2010 Top 5 Ethnic Groups in US (Estimated, Self Reporting)

choi

In the left lower corner of page 1A, USA Today, Aug 13, 2012 is the famous USA Today Snapshots. Todays' chart shows:

"[Heading:] Heritage most commonly declared by Americans (in million)
German  47.9
Black or African-American  38.9
Irish  34.7
Mexican  32.9
English  25.9

Note: 20 million claimed American ancestry
Source: Census American Community Survey, 2010"

My comment:
(a) American Community Survey (ACS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Community_Survey
(an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly)

is an estimate, whereas a census (conducted every 10 years in US) provides an accurate count (to the extent possible, in that some people evade census).
(b) The Census Bureau has not released the ancestry portion of the 2010 census. So we have to rely on 2010 ACS, which was released four days ago.
(c) The 2010 ACS.
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

Go to the right column and pick Data by Topic > People > Ancestry. In the new Webpage, select "B04003  TOTAL ANCESTRY REPORTED."  Somehow, the table lacks data on East Asians. But for the purpose of this posting, it is enough.
(i) In US there are more Hispanics than blacks. But Hispanics identify themselves by origin of nation, which most blacks can not do.
(ii) I was puzzled for years why there are more Germans than English in US--after all, US was Anglo-Saxon, and most US presidents can trace their ancestry to Britain.

A look at ACS makes it clear that while most Germans--47.9 million of them--identify themselves as "German" (PLUS "German Russian " 18,752), Americans whose forebears came from the British Isles identify themselves as Irish (34.7m), English (25.9m), British (1.18m), Scottish (5.46m), Scottish-Irish (3.26m), and Welsh (1.79m).

(d) Ancestry; Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). US Census Bureau, undated.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/ancestry/anc-faq.html
(Q6: "What are First, Second, and Total Ancestry, and which should I use?")
(e) A final note: in terms of ancestry for the top five, the 2010 ACS differs from 2010 census, in that “Mexican” (No 6 in 2000 behind No 5 “American”) jumps (as No 4)--in the 2010 ACS--ahead of No 5 “English” and No 6 “American.”
Ancestry: 2000; Census 2000 brief. Census Bureau, June 2004.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf