author5=Thomas Gryn |author6=Luke J. Larsen |author7=Edward N. Trevelyan |author8=Nathan P. Walters |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf |title=The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2010 |work=US Census Bureau |date=May 2012 |access-date=March 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209224630/http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf |archive-date=February 9, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Immigration since 1820 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%; display: inline-table"
|-
! colspan="6"|  European immigration to the U.S. 1820–1970<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gk4-AQAAMAAJ&dq=98%2C816%2C+495%2C688+1%2C597%2C502&pg=PA98 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States Immigration from 1820|date=1920 |page= 98|accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fz2UAgAAQBAJ&dq=british+immigration+75%2C810%2C+267%2C044&pg=PA97|title=Almost All Aliens: Immigration, Race, and Colonialism in American History|first=Paul|last= Spickard|date=May 7, 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95048-4 |accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVE-AQAAMAAJ&dq=england+english+immigration+to+the+united+states+247%2C125+644%2C680&pg=PA89 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States|date=1927 |page= 89|accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=51e8r7Yay0wC&dq=england+english+immigration+to+the+united+states+644%2C680&pg=PA107 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States: Immigration by country of origin 1851–1940|date=1948 |page=107|accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UG1qAAAAMAAJ&dq=Immigration+from+England+to+the+United+States+156%2C171&pg=PA92 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States|date=1968 |page=92|accessdate=5 November 2023}}</ref>
|-
! Years
! Arrivals
! Years
! Arrivals
! Years
! Arrivals
|-
| 1820–1830 || 98,816 || 1901–1910 || 8,136,016 || 1981–1990 ||
|-
| 1831–1840 || 495,688 || 1911–1920 || 4,376,564 || 1991–2000 ||
|-
| 1841–1850 || 1,597,502 || 1921–1930 || 2,477,853 || ||
|-
| 1851–1860 || 2,452,657 || 1931–1940 || 348,289 || ||
|-
| 1861–1870 || 2,064,407 || 1941–1950 || 621,704 || ||
|-
| 1871–1880 || 2,261,904 || 1951–1960 || 1,328,293 || ||
|-
| 1881–1890 || 4,731,607 || 1961–1970 || 1,129,670 || ||
|-
| 1891–1900 || 3,558,793 || 1971–1980 || || ||
|- class="sortbottom" style="background:lightgrey;"
!  || || || Arrivals || Total || 35,679,763
|-
|}

{| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! colspan="6"|  Country of origin 1820–1978<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#q=751,000+655,000+446,000+364,000+359,000++33,000&hl=en&tbm=bks Public Opinion and the Immigrant: Mass Media Coverage, 1880–1980] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150813074826/https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#q=751,000+655,000+446,000+364,000+359,000++33,000&hl=en&tbm=bks |date=August 13, 2015 }} Rita James Simon</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phsWAQAAIAAJ&q=Nation-building+in+the+United+States |title=Nation-building in the United States |isbn=978-0-912404-12-7 |last1=Wagner |first1=Francis S |last2=Wagner-Jones |first2=Christina |year=1985|publisher=Alpha Publications }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEStotalS.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000824084542/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEStotalS.htm |archive-date=August 24, 2000 |title=European emigration statistics}}</ref> 
|-
! Country
! Arrivals
! % of total
! Country
! Arrivals
! % of total
|-
| [[Germany]]<sup>1</sup> || 6,978,000 || 14.3% || [[Norway]] || 856,000 || 1.8%
|-
| [[Italy]] || 5,294,000 || 10.9% || [[France]] || 4,351,000 || 9.5%
|-
| [[Great Britain]] || 4,298,000 || 9.4% || [[Greece]] || 655,000 || 1.3%
|-
| [[Ireland]] || 4,723,000 || 9.7% || [[Portugal]] || 446,000 || 0.9%
|-
| [[Austria-Hungary]]<sup>1,</sup> <sup>2</sup> || 4,315,000 || 8.9% || [[Denmark]] || 364,000 || 0.7%
|-
| [[Russia]]<sup>1,</sup> <sup>2</sup> || 3,374,000 || 6.9% || [[Netherlands]] || 359,000 || 0.7%
|-
| [[Sweden]] || 1,272,000 || 2.6% || [[Finland]] || 33,000 || 0.1%
|-
!  || || || || Total || 34,318,000
|-
|}

;European-born population

The figures below show that of the total population of the specified birthplace in the United States, 11.1% were born overseas.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; display: inline-table"
|-
! colspan=3 | Population / Proportion<br />born in Europe in 1850–2016
|-
! Year
! Population
! <small>% of foreign-born</small>
|-
| 1850 ||  2,031,867 || 92.2% 
|-
| 1860 ||  3,807,062  || 92.1%
|-
| 1870 ||  4,941,049 || 88.8%
|-
| 1880 ||  5,751,823 || 86.2%
|-
| 1890 ||  8,030,347 || 86.9%
|-
| 1900 ||  8,881,548 || 86.0%
|-
| 1910 ||  11,810,115 || 87.4%
|-
| 1920 ||  11,916,048 || 85.7%
|-
| 1930 ||  11,784,010 || 83.0%
|-
| 1960 || 7,256,311 || 75.0%
|-
| 1970 ||  5,740,891 || 61.7%
|-
| 1980 ||  5,149,572 || 39.0%
|-
| 1990 ||  4,350,403 || 22.9%
|-
| 2000 ||  4,915,557 || 15.8%
|-
| 2010 ||  4,817,437 || 12.1%
|-
| 2016 ||  4,785,267 || 10.9%
|-
| colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | <small>Source:</small><ref>{{cite web |author1=Campbell Gibson |author2=Kay Jung |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0081/twps0081.pdf |title=Population Division: Historical census statistics on the foreign-born population of the United States: 1850 to 2000 (Working Paper No. 81) |work=US Census Bureau |date=February 2006 |access-date=March 11, 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="MPIxlsx">{{cite web |format=XLSX |url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/datahub/MPIDataHub-Region-birth-1960.xlsx |title=Foreign-Born Population by Country of Birth: 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990 plus 2000, 2006–2011 |publisher=Migration Policy Institute |access-date=March 11, 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/demographics/US United States Demographics & Social] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706235304/http://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/demographics/US |date=July 6, 2016 }} 2015% Foreign-Born population in the United States</ref>
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; display: inline-table"
|-
! Birthplace
! Population<br />in 2010
! Percent<br />in 2010
! Population<br />in 2016
! Percent<br />in 2016
|-
| align=left | '''Totals, European-born''' || '''4,817,437''' || '''12.0%''' || '''4,785,267''' || '''10.9%'''
|-
| align=left | '''[[Northern Europe]]''' || 923,564 || '''2.3%''' || 950,872 || '''2.2%'''
|-
| [[United Kingdom]] || 669,794 || 1.7% || 696,896 || 1.6%
|-
| [[Ireland]] || 124,457 || 0.3% || 125,840 || 0.3%
|-
| align=left | Other Northern Europe || 129,313 || 0.3% || 128,136 || 0.3%
|-
| align=left | '''[[Western Europe]]''' || 961,791 || '''2.4%''' || 939,383 || '''2.1%'''
|-
| [[Germany]] || 604,616 || 1.5% || 563,985 || 1.3%
|-
| [[France]] || 402,373 || 0.9% || 575,383 || 1.2%
|-
|  Other Western Europe || 209,216 || 0.5% || 200,148 || 0.4%
|-
| align=left | '''[[Southern Europe]]''' || 779,294 || '''2.0%''' || 760,352 || '''1.7%'''
|-
| [[Italy]] || 364,972 || 0.9% || 335,763 || 0.8%
|-
| [[Portugal]] || 189,333 || 0.5% || 176,638 || 0.4%
|-
| Other Southern Europe || 224,989 || 0.6% || 247,951 || 0.5%
|-
| align=left | '''[[Eastern Europe]]''' || 2,143,055 || '''5.4%''' || 2,122,951 || '''4.9%'''
|-
| [[Poland]] || 475,503 || 1.2% || 424,928 || 1.0%
|-
| [[Russia]] || 383,166 || 1.0% || 397,236 || 0.9%
|-
| Other Eastern Europe || 1,284,286 || 3.2% || 1,300,787 || 3.0%
|-
| <small>Other Europe (no country specified)</small> || 9,733 || 0.0% || 11,709 || 0.0%
|-
| colspan="6" style="text-align:left;" | <small>{{refbegin}}Source: 2010 and 2016<ref>{{cite web |url=https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_1YR_B05006&prodType=table |title=PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea |work=factfinder.census.gov |access-date=April 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214060704/https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_1YR_B05006&prodType=table |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{refend}}</small>
|}

