Census 2000 showed

that the United States

population was 281.4

million on April 1,

2000. Of the total,

874,000, or 0.3 percent, reported1 Native

Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander.2 This

number included

399,000 people, or 0.1

percent, who reported

only Pacific Islander

and 476,000 people,

or 0.2 percent, who

reported Native

Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander as well

as one or more other

races. The term Pacific

Islander is used in the

text of this report to refer to the Native

Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population, while Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander is used in the text tables

and graphs. 

This report, part of a series that analyzes

population and housing data collected

from Census 2000, provides a portrait of

the Pacific Islander population in the

United States and discusses its distribution at both the national and subnational

levels. It begins by discussing the

characteristics of the total Pacific

Islander population and then focuses on

the detailed groups, for example, Native

Hawaiian, Guamanian, and Fijian. The

text of this report discusses data for the

United States, including the 50 states

and the District of Columbia.3 Data for

Pacific Islanders residing in the U.S.

Island Areas of Guam, American Samoa,

the Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin

Islands are not included.

The term “Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander” refers to people having

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

U.S.Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Issued December 2001

C2KBR/01-14

The Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander Population: 2000

Census 2000 Brief

By 

Figure 1. Elizabeth M. Grieco

Reproduction of the Question on Race 

From Census 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 questionnaire.

What is this person's race? Mark one or more races to

indicate what this person considers himself/herself to be.

6.

White

Black, African Am., or Negro

American Indian or Alaska Native — Print name of enrolled or principal tribe.

Some other race — Print race.

Japanese

Korean

Vietnamese

Native Hawaiian

Guamanian or Chamorro

Samoan

Other Pacific Islander — Print race.

Asian Indian

Chinese

Filipino

Other Asian — Print race.

✗

1 In this report, the term “reported” is used to refer

to the answers provided by respondents, as well as

responses assigned during the editing and imputation

processes. 2 Census 2000 asked separate questions on race

and Hispanic or Latino origin. Hispanics who reported

their race as Pacific Islander, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, are included in the

numbers for Pacific Islanders.

3 Data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are

shown in Table 2 and Figure 3. This report is based on

data from the Census 2000 Summary File 1, which were

released on a state-by-state basis during the summer of

2001.
2 U.S. Census Bureau

origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or

other Pacific Islands. Pacific

Islanders include diverse populations that differ in language and

culture. They are of Polynesian,

Micronesian, and Melanesian cultural backgrounds.4

In 1960, the year after Hawaii

became the 50th state, two separate

response categories were included

on the decennial census questionnaire for the state of Hawaii only:

“Hawaiian” and “Part Hawaiian.” In

1970, the term “Hawaiian” appeared

on every state census questionnaire

except for Alaska. Hawaiians

remained the only Pacific Islander

group listed separately until 1980,

when the terms “Guamanian” and

“Samoan” were included with

“Hawaiian” on all census questionnaires. In 1990, a response category

for “Other Asian or Pacific Islander”

was also included with a write-in

area for specific groups. Three

specific Pacific Islander groups —

“Native Hawaiian,” “Samoan,” and

“Guamanian or Chamorro” — were

included in Census 2000. Also, a

separate “Other Pacific Islander”

response category was added with a

write-in area for respondents to indicate specific Pacific Islander groups

not included on the questionnaire.

The question on race was

changed for Census 2000.

For Census 2000, the question on

race was asked of every individual

living in the United States and

responses reflect self-identification.

Respondents were asked to report

the race or races they considered

themselves and other members of

their households to be. 

The question on race for Census

2000 was different from the one for

the 1990 census in several ways.

Most significantly, respondents

were given the option of selecting

one or more race categories to indicate their racial identities.5

Because of these changes, the

Census 2000 data on race are not

directly comparable with data from

the 1990 census or earlier censuses.

Caution must be used when interpreting changes in the racial composition of the United States population over time.

The Census 2000 question on race

included 15 separate response categories and 3 areas where respondents could write in a more specific

race (see Figure 1). The response

categories and write-in answers

were combined to create the five

standard Office of Management and

Budget race categories plus the

Census Bureau category of “Some

other race.” The six race categories

include:

• White;

• Black or African American;

• American Indian and Alaska

Native;

• Asian;

• Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander; and

• Some other race.

For a complete explanation of the

race categories used in Census

2000, see the Census 2000 Brief,

Overview of Race and Hispanic

Origin.

6

The data collected by Census

2000 on race can be divided

into two broad categories: the

race alone population and the

race in combination

population.

