{"id":5424,"date":"2020-02-06T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-11-03T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:43:09","slug":"what-census-calls-us","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/feature\/what-census-calls-us\/","title":{"rendered":"What Census Calls Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explore the different race, ethnicity and origin categories used in the U.S. decennial census, from the first one in 1790 to the latest count in 2020. The category names often changed in a reflection of current politics, science and public attitudes.\u00a0For example, \u201ccolored\u201d became \u201cblack,\u201d with \u201cNegro\u201d and \u201cAfrican American\u201d added later. The term \u201cNegro\u201d was dropped for the 2020 census. Through 1950, census-takers commonly determined the race of the people they counted. From 1960 on, Americans could choose their own race. Starting in 2000, Americans could include themselves in more than one racial category. Before that, many multiracial people were counted in only one racial category. See this <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/11\/03\/the-changing-categories-the-us-has-used-to-measure-race\/\">related blog post<\/a> for more information. Explore more on <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/race-and-ethnicity\/2025\/11\/03\/counting-race-how-the-census-measures-identity-and-what-americans-think-about-it\/#what-s-changing-in-the-2030-census\">potential changes to the 2030 census<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/race-and-ethnicity\/2025\/11\/03\/counting-race-how-the-census-measures-identity-and-what-americans-think-about-it\/#do-americans-think-federal-surveys-should-ask-about-race\">what the U.S. public thinks about the federal government asking about race.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-prc-platform-feature-loader\" id=\"js-what-census-calls-us\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PH_15.06.11_MultiRacial-Timeline.pdf\">Download this timeline as a PDF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explore the different race, ethnicity and origin 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2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5690,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"layout-full-width","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_feature_data_attachment_id":0,"_feature_rewrites":[],"_feature_embed_referenced_in":0,"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"bylines":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[459,460],"_fund_pool":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[519],"class_list":["post-5424","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-race-ethnicity","formats-chart","formats-feature","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":139,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/feature\/what-census-calls-us\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":5690,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/02\/ST_20.04.01_Census_MultiRacial-Timeline_Featured-Image_2-jpg.webp?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Race 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