== Demographics ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=May 2024}}
{{Further|Category:American people of European descent}}
[[File:A view of New York City with the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center from the Rockefeller Center.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.15|The [[New York City Metropolitan Area]] is home to the largest European population in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/table2_2.xls |title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2 |publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security |access-date=February 23, 2013}}</ref>]]

Breakdowns of the European American population into sub-components is a difficult and rather arbitrary exercise. Farley (1991) argues that "because of ethnic intermarriage, the numerous generations that separate respondents from their forebears and the apparent unimportance to many whites of European origin, responses appear quite inconsistent".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Farley, Reynolds |year=1991 |title=The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us? |journal=Demography |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=411–429 |doi=10.2307/2061465 |jstor=2061465 |pmid=1936376|s2cid=41503995 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Ancestral origins ===
{{See also|Race and ethnicity in the United States#Ancestry}}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible nowrap" style="font-size:90%; text-align: right"
|-
! Ethnic origin
! colspan="2" | [[1980 United States census|1980]] / %<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980 – Table 2 |url= https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/1983/dec/pc80-s1-10.pdf |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 21, 2018}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | [[1990 United States census|1990]] / %<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancestry: 2000 Census in Brief|url=https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/ancestry.pdf|publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Census1990">{{cite web |title=1990 Census of Population – Detailed Ancestry Groups for States |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cp-s-1-2.pdf |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 21, 2018}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | [[2000 United States census|2000]] / %<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancestry: 2000 Census in Brief|url=https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/ancestry.pdf|publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | [[2020 United States census|2020]] / %<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/detailed-race-ethnicities-2020-census.html|title=Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census|publisher=[[United States census]]|date= September 21, 2023|access-date=October 21, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-hispanic-population.html |title= Eight Hispanic Groups Each Had a Million or More Population in 2020 |publisher=[[United States census]]|date= September 21, 2023|access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref>
!data-sort-type="number"| {{small|change<br />2000–2020}}
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | United States pop.
| 226,545,805
| 100.0
| 248,709,873
| 100.0
| 281,421,906
| 100.0
| 331,449,281
| 100.0
| {{sort|0.0|{{gain}}7.4%}}
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | At least one ancestry <br>reported 
| 188,302,438
| 83.1
| 224,788,502
| 90.4
| 225,310,411
| 80.1
| TBA
| TBA
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Acadians|Acadian]]/[[Cajuns|Cajun]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 668,271
| 0.3
| 85,414
| 0.0
| 132,624
| 0.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Albanian Americans|Albanian]]
| 38,658
| 0.02
| 47,710
| 0.0
| 113,661
| 0.0
| 236,635
| 0.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans|Alsatian]]
| 42,390
| 0.02
| 16,465
| 0.0
| 15,601
| 0.0
| 12,056
| 0.00 
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[American ancestry|American]]{{efn|name=American| The category "American" or "United States" was under "ancestry not specified" in the 1980 and 1990 census results. However they are shown separately in the 2000 census comparison brief showing 12,395,999 as American and 643,561 as United States in 1990.}}
| 13,298,761
| 5.9
| 12,395,999
| 5.0
| 20,625,093
| 7.3
| -
| -
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Austrian Americans|Austrian]]
| 948,558
| 0.42
| 864,783
| 0.3
| 735,128
| 0.3
| 697,425
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Basque Americans|Basque]]
| 43,140
| 0.0
| 47,956
| 0.0
| 57,793
| 0.0
| 52,559
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans|Bavarian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 4,348
| 0.0
| -
| - 
| - 
| - 
| -
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Belarusian Americans|Belarusian]]
| 7,381
| 0.00
| 4,277
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| 67,599
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Belgian Americans|Belgian]]
| 360,277
| 0.16
| 380,498{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Excludes Flemish.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 0.2
| 360,642
| 0.1
| 384,224
| 0.2
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[British Americans|British]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 1,119,154
| 0.4
| 1,085,720
| 0.4
| 860,315
| 0.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[British Americans|British Islander]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 43,654
| 0.0
| 
|-