People who responded to the question on race by indicating only one

race are referred to as the race

alone population. For example,

respondents who reported their

race as one or more of the Pacific

Islander detailed groups, but no

other race, would be included in the

Pacific Islander alone population.7

Individuals who reported more than

one of the six races are referred to

as the race in combination population. For example, respondents who

reported they were “Pacific Islander

and White” or “Pacific Islander and

Asian and Black or African

American”8 would be included in the

Pacific Islander in combination population.

The maximum number of

people reporting Pacific

Islander is reflected in the

Pacific Islander alone or in

combination population.

One way to define the Pacific

Islander population is to combine

4 See Table 4 for a list of the Polynesian,

Micronesian, and Melanesian detailed groups.

5 Other changes included terminology and

formatting changes, such as spelling out

“American” instead of “Amer.” for the American

Indian or Alaska Native category and adding

“Native” to the Hawaiian response category. In

the layout of the Census 2000 questionnaire,

the seven Asian response categories were

alphabetized and grouped together, as were the

four Pacific Islander categories after the Native

Hawaiian category. The three separate American

Indian and Alaska Native identifiers in the 1990

census (i.e., Indian (Amer.), Eskimo, and Aleut)

were combined into a single identifier in

Census 2000. Also, American Indians and

Alaska Natives could report more than one

tribe.

6 Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin:

2000, U.S. Census 2000 Brief, C2KBR/01-1,

March 2001, U.S. Census Bureau, is available 

on the Census Bureau’s Internet site at 

www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/

briefs.html. 7 Respondents reporting a single detailed

Pacific Islander group, such as “Samoan” or

“Chuukese,” would be included in the Pacific

Islander alone population. Respondents reporting more than one detailed Pacific Islander

group, such as “Tongan and Hawaiian” or “Fijian

and Guamanian and Tokelauan”, would also be

included in the Pacific Islander alone population. This is because all of the detailed groups

in these example combinations are part of the

larger Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific

Islander race category. 8 The race in combination categories are

denoted by quotations around the combination

with the conjunction and in bold and italicized

print to indicate the separate races that comprise the combination.
those respondents who reported

only Pacific Islander with those who

reported Pacific Islander as well as

one or more other races. This

creates the Pacific Islander alone or

in combination population. Another

way to think of the Pacific Islander

alone or in combination population

is the total number of people who

identified entirely or partially as

Pacific Islander. This group is also

described as people who reported

Pacific Islander, whether or not they

reported any other races.

Census 2000 provides a

snapshot of the Pacific

Islander population.

Table 1 shows the number and percentage of Census 2000 respondents

who reported Pacific Islander alone

as well as those who reported Pacific

Islander and at least one other race.

Of the total U.S. population, 399,000

people, or 0.1 percent, reported only

Pacific Islander. An additional

476,000 people reported Pacific

Islander and at least one other race.

Within this group, the most common

combinations were “Native Hawaiian

and Other Pacific Islander and Asian”

(29 percent), followed by “Native

Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

and White” (24 percent), “Native

Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

and White and Asian” (19 percent),

and “Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander and Some other

race” (7 percent). These four combination categories accounted for 

79 percent of all Pacific Islanders

who reported two or more races.

Thus 874,000 people, or 0.3 percent

of the total population, reported

Pacific Islander alone or in combination with one or more other races. 

Of all races, the Pacific Islander population had a much higher proportion of respondents reporting more

than one race. Also, it was the only

race where the number of respondents reporting two or more races

was higher than the number reporting a single race.

The Pacific Islander

population increased between

1990 and 2000.

Because of the changes made to the

question on race for Census 2000,

there are at least two ways to present the change in the total number

of Pacific Islanders in the United

States. These include: 1) the difference in the Pacific Islander population between 1990 and 2000 using

the race alone concept for 2000, and

2) the difference in the Pacific

Islander population between 1990

and 2000 using the race alone or in

combination concept for 2000.

These comparisons provide a

“minimum-maximum” range for the

change in the Pacific Islander population between 1990 and 2000.

The 1990 census counted 365,000

Pacific Islanders. Using the Pacific

Islander alone population in 2000,

this population increased by 34,000,

or 9.3 percent, between 1990 and

2000. If the Pacific Islander alone or

in combination population is used,

an increase of 509,000, or 140 percent, results. Thus, from 1990 to

2000, the minimum-maximum range

for the increase in the Pacific

Islander population was 9 percent to

140 percent. In comparison, the total

population grew by 13 percent, from

248.7 million in 1990 to 281.4 million in 2000.

There are two reasons why the range

of growth exhibited by the Pacific

Islander population is so large. First,

the population is numerically small

and a relatively small increase in size

can translate into a large percent

increase. Second, the Pacific Islander

U.S. Census Bureau 3

Table 1.

