People reporting Greek origin in response to the race question in the 2020 Census.
For the 2020 Census, individuals could offer a written response to the race question, offering a more detailed and nuanced understanding of race and ethnicity. Such information is contained in the Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A (DHC-A), recently made publicly available, offering population counts and age-specific data on various racial and ethnic groups and for American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.
This post discusses the results of those who indicated “Greek” as their detailed response to the race question for the nation, by state, and by counties. For each geographic category, two tables are presented: one for those indicating 'Greek origin alone' and another for 'Greek origin alone or in combination.' The former represents the smallest count of individuals who self-identified as exclusively Greek, while the latter includes the highest count of individuals who identified with that specific group, i.e., Greek, which consists of those who reported only one response and multiple responses.
Table 1 shows the percentage of people reporting 'Greek origin alone and in combination with other races by state. Here's a summary of the key findings:
- The total number of people reporting ‘Greek origin alone’ and ‘Greek origin alone in combination with other races’ in the U.S. is 577,517 and 1,305,860, respectively.
- New York State leads in 'Greek alone' and 'Greek alone or in combination' categories, with the top 10 states collectively representing over 60% of the total sample reporting Greek origin.
- The state with the highest percentage of people reporting Greek origin alone is New York at 15.6%, followed by California (9.6%), Illinois (8.5%), Florida (7.8%), and Massachusetts (6.6%).
- When considering Greek origin either alone or in combination with other races, New York still leads with 12.0%, followed by California (10.7%), Illinois (7.7%), Florida (6.9%), and Massachusetts (6.1%).
- The top 10 states for each category, i.e., 'Greek alone' and 'Greek alone or in combination,’ collectively represent over 60% of the total sample reporting Greek origin.
Like Table 1, Table 2 presents the same data but distinguishes it by county. Here's a summary of the key findings:
- Cook County in Illinois and Queens County in New York lead in both categories, reporting ‘Greek alone’ or ‘Greek alone or in combination.’
Although the proportion of those reporting 'Greek alone' is nearly comparable in the above two counties, the same cannot be said for those reporting 'Greek alone or in combination.' (Compare the percentages between Cook and Queens counties for those reporting 'Greek alone' with those reporting 'Greek alone or in combination').
- Among the top 10 counties, New York State accounts for 50% of all the states for those reporting ‘Greek origin alone,’ followed by Massachusetts (2 counties), and Florida, California, and Illinois with 1 county each.
New York State makes up 40% of all states where those reporting ‘Greek origin alone or in combination,’ followed by Illinois (1 county), Arizona (1 county), Massachusetts (2 counties), and California (2 counties).
- Those reporting ‘Greek origin alone or in combination’ appear more geographically dispersed than those reporting ‘Greek origin alone.’
Thank you for taking the time to read. As always, your comments are welcome below, or you can contact me by email at grigoris.argeros@gmail.com.
Top 10 states and region of residence for persons born in Greece, 1980-2021.
The following two tables show the top 10 states of residence for persons born in Greece (Table 1) and the distribution of individuals born in Greece by region (Table 2). Both tables also include the percentage change over that period.
Key findings from Table 1 are the following:
The top 10 states of residence for persons born in Greece have remained relatively stable between 1980 and 2021.
New York has consistently been the top state of residence for Greeks, although its share of the Greek-born population has declined from 26.0% in 1980 to 21.4% in 2021.
Florida has seen the most significant growth in its Greek-born population, with its share increasing from 3.8% in 1980 to 7.4% in 2021.
The “Other States” category has grown significantly as Greeks have dispersed to other parts of the country.
The total Greek-born population in the United States has declined by 21.7% between 1980 and 2021.
Key findings from Table 2 are the following:
The Northeast has seen the largest decline in its Greek-born population.
The Northeast had the largest number of Greek-born people in 1980, with 50.0% of the total population. This share declined to 45.2% in 2021, a decrease of 9.5%.
The South has seen the largest increase in its Greek-born population.
The South had the third largest number of Greek-born people in 1980, with 15.1% of the total population. This share increased to 21.6% in 2021, an increase of 43.2%.