| style="text-align: left;" | [[Bulgarian Americans|Bulgarian]]
| 42,504
| 0.02
| 29,595
| 0.0
| 55,489
| 0.0
| 102,968
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Rusyn Americans|Carpatho Rusyn]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 7,602
| 0.0
|
|
| 9,747
| 0.00
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Irish Americans|Celtic]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 29,652
| 0.0
| 65,638
| 0.0
| 30,630
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Cornish Americans|Cornish]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 3,991
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| 6,257
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Croatian Americans|Croatian]]
| 252,970
| 0.11
| 544,270
| 0.2
| 374,241
| 0.1
| 448,479
| 0.2
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Cypriot Americans|Cypriot]]
| 6,053
| 0.00
| 4,897
| 0.0
| 7,663
| 0.0
| 10,384
| 0.00
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Czech Americans|Czech]]
| 1,892,456
| 0.84
| 1,296,411{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Excludes Moravian.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 0.5
| 1,262,527
| 0.4
| 1,397,780
| 0.6
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Czechoslovakia]]n
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 315,285
| 0.1
| 441,403
| 0.2
| -
| -
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Danish Americans|Danish]]
| 1,518,273
| 0.67
| 1,634,669
| 0.7
| 1,430,897
| 0.5
| 1,314,209
| 0.6
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]]
| 6,304,499
| 2.78
| 6,227,089
| 2.5
| 4,542,494
| 1.6
| 3,649,179
| 1.6
| 
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Eastern Europe]]an{{refn|name=general|group=lower-alpha|This category represents a general type response, which may encompass several ancestry groups.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 62,404
| 0.03
| 132,332
| 0.1
| -
| -
| -
| -
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[English Americans|English]]
| 49,598,035
| 21.89
| 32,651,788
| 13.1
| 24,515,138
| 8.7
| 46,550,968
| 19.8
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Estonian Americans|Estonian]]
| 25,994
| 0.01
| 26,762
| 0.0
| 25,034
| 0.0
| 30,054
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[European American|European]]{{refn|name=general|group=lower-alpha}}
| 175,461
| 0.08
| 466,718
| 0.2
| 1,968,696
| 0.7
| -
| -
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Finnish Americans|Finnish]]
| 615,872
| 0.27
| 658,870
| 0.3
| 623,573
| 0.2
| 684,373
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Belgian Americans|Flemish]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 14,157
| 0.0
| 
|
| 384,224
| 0.2
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[French Americans|French]] 
| 12,892,246
| 5.69
| 10,320,935
| 4.1
| 8,309,908
| 3.0
| 7,994,088
| 3.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[French Canadian Americans|French Canadian]]
| 780,488
| 0.34
| 2,167,127
| 0.9
| 2,349,684
| 0.8
| 933,740
| 0.4
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans|German]]
| 49,224,146
| 21.73
| 57,947,171{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Excludes Bavarian, Prussian, Saxon, and West German.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 23.3
| 42,885,162
| 15.2
| 44,978,546 
| 19.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans#Germans from Russia|German Russian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 10,153
| 0.0
| 10,535
| 0.0
| 
|
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Greek Americans|Greek]]
| 959,856
| 0.42
| 1,110,373
| 0.4
| 1,153,307
| 0.4
| 568,564
| 0.2
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Hungarian Americans|Hungarian]]
| 1,776,902
| 0.78
| 1,582,302
| 0.6
| 1,398,724
| 0.5
| 684,373
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Icelandic Americans|Icelandic]]
| 32,586
| 0.01
| 40,529
| 0.0
| 42,716
| 0.0
| 55,602
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Irish Americans|Irish]]
| 40,165,702
| 17.73
| 38,735,539{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Excludes Northern Irish and Celtic.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 15.6
| 30,528,492
| 10.8
| 38,597,428
| 16.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Italian Americans|Italian]]
| 12,183,692
| 5.38
| 14,664,550{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Excludes Sicilian.<ref name="Census1990"/>}}
| 5.9
| 15,723,555
| 5.6
| 16,813,235
| 7.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Latvian Americans|Latvian]]
| 92,141
| 0.04
| 100,331
| 0.0
| 87,564
| 0.0
| 92,944
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Lithuanian Americans|Lithuanian]]
| 742,776
| 0.33
| 811,865
| 0.3
| 659,992