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Race Number Percent of total population

Total population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281,421,906 100.0

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination with

one or more other races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874,414 0.3

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398,835 0.1

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander in combination with

one or more other races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475,579 0.2

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander; Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138,802 -

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander; White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112,964 -

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander; White; Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89,611 -

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander; Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,108 -

All other combinations including Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific

Islander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99,094 -

Not Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination with

one or more other races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280,547,492 99.7

- Percentage rounds to 0.0.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.
population is much smaller than the

other races. Because of its relative

size, any misreporting of Pacific

Islander by respondents of another

race could have a large effect on the

Pacific Islander population. 

THE GEOGRAPHIC

DISTRIBUTION OF THE

PACIFIC ISLANDER

POPULATION

The following discussion of the geographic distribution of the Pacific

Islander population focuses on the

Pacific Islander alone or in combination population in the text. As the

upper bound of this population, this

group includes all respondents who

reported Pacific Islander, whether or

not they reported any other race.9

Hereafter in the text of this section,

the term “Pacific Islander” will be

used to refer to those who reported

Pacific Islander, whether they

reported one or more than one race.

However, in the tables and graphs,

data for both the Pacific Islander

alone and alone or in combination

populations are shown.

Nearly three-fourths of the

Pacific Islander population

lived in the West.10

According to Census 2000, of all

respondents who reported Pacific

Islander, 73 percent lived in the

West, 14 percent lived in the South,

7 percent lived in the Northeast,

and 6 percent lived in the Midwest

(see Figure 2).

The West had the largest Pacific

Islander population as well as the

highest proportion of Pacific

Islanders in its total population: 

1.0 percent of all respondents in

the West reported Pacific Islander,

compared with 0.1 percent each in

the Northeast, South, and Midwest.

Over half of all people who

reported Pacific Islander lived

in just two states.

Over half (58 percent) of the Pacific

Islander population lived in just two

states, Hawaii and California. The

ten states with the largest Pacific

Islander populations in 2000 were,

in addition to Hawaii and California,

Washington, Texas, New York,

Florida, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and

Arizona (see Table 2). Combined,

these states represented 80 percent

of the Pacific Islander population. 

In the West, eight states (Hawaii,

California, Washington, Utah,

Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, and

Colorado) had Pacific Islander

populations of 10,000 or higher,

and when combined, they represented 71 percent of the Pacific

Islander population in the country.

The only two states with Pacific

Islander populations over 50,000

were Hawaii (283,000) and

California (221,000).

The Pacific Islander population

exceeded the U.S. level of 0.3 percent of the total population in seven

states, and all of them were located

in the West — Hawaii (23 percent);

Utah (1.0 percent); Alaska (0.9 percent); Nevada (0.8 percent);

Washington (0.7 percent); California

(0.7 percent); and Oregon (0.5 percent).

The proportion of Pacific Islanders

represented by the states of Hawaii

and California declined between

1990 and 2000. In 1990, Pacific

Islanders enumerated in Hawaii represented 44 percent of all Pacific

Islanders; by 2000, the proportion

declined to 32 percent. Pacific

Islanders in California represented

30 percent of the total in 1990; by

2000, the proportion had dropped

to 25 percent. 

4 U.S. Census Bureau

9 The use of the alone or in combination

population in this section does not imply that it

is a preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. In general, either the alone population

or the alone or in combination population can

be used, depending on the purpose of the

analysis. The Census Bureau supports both

approaches. 10 The West region includes the states of

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii,

Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The South

region includes the states of Alabama,

Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North

Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,

Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia and the

District of Columbia. The Northeast region

includes the states of Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and

Vermont. The Midwest region includes the

states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,

Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North

Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Figure 2.

Percent Distribution of the Native Hawaiian and 

Other Pacific Islander Population by Region: 2000 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Native Hawaiian

and Other Pacific

Islander alone

or in combination

Native Hawaiian

and Other Pacific

Islander alone

Northeast West Midwest South

7.3 6.3 13.5 72.9

5.25.6 12.8 76.3
U.S. Census Bureau 5

Table 2.

