How The Size Of The U.S. White Population Changed From 2010 To 2020

Whether this population became smaller or larger over the past decade depends on how you define “white.” For the U.S. census, a person can identify as white by checking off only the “White” box (“White alone,” as the Census Bureau puts it) or marking “White” and one or more of the other racial categories (“White in combination”). According to federal standards, people who identify as Hispanic or Latino can be of any race.

OVERALL (Including HISPANIC or LATINO)
2010
2020
Change
"White" alone 223,553,000 223.6M 204,277,000 204.3M -19,276,000 -19.3M (-8.6%) ↓
"White" alone plus "White" in combination 231,040,000 231.0M 235,412,000 235.4M +4,371,000 +4.4M (+1.9%) ↑

Not Hispanic or Latino
"White" alone 196,818,000 196.8M 191,698,000 191.7M -5,120,000 -5.1M (-2.6%) ↓
"White" alone plus "White" in combination 201,856,000 201.9M 203,890,000 203.9M +2,034,000 +2.0M (+1.0%) ↑

Only Hispanic or Latino
"White" alone 26,736,000 26.7M 12,580,000 12.6M -14,156,000 -14.2M (-52.9%) ↓
"White" alone plus "White" in combination 29,184,000 29.2M 31,521,000 31.5M +2,337,000 +2.3M (+8.0%) ↑

Notes: Population numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand. The Census Bureau warns that comparisons between 2010 census and 2020 census race data should be made with caution because of changes to how the race question was asked, as well as how responses were categorized and processed, for the 2020 count.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Credit: Ruth Talbot/NPR