| 0.2
| 711,089
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Luxembourgish Americans|Luxemburger]]
| 49,994
| 0.02
| 49,061
| 0.0
| 45,139
| 0.0
| 57,359
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Macedonian Americans|Macedonian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 20,365
| 0.0
| 38,051
| 0.0
| 51,401
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Maltese Americans|Maltese]]
| 31,645
| 0.01
| 39,600
| 0.0
| 40,159
| 0.0
| 44,874
| 0.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Manx Americans|Manx]]
| 9,220
| 0.00
| 6,317
| 0.0
| 6,955
| 0.0
| 8,704
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Czech Americans|Moravian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 3,781
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| - 
| -
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Northern Irelander]]
| 16,418 
| 0.01
| 4,009
| 0.0
| 3,693
| 0.0
| 5,181
| 0.0
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Norwegian Americans|Norwegian]]
| 3,453,839
| 1.52
| 3,869,395
| 1.6
| 4,477,725
| 1.6
| 3,836,884
| 1.6
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Pennsylvania Dutch|Pennsylvania German]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 305,841
| 0.1
| 255,807
| 0.1
| 169,821
| 0.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Polish Americans|Polish]]
| 8,228,037
| 3.63
| 9,366,106
| 3.8
| 8,977,444
| 3.2
| 8,599,601
| 3.7
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Portuguese Americans|Portuguese]]
| 1,024,351
| 0.45
| 1,153,351
| 0.5
| 1,177,112
| 0.4
| 1,454,262
| 0.6
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans|Prussian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 25,469
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| -
| - 
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Romanian Americans|Romanian]]
| 315,258
| 0.14
| 365,544
| 0.1
| 367,310
| 0.1
| 416,545
| 0.2
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Russian Americans|Russian]]
| 2,781,432
| 1.23
| 2,952,987
| 1.2
| 2,652,214
| 0.9
| 2,412,131
| 1.0
| 
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[German Americans|Saxon]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 4,519
| 0.0
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
|
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Scandinavian Americans|Scandinavian]]
| 475,007
| 0.21
| 678,880
| 0.3
| 425,099
| 0.2
| 1,217,333
| 0.5
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 5,617,773
| 2.3
| 4,319,232
| 1.5
| 794,478
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]]
| 10,048,816
| 4.44
| 5,393,581
| 2.2
| 4,890,581
| 1.7
| 8,422,613
| 3.6
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Serbian Americans|Serbian]]
| 100,941
| 0.04
| 116,795
| 0.0
| 140,337
| 0.0
| 204,380
| 0.1
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Sicilian Americans|Sicilian]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 50,389
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| - 
| - 
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Slavic
| 172,696
| 0.08
| 76,931
| 0.0
| 127,137
| 0.0
| 180,316
| 0.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Slovak Americans|Slovak]]
| 776,806
| 0.34
| 1,882,897
| 0.8
| 797,764
| 0.3
| 691,455
| 0.3
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Slovenian Americans|Slovenian]]
| 126,463
| 0.06
| 124,437
| 0.1
| 176,691
| 0.1
| 196,513
| 0.1
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Russian Americans|Soviet]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 7,729
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| -
| - 
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Spaniard
| 94,528
| 0.04
| 360,935
| 0.1
| 299,948
| 0.1
| 978,978
| 0.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Spanish Americans|Spanish]]
| 2,686,680
| -
| 2,024,004
| 0.8
| 2,187,144
| 0.8
| 866,356
| 0.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Swedish Americans|Swedish]]
| 4,345,392
| 1.92
| 4,680,863
| 1.9
| 3,998,310
| 1.4
| 3,839,796
| 1.6
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Swiss Americans|Swiss]]
| 981,543
| 0.43
| 1,045,495
| 0.4
| 911,502
| 0.3
| 946,179
| 0.4
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Ukrainian Americans|Ukrainian]]
| 730,056
| 0.32
| 740,723
| 0.3
| 892,922
| 0.3
| 953,509
| 0.4
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Welsh Americans|Welsh]]
| 1,664,598
| 0.73
| 2,033,893
| 0.8
| 1,753,794
| 0.6
| 1,977,383
| 0.8
| 
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[German Americans|West German]]
|  {{n/a}} 
|  {{n/a}} 
| 3,885
| 0.0
| - 
| - 
| - 
| - 
|
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Yugoslav Americans|Yugoslav]]
| 360,174
| 0.16
| 257,994
| 0.1
| 328,547
| 0.1
| -
| -
| 
|-
|}