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population for the United States, Regions, and

States, and for Puerto Rico: 1990 and 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Area

1990 2000

Total

population

Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific Islander

population

Total

population

Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific Islander

alone population

Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific Islander

alone or in combination

population

Native Hawaiian

and Other

Pacific Islander in

combination

population only as

a percent of Native

Hawaiian and

Other Pacific

Islander alone or in

combination

Number population

Percent of

total

population Number

Percent of

total

population Number

Percent of

total

population

United States ....... 248,709,873 365,024 0.1 281,421,906 398,835 0.1 874,414 0.3 54.4

Region

Northeast . .......... 50,809,229 10,510 - 53,594,378 20,880 - 63,907 0.1 67.3

Midwest ............ 59,668,632 12,666 - 64,392,776 22,492 - 55,364 0.1 59.4

South .............. 85,445,930 28,069 - 100,236,820 51,217 0.1 117,947 0.1 56.6

West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52,786,082 313,779 0.6 63,197,932 304,246 0.5 637,196 1.0 52.3

State

Alabama .......... 4,040,587 709 - 4,447,100 1,409 - 3,169 0.1 55.5

Alaska. ........... 550,043 1,914 0.3 626,932 3,309 0.5 5,515 0.9 40.0

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . 3,665,228 3,507 0.1 5,130,632 6,733 0.1 13,415 0.3 49.8

Arkansas ......... 2,350,725 405 - 2,673,400 1,668 0.1 3,129 0.1 46.7

California ......... 29,760,021 110,599 0.4 33,871,648 116,961 0.3 221,458 0.7 47.2

Colorado.......... 3,294,394 2,740 0.1 4,301,261 4,621 0.1 10,153 0.2 54.5

Connecticut. . . ..... 3,287,116 620 - 3,405,565 1,366 - 4,076 0.1 66.5

Delaware ......... 666,168 169 - 783,600 283 - 671 0.1 57.8

District of Columbia . 606,900 291 - 572,059 348 0.1 785 0.1 55.7

Florida ........... 12,937,926 4,446 - 15,982,378 8,625 0.1 23,998 0.2 64.1

Georgia. .......... 6,478,216 2,017 - 8,186,453 4,246 0.1 9,689 0.1 56.2

Hawaii. ........... 1,108,229 162,269 14.6 1,211,537 113,539 9.4 282,667 23.3 59.8

Idaho ............ 1,006,749 873 0.1 1,293,953 1,308 0.1 2,847 0.2 54.1

Illinois ............ 11,430,602 2,742 - 12,419,293 4,610 - 11,848 0.1 61.1

Indiana ........... 5,544,159 957 - 6,080,485 2,005 - 4,367 0.1 54.1

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,776,755 439 - 2,926,324 1,009 - 2,196 0.1 54.1

Kansas ........... 2,477,574 1,042 - 2,688,418 1,313 - 3,117 0.1 57.9

Kentucky.......... 3,685,296 829 - 4,041,769 1,460 - 3,162 0.1 53.8

Louisiana . . ....... 4,219,973 926 - 4,468,976 1,240 - 3,237 0.1 61.7

Maine ............ 1,227,928 233 - 1,274,923 382 - 792 0.1 51.8

Maryland.......... 4,781,468 1,571 - 5,296,486 2,303 - 6,179 0.1 62.7

Massachusetts ..... 6,016,425 1,255 - 6,349,097 2,489 - 8,704 0.1 71.4

Michigan .......... 9,295,297 1,482 - 9,938,444 2,692 - 7,276 0.1 63.0

Minnesota......... 4,375,099 934 - 4,919,479 1,979 - 5,867 0.1 66.3

Mississippi ........ 2,573,216 337 - 2,844,658 667 - 1,901 0.1 64.9

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . 5,117,073 2,006 - 5,595,211 3,178 0.1 6,635 0.1 52.1

Montana . ......... 799,065 301 - 902,195 470 0.1 1,077 0.1 56.4

Nebraska . ........ 1,578,385 477 - 1,711,263 836 - 1,733 0.1 51.8

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . 1,201,833 2,895 0.2 1,998,257 8,426 0.4 16,234 0.8 48.1

