14.3: California’s Ethnic and Cultural Identiy

According to the 2020 U.S. census, California's population was 34.7% Non-Hispanic White, 5.7% African American, 1.5% Native American, 16.1% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 13% two or more races, and 39.4% Hispanic or Latino of any race. Hispanics are the largest racial/ethnic group in California. Non-Hispanic whites have decreased from about 76.3 - 78% of the state's population in 1970 to 36.6% in 2018.While the population of minorities accounts for 100.7 million of 300 million U.S. residents, 20% of the national total live in California (2008).

Figure 14.4: Pie Chart of Racial & Ethnic Makeup of California, Excluding Hispanics From Racial Categories (2018). Image by AnotherToast is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

California has the highest number, and second highest percentage, of Asian Americans by state. Only Hawaii has a higher Asian American percentage than California. While New Mexico and Texas have higher percentages of Hispanics, California has the highest total number of Hispanics of any U.S. state. Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group in the state.

The largest named ancestries in California are Mexican (25%), German (9%), Irish (7.7%), English (7.4%), and Italian (5.8%); there are 65 other ethnicities with sizable populations in California including Arabs, Albanians, Australians, Brazilians, Canadians, Haitians, Iranians/Persians, and Somalis as examples. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco have large numbers of residents with English, French, Italian, Iranian/Persian, German, Russian, and Scandinavian ancestry.

Figure 14.5: Map of Most Populus Ancestry Per County (2000). Image by Socal gal at heart is in the public domain.

California has the largest population of white Americans in the U.S., totaling 21,453,934 residents as of the 2010 census. The state has the fifth largest population of African Americans in the U.S., an estimated 2,299,072 residents. California's Asian population is estimated at 4.9 million, approximately one-third of the nation's estimated 15 million Asian Americans. California's Native American population of 285,512 is the third largest of any state, behind Arizona and Oklahoma.

Since the 2000 U.S. census, California has been known as the second state in U.S. history (after Hawaii since its statehood in 1959) to have a non-white majority when excluding Hispanic whites, and since 2014, the first state to have a Latino plurality surpass other racial/ethnic groups. The media discussed the possibility of Latinos becoming a majority in the 21st century, for the first time since statehood (1850) when massive immigration of Anglo-Americans during the California Gold Rush of 1848-1849 reduced Spanish speakers to 20% of the population.

Native Americans - Indigenous Peoples of California

As of 2010, California's Native American population of 362,801 was the most of any state. It also has the most Native American tribes, indigenous to the state or not, but the majority of known Californian Indian tribes became extinct in the late 19th century. The U.S. Census includes Latin American Indian, especially immigrants who belonged to indigenous peoples or who have Amerindian heritage from North and South America.

The Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the state with a population of 22,000 in 2020, although the number of Cherokee descendants are at 110,000 in the earlier census taken in 2010 and any persons residing in California of Cherokee descent may surpass 600,000 according to demographers. Their tribal nation is in the northeast part of Oklahoma, but they live across the state and neighboring states. They are often descendants of Dust Bowl refugees in the 1930s and 1940s who migrated to the state's farming counties and urban areas for jobs. The largest urban American Indian communities are Los Angeles/Long Beach, San Francisco/Oakland, Sacramento, and San Diego areas.

California also has significant populations of the Apache, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, Seminole, Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, Blackfeet, Shoshone, Paiute, Pueblo, Tohono Oʼodham, Cahuilla, Chumash, Karuk, Yurok, and Yokuts tribes. The Cahuilla in the Coachella Valley have profited from real estate land leases, and much of Indio and Palm Springs are tribal-owned lands under legal tribal jurisdiction.

European Americans

California has the largest population of European Americans of any state in the United States. This is due to several factors, including the state's history of immigration, its diverse geography, and its climate.

The state has been a major destination for immigrants from Europe since the early 19^th century. In the 1840s, for example, California was home to many German, Irish, Italian, and English immigrants. These immigrants settled in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, and they helped to shape the state's culture and identity.

Another factor contributing to California's large European American population is its diverse geography. The state is home to a variety of climates, from the Mediterranean climate of Southern California to the Mediterranean climate of Northern California. This diversity of climate has attracted immigrants from all over Europe, who have found places to settle in all parts of the state.

California also has the third largest Greek American population in the United States, behind New York and Massachusetts. The Los Angeles Harbor area of San Pedro has a sizeable Croatian American population. Small Amish/Mennonite colonies exist in an area bordered by the towns Oakdale, Riverbank and Ripon near Modesto and in Reedley, Sanger and Orange Cove near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley.

Brief History

The first Europeans to arrive in California were the Spanish, and the area was under Spanish and Mexican rule for many years. The population was diverse, with people of White, Mestizo, African, and Indigenous ancestry. By 1846, more White Americans had begun to enter California, and they made up 10% of the non-Native population.

The California Gold Rush of 1848-1855 brought a massive influx of people to California, including many White Americans. By 1850, the non-Native population of California had grown to 92,597, and two-thirds of these new arrivals were Americans.

While Northern California became predominantly white by the mid-19th century, Southern California remained mainly Mexican until the 1880s. This changed after the Southern Pacific railroad reached Los Angeles, and Southern California's population grew rapidly. By 1920, the population of Southern California had reached 1.3 million, and white Americans made up most of the population.

In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl in the American Midwest caused many people to leave their homes and seek new opportunities in California. These migrants, known as Okies, were mostly white, and they helped to further diversify California's population.

By 1940, 90% of California's population identified as white. However, in recent decades, the state has become more diverse, and by 1990, the white non-Hispanic population had decreased to 43%. This is due to increased immigration from other countries, as well as higher birth rates among non-white Californians.