== Culture ==
{{Further|Culture of the United States}}
[[File:Motherhood and apple pie.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|right|American cultural icons, [[apple pie]], [[baseball]], and the [[American flag]]. All have European influence primarily from the British.]]
As the largest component of the American population, the overall American culture deeply reflects the European-influenced culture that predates the United States of America as an independent state. Much of American culture shows influences from the diverse nations of the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Ireland]], such as the [[English Americans|English]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], [[Cornish Americans|Cornish]], [[Manx Americans|Manx]], [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]], [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]] and [[Welsh Americans|Welsh]]. Colonial ties to the [[Great Britain|United Kingdom]] spread the [[English language]], legal system and other cultural attributes.<ref name="MinahanEuropean" />

Scholar [[David Hackett Fischer]] asserts in ''[[Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America]]'' that the folkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions of the [[United Kingdom]] to the [[United States]] persisted and provide a substantial cultural basis for much of the modern [[United States]].<ref>David Hackett Fischer, ''Albion's Seed'' (Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 6</ref> Fischer explains "the origins and stability of a social system which for two centuries has remained stubbornly [[democracy|democratic]] in its politics, [[capitalism|capitalist]] in its economy, [[libertarianism|libertarian]] in its laws and [[individualism|individualist]] in its society and [[cultural pluralism|pluralistic]] in its culture."<ref>Hackett Fischer, David. ''Albion's Seed'' Oxford University Press, 1989.</ref>

Much of the European-American cultural lineage can be traced back to [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Northern Europe]], which is institutionalized in the government, traditions, and civic education in the United States.<ref name=Kirk>Kirk, Russell. The Heritage Lecture Series. "America Should Strengthen its European Cultural Roots." Washington D.C:1949</ref>
Since most later European Americans have assimilated into American culture, many Americans of European ancestry now generally express their personal ethnic ties sporadically and symbolically and do not consider their specific ethnic origins to be essential to their identity; however, European American ethnic expression has been revived since the 1960s.<ref name="Randolph">{{cite web |last=Randolph |first=Gayle |year=2007 |title=Why Study European Immigrants |url=http://frontpage.uwsuper.edu/Soc330b/Chap11_files/frame.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506011524/http://frontpage.uwsuper.edu/Soc330b/Chap11_files/frame.htm |archive-date=May 6, 2005 |access-date=June 14, 2007 |publisher=Iowa State University}}</ref> Some European Americans such as [[Italian American|Italians]], [[Greek Americans|Greeks]], [[Polish Americans|Poles]], [[German Americans|Germans]], [[Ukrainian Americans|Ukrainians]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], and others have maintained high levels of ethnic identity. In the 1960s, the melting pot ideal to some extent gave way to increased interest in cultural pluralism, strengthening affirmations of ethnic identity among various American ethnic groups, European as well as others.<ref name=Randolph />

=== Law ===
The [[Law of the United States|American legal system]] also has its roots in [[France|French]] philosophy with the separation of powers and the federal system<ref>[[Separation of powers#Checks and balances]]</ref> along with [[English law]] in common law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.llrx.com/features/otherthanenglish.htm |title=Features – Sources of United States of America Legal Information in Languages Other than English – LLRX.com |access-date=March 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140249/http://www.llrx.com/features/otherthanenglish.htm |archive-date=April 2, 2015 }} [[LLRX]]</ref>

=== Cuisine ===
{{Main|Cuisine of the United States}}
{{See also|Italian-American cuisine|Greek-American cuisine}}
[[File:Hamburger (black bg).jpg|thumb|Hamburgers were invented by German immigrants.]]
* '''[[Apple pie]]''' – [[New England]] was the first region to experience large-scale [[English colonial empire|English colonization]] in the early 17th century, beginning in 1620, and it was dominated by [[East Anglia]]n Calvinists, better known as the [[Puritan]]s. Baking was a particular favorite of the New Englanders and was the origin of dishes seen today as quintessentially "American", such as [[apple pie]] and the oven-roasted [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]] [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]], a bird that although not found in Europe has become linked in tradition and symbolism to the early European immigrants.<ref>Fischer, pp. 74, 114, 134–39.</ref> "As American as apple pie" is a well-known phrase used to suggest that something is all-American.
* '''[[Hamburger]]''' – Although the origins of the hamburger, including the country in which it was first served, are subjects of debate, the hamburger first became widely marketed in the United States<ref>according to a theory; see [[Hamburger]]</ref> and has been internationally known for decades as a symbol of American [[fast food]].
* '''[[Buffalo wings]]''' – Invented in 1964 at [[Anchor Bar]] in [[Buffalo, New York]] by Italian-American Teressa Bellissimo. Now popular all over the country, it has become a symbol of American cuisine.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz5tt-4yHIQC&dq=teressa+bellissimo+italian+buffalo&pg=PA321 The Italian American Cookbook: A Feast of Food from a Great American Cooking] – By John Mariani, Galina Mariani</ref>
* '''[[Hot dog]]''' – Hot dogs were brought to New York by German immigrants.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/.amp/news/break-out-the-buns-the-history-of-the-hot-dog | title=The Extra-Long History of the Hot Dog | date=March 31, 2021 }}</ref>
* '''[[Pizza]]''' – Italian immigrants from [[Naples]] brought pizza to the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/.amp/news/a-slice-of-history-pizza-through-the-ages | title=Who Invented Pizza? | date=May 5, 2023 }}</ref>
* '''[[Fried chicken]]''' – Scottish immigrants brought fried chicken to the Southern United States. Enslaved African Americans began cooking fried chicken based on the recipes from white Scottish slaveholders.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken | title=The surprising origin of fried chicken | date=October 13, 2020 }}</ref>