New Hampshire .... 1,109,252 222 - 1,235,786 371 - 777 0.1 52.3

New Jersey........ 7,730,188 1,682 - 8,414,350 3,329 - 10,065 0.1 66.9

New Mexico ....... 1,515,069 761 0.1 1,819,046 1,503 0.1 3,069 0.2 51.0

New York . . . . . . . . . 17,990,455 4,457 - 18,976,457 8,818 - 28,612 0.2 69.2

North Carolina ..... 6,628,637 2,196 - 8,049,313 3,983 - 8,574 0.1 53.5

North Dakota . . . . . . 638,800 145 - 642,200 230 - 475 0.1 51.6

Ohio ............. 10,847,115 1,456 - 11,353,140 2,749 - 6,984 0.1 60.6

Oklahoma ......... 3,145,585 1,561 - 3,450,654 2,372 0.1 5,123 0.1 53.7

Oregon ........... 2,842,321 5,037 0.2 3,421,399 7,976 0.2 16,019 0.5 50.2

Pennsylvania ...... 11,881,643 1,654 - 12,281,054 3,417 - 8,790 0.1 61.1

Rhode Island ...... 1,003,464 306 - 1,048,319 567 0.1 1,783 0.2 68.2

South Carolina ..... 3,486,703 983 - 4,012,012 1,628 - 3,778 0.1 56.9

South Dakota ...... 696,004 185 - 754,844 261 - 556 0.1 53.1

Tennessee ........ 4,877,185 895 - 5,689,283 2,205 - 4,587 0.1 51.9

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,986,510 7,541 - 20,851,820 14,434 0.1 29,094 0.1 50.4

Utah ............. 1,722,850 7,675 0.4 2,233,169 15,145 0.7 21,367 1.0 29.1

Vermont . . . ....... 562,758 81 - 608,827 141 - 308 0.1 54.2

Virginia ........... 6,187,358 3,017 - 7,078,515 3,946 0.1 9,984 0.1 60.5

Washington........ 4,866,692 15,040 0.3 5,894,121 23,953 0.4 42,761 0.7 44.0

West Virginia ...... 1,793,477 176 - 1,808,344 400 - 887 - 54.9

Wisconsin ......... 4,891,769 801 - 5,363,675 1,630 - 4,310 0.1 62.2

Wyoming . . ....... 453,588 168 - 493,782 302 0.1 614 0.1 50.8

Puerto Rico .......... 3,522,037 (X) (X) 3,808,610 1,093 - 2,894 0.1 62.2

- Percentage rounds to 0.0. X Not applicable.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1; 1990 Census of Population, General Population Characteristics:

United States (1990 CP-1).
23.3 (HI)

1.0 (UT)0.3 to 0.90.0 to 0.2 U.S. percent 0.3

Percent Native Hawaiian andOther Pacific Islander Alone or In Combination: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1. American FactFinder at factfinder.census.gov provides 

census data and mapping tools.

People indicating one or more races including NHOPI as a percent of total population by state

People indicatingone or more races including Native Hawaiian andOther Pacific Islander (NHOPI) as a percent of total populationby county

2.7 to 50.31.0 to 2.60.3 to 0.90.0 to 0.2 U.S. percent 0.3

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)Figure 3.

0 100 Miles 0 100 Miles 0 100 Miles

0 100 Miles

6 U.S. Census Bureau
The Pacific Islander population

was concentrated in counties in

the West, especially in Hawaii.

Not surprisingly, the counties with

the highest concentration of Pacific

Islanders were in Hawaii. Three of

Hawaii’s five counties were more

than 25 percent Pacific Islander, with

the remaining two counties between

20 and 25 percent. 

Outside of Hawaii, there were no

counties with more than 3 percent of

their total populations reporting

Pacific Islander. Fourteen counties

located in six states — Alaska,

California, Utah, Washington,

Minnesota, and Oklahoma — had

Pacific Islander populations from 1 to

3 percent. Alaska and California (in

the San Francisco metropolitan area)

each contained four of these counties, with two counties in

Washington (in the Seattle metropolitan area) and Utah (in the Salt Lake

City metropolitan area), and one

each in Minnesota and Oklahoma. 

The places with the largest

Pacific Islander populations

were Honolulu, New York, Los

Angeles, and San Diego. 

Census 2000 showed that, of all

places in the United States with

100,000 or more population,11

Honolulu had the largest Pacific

Islander population with 58,000

(see Table 3). New York, Los

Angeles, and San Diego each had

Pacific Islander populations

between 10,000 and 20,000. Nine

of the ten places with the largest

Pacific Islander populations were in

the West.

Of the ten largest places in the

United States, San Diego had the

largest proportion of Pacific

Islanders (0.9 percent), followed by

Los Angeles (0.4 percent) and

Phoenix (0.3 percent). Pacific

Islanders represented about 0.1 percent of the total populations of

Dallas, Detroit, and Houston.

U.S. Census Bureau 7

11 Census 2000 showed 245 places in the

United States with 100,000 or more population.

They included 238 incorporated places (including 4 city-county consolidations) and 7 census

designated places that were not legally incorporated. For a list of these places by state, see

www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/

phc-t6.html.

Table 3.

