This article is about people of the U.S. with roots in England. For the language, see American English. For other uses, see American English (disambiguation).
English Americans
Total population
46,550,968 (14.0%) English alone and in any combination[1][2] 25,536,410 (7.7%) English alone[3] 2020 U.S. census 50,000,000+ (1980)[4][a]
Regions with significant populations
Throughout the entire United States, but especially in the east central U.S., in and around Appalachia, throughout the Southern U.S., upper New England and the Mormon west
California
3,754,933[5]
Texas
3,520,547[6]
Florida
2,540,795[7]
Ohio
2,037,771[8]
North Carolina
1,869,609[9]
New York
1,641,789[10]
Pennsylvania
1,641,137[11]
Michigan
1,637,351[12]
Georgia
1,594,956[13]
Tennessee
1,430,466[14]
Illinois
1,385,480[15]
Languages
English
Related ethnic groups
Other English diaspora, American ancestry, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, Old Stock Americans, other British Americans, White Americans, European Americans, Irish Americans, Scottish Americans, Welsh Americans, Cornish Americans, Scotch-Irish Americans, German Americans
Part of a series on
English people
Culture
Music
Language
Cuisine
Dance
Religion
People
Diaspora
United States
Canada
Australia
Argentina
Chile
Paraguay
Nicaragua
New Zealand
v
t
e
English Americans (historically known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England.
In the 2020 United States census, English Americans were the largest group in the United States with 46.5 million Americans self-identifying as having some English origins (many combined with another heritage) representing (19.8%) of the White American population. This includes 25,536,410 (12.5%) who were "English alone".[16]
Despite them being the largest self-identified ancestral origin in the United States,[17] demographers still regard the number of English Americans as an undercount.[18] As most English Americans are the descendants of settlers who first arrived during the colonial period which began over 400 years ago, many Americans are either unaware of this heritage or choose to elect a more recent known ancestral group[19] even if English is their primary ancestry.[20]
The term is distinct from British Americans, which includes not only English Americans but also others from the United Kingdom such as Scottish, Scotch-Irish (descendants of Ulster Scots from Ulster and Northern Ireland), Welsh, Cornish, Manx Americans and Channel Islanders.
In 1980, 49.6 million Americans claimed English ancestry.
At 26.34%, this was the largest group amongst the 188 million people who reported at least one ancestry. The population was 226 million which would have made the English ancestry group 22% of the total.[21]
Scotch-Irish Americans are for the most part descendants of Lowland Scots and Northern English (specifically County Durham, Cumberland, Northumberland and Yorkshire) settlers who migrated to Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. Additionally, African Americans tend to have a significant degree of English and Lowland Scots ancestry tracing back to the Colonial period, typically ranging between 17 and 29%.[22]
The majority of the Founding Fathers of the United States were of English ancestry. English immigrants in the 19th century, as with other groups, sought economic prosperity. They began migrating in large numbers, without state support, in the 1840s and continued into the 1890s.[23]
^"English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census". United States census. October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census". United States census. October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"1980 United States census" (PDF). census.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 23, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^"English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census". United States census. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^Pulera, Dominic (October 20, 2004). Sharing the Dream: White Males in Multicultural America. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826416438. Retrieved August 21, 2017 – via Google Books.
^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.
^Mary C. Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), p. 36.
^"Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980 – Table 2" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
^Bryc, Katarzyna; et al. (2015). "The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States". American Journal of Human Genetics. 96 (1): 37–53. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010. PMC 4289685. PMID 25529636. Retrieved June 29, 2023 – via National Center for Biotechnology Information.
^"English Emigration". Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
EnglishAmericans (historically known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2020 United States...
speech of many Americans, including hip hop culture. Hispanic and Latino Americans have also developed native-speaker varieties of English. The best-studied...
North AmericanEnglish (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their...
of AmericanEnglish is somewhat variable and not necessarily distinct from "General American" or from the speech of younger or educated Americans nationwide...
spoken by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent. It is often perceived by Americans themselves as lacking...
British English, but is a "toll call" in AmericanEnglish, though neither term is well known among younger Americans. The distinction is a result of historical...
States census, EnglishAmericans 46.5 million (19.8%), German Americans 45m (19.1%), Irish Americans 38.6m (16.4%) and Italian Americans 16.8m (7.1%) were...
establish a permanent English settlement in North America. In the 2020 United States census, EnglishAmericans (46.5 million), German Americans (45 million),...
list of notable Americans of English descent, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants. To...
American Indian English or Native AmericanEnglish is a diverse collection of English dialects spoken by many American Indians and Alaska Natives, notwithstanding...
and transcription delimiters. Midland AmericanEnglish is a regional dialect or super-dialect of AmericanEnglish, geographically lying between the traditionally-defined...
accents of AmericanEnglish are any of those associated with the Midwestern region of the United States, and they include: General AmericanEnglish, the most...
Standard AmericanEnglish may refer to: AmericanEnglish, the set of varieties of English spoken in the United States General AmericanEnglish, the majority...
French Americans or Franco-Americans (French: Franco-Américains) are citizens or nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full...
The AmericanEnglish Coonhound, also referred to as the English Coonhound or the Redtick Coonhound, is a breed of coonhound that originated in and is...
Americans, African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is also largely non-rhotic and likely originated among enslaved Africans and African Americans influenced...
Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live...
Palestinian Americans (Arabic: فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian...
(Mexican-AmericanEnglish) Miami English New York Latino English Pennsylvania Dutch English Yeshiva EnglishAmerican Indian English Lumbee English Regional...
British Americans usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and...
Northern AmericanEnglish or Northern U.S. English (also, Northern AmE) is a class of historically related AmericanEnglish dialects, spoken by predominantly...
Lebanese Americans (Arabic: أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as...
EnglishAmerica could refer to: Anglo-America, parts of the Americas where English is spoken. British America, parts of the Americas that were ruled by...