=== Thanksgiving ===
* '''[[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]]''' – In the United States, it has become a national secular holiday (official since [[Thanksgiving (United States)|1863]]) with religious origins. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by [[British people|British]] settlers to give thanks to God and the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] for helping the [[Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] of [[Plymouth Colony]] survive the brutal winter.<ref>William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation 1620–1647, 85</ref> The modern Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast with the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] after a successful growing season. [[William Bradford (Plymouth governor)|William Bradford]] is credited as the first to proclaim the American cultural event which is generally referred to as the "[[Thanksgiving#The "First" Thanksgiving?|First Thanksgiving]]".

=== Sports ===
{{See also|Origins of baseball}}
* '''[[Baseball]]''' – The earliest recorded game of base-ball involved the family of the [[George II of Great Britain|Prince of Wales]], played indoors in London in November 1748. The Prince is reported as playing "Bass-Ball" again in September 1749 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, against Lord Middlesex.<ref>{{cite news|title=Why isn't baseball more popular in the UK?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23425907|access-date=March 1, 2018|first=Nate|last=Sulat|work=[[BBC News Online]]|location=New York|date=July 26, 2013}}</ref> English lawyer William Bray recorded a game of baseball on [[Easter Monday]] 1755 in [[Guildford]], [[Surrey]]; Bray's diary was verified as authentic in September 2008.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7622026.stm |title=UK – England – Baseball 'origin' uncovered |publisher=BBC |access-date=February 4, 2015 |date=September 17, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/southtoday/content/articles/2008/09/09/baseball_feature.shtml |title=BBC – South Today – Features – Baseball history |publisher=BBC}}</ref> This early form of the game was apparently brought to North America by English immigrants. The first appearance of the term that exists in print was in "[[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book]]" in 1744, where it is called Base-Ball.
* '''[[American football]]''' – can be traced to modified early versions of [[rugby football]] played in [[England]] and [[Canadian football]] mixed with and ultimately changed by [[United States|American]] innovations which led over time to the finished version of the game from 1876 to now. The basic set of rules were first developed in American universities in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhBw1RpvhLwC&pg=PA89 |title=The New American Sport History |access-date=February 4, 2015|isbn=9780252065675 |last1=Pope |first1=S. W. |last2=Pope |first2=Steven W. |year=1997 |publisher=University of Illinois Press }}</ref>
* '''[[Golf]]''' - Golf originated from [[Scotland]] in the 15th century, the first course in Scotland being [[St Andrews Links|St Andrews]]. The first golf course in America was founded by a [[Scottish people|Scot]] [[John Reid (businessman)|John Reid]] in 1888, and was named after the first Scottish golf club [[Saint Andrew's Golf Club]] located in [[Yonkers, New York]], from here golf soared as a national hobby, and by the turn of the 20th Century there was more than 1,000 golf courses in North America.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-07-12 |title=The history of golf |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/golf/rules/history/newsid_3874000/3874891.stm |access-date=2022-08-03}}</ref>