Ten Largest Places in Total Population and in Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

Population: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Place

Total population

Native Hawaiian

and Other Pacific

Islander alone

Native Hawaiian

and Other Pacific

Islander alone or

in combination

Percent of

total population

Rank Number Rank Number Rank Number

Native

Hawaiian

and Other

Pacific

Islander

alone

Native

Hawaiian

and Other

Pacific

Islander

alone or in

combination

New York, NY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8,008,278 5 5,430 2 19,203 0.1 0.2

Los Angeles, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3,694,820 2 5,915 3 13,144 0.2 0.4

Chicago, IL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2,896,016 19 1,788 11 4,615 0.1 0.2

Houston, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1,953,631 23 1,182 21 2,877 0.1 0.1

Philadelphia, PA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1,517,550 41 729 23 2,359 - 0.2

Phoenix, AZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1,321,045 20 1,766 17 3,470 0.1 0.3

San Diego, CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1,223,400 3 5,853 4 10,613 0.5 0.9

Dallas, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1,188,580 51 590 44 1,461 - 0.1

San Antonio, TX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1,144,646 27 1,067 28 2,065 0.1 0.2

Detroit, MI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 951,270 102 251 71 827 - 0.1

San Jose, CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 894,943 8 3,584 6 7,091 0.4 0.8

San Francisco, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 776,733 7 3,844 8 6,273 0.5 0.8

Seattle, WA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 563,374 11 2,804 9 4,977 0.5 0.9

Long Beach, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 461,522 4 5,605 5 7,863 1.2 1.7

Sacramento, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 407,018 6 3,861 7 6,833 0.9 1.7

Honolulu, HI* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 371,657 1 25,457 1 58,130 6.8 15.6

Salt Lake City, UT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 181,743 9 3,437 13 4,205 1.9 2.3

Hayward, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 140,030 12 2,679 10 4,709 1.9 3.4

West Valley City, UT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 108,896 10 3,157 14 3,798 2.9 3.5

- Percentage rounds to 0.0.

* Honolulu, HI is a census designated place and is not legally incorporated. See footnote 11.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.
Among places of 100,000 or more

population, the highest proportion

of Pacific Islanders was in Honolulu 

(16 percent) as shown in Figure 4.

Two additional places — West

Valley City, Utah, and Hayward,

California, — had over 3 percent of

their populations reporting Pacific

Islander. The ten places with the

highest proportions of Pacific

Islanders were all in the West.

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS ON

THE PACIFIC ISLANDER

POPULATION

Which Pacific Islander group

was the largest?

According to Census 2000, Native

Hawaiian was the largest Pacific

Islander group in the United States.

This is true for both the alone and

alone or in combination populations. There were 141,000 respondents who reported only Native

Hawaiian and an additional 261,000

who reported Native Hawaiian with

at least one other race or Pacific

Islander group. A total of 401,000

people reported Native Hawaiian

alone or in combination with one or

more other races or Pacific Islander

groups (see Table 4). 

Samoan and Guamanian or

Chamorro were the next two largest

specified Pacific Islander groups.

There were 91,000 people who

reported Samoan alone and an additional 42,000 who reported Samoan

in combination with one or more

other races or Pacific Islander

groups. This gives a total of

133,000 people who reported

Samoan alone or in combination

with at least one other race or

Pacific Islander group. There were

58,000 people who reported only

Guamanian or Chamorro and an

additional 34,000 who reported

Guamanian or Chamorro in combination with one or more other races

or Pacific Islander groups. A total of

93,000 people reported Guamanian

or Chamorro alone or in combination with at least one other race or

Pacific Islander group.

Combined, Native Hawaiians,

Samoans, and Guamanians or

Chamorro accounted for 74 percent

of all respondents who reported a

single Pacific Islander group. Of all

Pacific Islander groups mentioned in

race combinations, these three

groups accounted for 71 percent of

all responses.

Among the largest Pacific

Islander groups, which was

most likely to be in combination

with one or more other races or

Pacific Islander groups?

Of the five largest specific Pacific

Islander groups, Native Hawaiians

were most likely to report one or

more other races or Pacific Islander

groups (see Figure 5). Of all respondents who reported Native

Hawaiian, either alone or in combination, 65 percent reported one or

more other races or Pacific Islander

groups. This included 1.3 percent

who reported Native Hawaiian with

one or more other Pacific Islander

groups, 60 percent who reported

Native Hawaiian with one or more

other races, and 3.5 percent who

reported Native Hawaiian in addition to one or more other races and

Pacific Islander groups (see Table 4). 

Tongans and Fijians were the least

likely to be in combination with one

or more other races or Pacific

Islander groups. Of all respondents

who reported Tongan, 25 percent

8 U.S. Census Bureau

Figure 4.

Ten Places of 100,000 or More Population With the 

Highest Percentage of Native Hawaiian and 

Other Pacific Islanders: 2000

* Honolulu, HI is a census designated place and is not legally incorporated. See footnote 11.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone

Tacoma, WA

Daly City, CA

Sacramento, CA

Long Beach, CA

Oceanside, CA

Vallejo, CA

Salt Lake City, UT

Hayward, CA

West Valley City, UT

Honolulu, HI*

1.5

0.9

15.6

3.5

3.4

2.3

2.0

1.9

1.7

1.7

1.6

6.8

2.9

1.9

1.9

1.1

1.3

1.2

0.9

0.9
reported one or more other races or

Pacific Islander groups. Of all respondents who reported Fijian, 28 percent reported one or more other

races or Pacific Islander groups. 

What are the Hawaiian home

lands?

Hawaiian home lands are public

lands held in trust by the state of

Hawaii for the benefit of Native

Hawaiians. Data users identified a

need for census information on

these geographic entities, so the

U.S. Census Bureau agreed to recognize the 62 home lands for the first

time in the data tabulations from

Census 2000. A Hawaiian home

land is not a governmental unit;

rather, it is a specific tract of land

that has a legally defined boundary

and is owned by the state. The

state, as authorized by the

Hawaiian Homes Commission Act

passed by the U.S. Congress in

1920, may lease these tracts of

land to one or more native

Hawaiians for any activity authorized by state law. 

U.S. Census Bureau 9

Table 4.

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population by Detailed Group: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Detailed group

Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific

Islander alone

Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific Islander in

combination with one

or more other races Native Hawaiian

and Other

Pacific Islander

detailed group

alone or in any

combination2

One Pacific

Islander group

reported1

Two or more

Pacific Islander

groups

reported2

One Pacific

Islander group

reported

Two or more

Pacific Islander

groups

reported2

Total ...................................... 389,612 9,223 447,113 28,466 874,414

Polynesian

Native Hawaiian ............................. 140,652 5,157 241,510 13,843 401,162

Samoan ..................................... 91,029 5,727 28,287 8,238 133,281

Tongan ...................................... 27,713 2,227 5,675 1,225 36,840

Tahitian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 199 1,137 1,177 3,313

Tokelauan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 142 134 169 574

Polynesian, not specified ...................... 3,497 1,547 3,005 747 8,796

Micronesian

Guamanian or Chamorro ...................... 58,240 1,247 30,241 2,883 92,611

Mariana Islander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 11 60 10 141

Saipanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 122 120 38 475

Palauan ..................................... 2,228 102 1,004 135 3,469

Carolinian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 40 30 12 173

Kosraean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 11 51 7 226

Pohnpeian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 77 116 21 700

Chuukese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 50 220 17 654

Yapese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 13 111 8 368

Marshallese.................................. 5,479 183 849 139 6,650

I-Kiribati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 17 47 21 175

Micronesian, not specified ..................... 7,509 411 1,768 252 9,940

Melanesian

Fijian........................................ 9,796 169 3,461 155 13,581

Papua New Guinean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 3 83 3 224

Solomon Islander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3 10 - 25

Ni-Vanuatu................................... 6 1 7 4 18

Melanesian, not specified. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 15 149 4 315

Other Pacific Islander3 .......................... 40,558 1,309 129,038 4,007 174,912

- Represents zero.

1

The total of 389,612 respondents categorized as reporting only one Pacific Islander group in this table is lower than the total of 389,917

shown in Table PCT8 (U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1 100-Percent Data, see factfinder.census.gov). This table includes

more detailed groups than PCT8. This means that, for example, an individual who reported ‘‘Marshallese and Palauan’’ is shown in this table

as reporting two or more Pacific Islander groups. However, that same individual would be categorized as reporting a single Pacific Islander

group in PCT8, because both Marshallese and Palauan are part of the larger Other Micronesian category. 2

The numbers by detailed Pacific Islander groups do not add to the total population. This is because the detailed Pacific Islander groups

are tallies of the number of Pacific Islander responses rather than the number of Pacific Islander respondents. Respondents reporting

several Pacific Islander groups are counted several times. For example, a respondent reporting ‘‘Samoan and Tongan’’ would be included in

the Samoan as well as the Tongan numbers. 3

Includes respondents who checked the ‘‘Other Pacific Islander’’ response category on the census questionnaire or wrote in the generic

term ‘‘Pacific Islander.’’

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, special tabulations.
In the state of Hawaii, how

many Native Hawaiians lived

on Hawaiian home lands?