=== Music ===
Another area of cultural influence are [[American patriotic music|American Patriotic songs]]:
[[File:John Philip Sousa in 1922.jpg|thumb|right|185px|[[John Philip Sousa]] composed [[The Washington Post (march)| The Washington Post]], a patriotic American march.]]
* '''[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]''' – takes its melody from the 18th-century English song "[[To Anacreon in Heaven]]" written by [[John Stafford Smith]] for the [[Anacreontic Society]], a men's social club in London and lyrics written by American [[Francis Scott Key]]. This became a well-known and recognized patriotic song throughout the United States, which was officially designated as the American national anthem in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Stafford Smith: Composer of the Star Spangled Banner |url=http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/gloucester/smith.htm |publisher=visit-gloucestershire.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711181457/http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/gloucester/smith.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anthem.html |title=Fort McHenry: Birthplace of Our National Anthem |work=bcpl.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070721004503/http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anthem.html |archive-date=July 21, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.contemplator.com/america/ssbanner.html |title=Star Spangled Banner |author=Lesley Nelson |work=contemplator.com |access-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref>
Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom.

* '''[[Amazing Grace]]''' – written by British poet and [[clergyman]] [[John Newton]]. Popular among [[African Americans]], it became an icon in American culture and has been used for a variety of secular purposes and marketing campaigns.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=894060 |title=Amazing Grace |date=December 29, 2002 |publisher=NPR |access-date=March 24, 2015}}</ref>
* '''[[Hail, Columbia]]''' – initial presidential inauguration song up until early 20th century. Now used for the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]].
* '''[[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]''' – Patriotic song sung during the civil war time between 1861 and 1865.

== Admixture in Whites ==
{{See also|Native American ancestry}}
Some European Americans have varying amounts of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] and Native [[Demographics of Africa|African]] ancestry. From the [[23andMe]] database, about 5 to at least 13 percent of self-identified European American Southerners have greater than 1 percent native [[Demographics of Africa|African]] ancestry.<ref name=23andme /> [[Southern United States|Southern states]] with the highest African American populations tended to have the highest percentages of hidden African ancestry.<ref name="Hadly">Scott Hadly, "Hidden African Ancestry Redux", ''[http://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/dna-usa-2/ DNA USA*] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322002312/http://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/dna-usa-2/ |date=March 22, 2015 }}'', [[23andMe]], March 4, 2014.</ref> European Americans on average are: "98.6 percent Native European, 0.19 percent Native African and 0.18 percent Native American." Inferred British/Irish ancestry is found in European Americans from all states at mean proportions of
above 20%, and represents a majority of ancestry, above 50% mean proportion, in states such
as Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Scandinavian
ancestry in European Americans is highly localized; most states show only trace mean
proportions of Scandinavian ancestry, while it comprises a significant proportion, upwards of
10%, of ancestry in European Americans from Minnesota and the Dakotas.<ref name=23andme>{{cite bioRxiv |biorxiv=10.1101/009340 |title=The genetic ancestry of African, Latino, and European Americans across the United States |year=2014 |last1=Bryc |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Durand |first2=Eric Y |last3=MacPherson |first3=J Michael |last4=Reich |first4=David |last5=Mountain |first5=Joanna}}</ref><ref name="Hadly" />

== See also ==
{{Portal|Europe|United States}}
* [[American ancestry]]
* [[Anglo]]
* [[Ancestral background of presidents of the United States]]
* [[Ethnic groups in Europe]]
* [[European Canadians]]
* [[Europeans in Oceania|European Oceanians]]
* [[Immigration to the United States]]
* [[Melting pot]]
* [[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|Non-Latino whites]]
* [[Stereotypes of white Americans]]
* [[White Americans]]
* [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant]]
* [[White ethnic]]
* [[White Latino Americans]]
* [[White Southerners]]
* [[Romani Americans]]
* [[American Jews]]
* [[European Mexicans]]
* [[White Americans in California]]
* [[White Latin Americans]]
* [[Colonial history of the United States]]
* [[Hispanic and Latino Americans]]
* [[White demographic decline]]
* [[European emigration]]
* [[European Australians]]
* [[Argentines of European descent]]
* [[Venezuelans of European descent]]
* [[European Moroccans]]
*[[European Pakistanis]]
*[[European Tunisians]]
* [[Peruvians of European descent]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{European Americans}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}
{{European diasporas}}
{{White people}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:European diaspora in the United States| ]]
[[Category:European-American culture]]
[[Category:European diaspora in North America]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Transatlantic cultural exchange]]
[[Category:Transatlantic relations]]