Just under 23,000 people, or less

than 2 percent of Hawaii’s total population of 1.2 million, lived on the

Hawaiian home lands. Of these, 

83 percent were Native Hawaiian,

either alone or in combination (see

Table 5). This included 48 percent

who reported Native Hawaiian only

and 34 percent who reported Native

Hawaiian with at least one other

race or Pacific Islander group. Only

17 percent of all respondents living

on the home lands were people

other than Native Hawaiian.

Native Hawaiians who reported

only one race and no other Pacific

Islander group were more likely to

live on the home lands than were

Native Hawaiians in combination

with one or more other races or

Pacific Islander groups. According

to Census 2000, of the 80,000

people in Hawaii who reported

only Native Hawaiian, 14 percent

resided on the home lands. In

contrast, of the 160,000 people

who reported Native Hawaiian in

combination, 5 percent resided on

the home lands. Overall, 8 percent

of all Native Hawaiian respondents

in Hawaii lived on the home lands. 

ABOUT CENSUS 2000

Why did Census 2000 ask the

question on race?

The Census Bureau collects data on

race to fulfill a variety of legislative

and program requirements. Data

on race are used in the legislative

redistricting process carried out by

the States and in monitoring local

jurisdictions’ compliance with the

Voting Rights Act. These data are

also essential for evaluating

Federal programs that promote

equal access to employment, education, and housing and for assessing racial disparities in health and

exposure to environmental risks.

More broadly, data on race are critical for research that underlies

many policy decisions at all levels

of government.

How do data from the

question on race benefit me,

my family, and my

community?

All levels of government need information on race to implement and

evaluate programs, or enforce laws.

Examples include: the Native

American Programs Act, the Equal

Employment Opportunity Act, the

Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights

Act, the Public Health Act, the

Healthcare Improvement Act, the

Job Partnership Training Act, the

Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the

Fair Housing Act, and the Census

Redistricting Data Program.

Both public and private organizations use race information to find

areas where groups may need

special services and to plan and

implement education, housing,

health, and other programs that

address these needs. For example,

a school system might use this

information to design cultural

activities that reflect the diversity

in the community. Or a business

10 U.S. Census Bureau

Figure 5.

Percent Distribution of Selected Detailed Native 

Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Groups by Alone 

or In Combination Populations: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, special tabulations.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Fijian

Guamanian or

Chamorro

Tongan

Samoan

Native Hawaiian

Alone In combination with one or more other 

races and/or Pacific Islander detailed groups

72.1 27.9

35.1

68.3

75.2

62.9

64.9

31.7

24.8

37.1
could use it to select the mix of

merchandise it will sell in a new

store. Census information also

helps identify areas where residents might need services of particular importance to certain racial

or ethnic groups, such as screening for hypertension or diabetes.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information on race in

the United States, visit the U.S.

Census Bureau’s Internet site at

www.census.gov/population/www/

socdemo/race.html. 

Race data from Census 2000

Summary File 1 were released on a

state-by-state basis during the

summer of 2001. The Census 2000

Summary File 1 data are available on

the Internet via factfinder.census.gov

and for purchase on CD-ROM and

DVD. 

For information on confidentiality

protection, nonsampling error, and

definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/

doc/sf1.pdf or contact our

Customer Services Center at 

301-763-INFO (4636).

For more information on specific

race groups in the United States,

go to www.census.gov and click on

“Minority Links.” This Web page

includes information about Census

2000 and provides links to reports

based on past censuses and

surveys focusing on the social and

economic characteristics of the

Black or African American,

American Indian and Alaska Native,

Asian, and Native Hawaiian and

Other Pacific Islander populations.

Information on other population and

housing topics is presented in the

Census 2000 Brief series, located on

the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site at

www.census.gov/population/www/

cen2000/briefs.html. This series

presents information on race,

Hispanic origin, age, sex, household

type, housing tenure, and other

social, economic, and housing characteristics.

For more information about Census

2000, including data products, call

our Customer Services Center at

301-763-INFO (4636) or e-mail 

webmaster@census.gov.

U.S. Census Bureau 11

Table 5.

Percent Distribution of Native Hawaiians and Non-Native Hawaiians Living on Hawaiian

Home Lands for the State of Hawaii: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Race

Total population On Hawaiian home lands Not on Hawaiian home lands

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,211,537 100.0 22,539 100.0 1,188,998 100.0

Native Hawaiian alone or in combination . . . . . 239,655 19.8 18,614 82.6 221,041 18.6

Native Hawaiian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,137 6.6 10,858 48.2 69,279 5.8

Native Hawaiian in combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159,518 13.2 7,756 34.4 151,762 12.8

Not Native Hawaiian alone or in combination . 971,882 80.2 3,925 17.4 967,957 81.4

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, special tabulations.
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