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Top 10 Most Native American U.S. States

Name the states with the highest percentage of people who report their race as Native American, either alone or in part.
2022 estimates. U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey.
Does not include native Hawaiians
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 19, 2023
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First submittedAugust 19, 2017
Times taken61,632
Average score80.0%
Rating4.73
1:30
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%
State
20.2
Alaska
14.3
Oklahoma
11.8
New Mexico
10.4
South Dakota
8.3
Montana
%
State
6.2
North Dakota
6.0
Arizona
4.1
Wyoming
3.8
Oregon
3.5
Washington
+31
Level 57
Aug 20, 2017
Great Quiz! Just could not think Alaska..
+5
Level 59
Oct 28, 2019
Yup. Same here.

Somehow Alaskan Natives don't feel somehow native USAmerican, especially since they were Russians first.

+70
Level 65
Nov 8, 2020
What.
+7
Level 73
Nov 8, 2020
*The state was owned by Russia. There were always natives there, but I get your point that they feel somewhat distinct from the typical continental tribes that come to mind when you think Native American.
+49
Level 86
Nov 8, 2020
That literally makes no sense. Are Navajos less "native American" since they lived under Spanish rule?
+1
Level 76
Sep 19, 2023
yeah
+2
Level 63
Sep 22, 2023
I'll throw my two bits in. Alaskan Native Americans, such as the Aleuts, often look much more Asian than those in the lower 48 states.
+3
Level 59
Sep 27, 2023
absolutely wild take
+3
Level 22
Feb 9, 2021
Alaskan Natives have a very different culture and history than mainland US Natives. Calling them the same group is silly.
+17
Level 74
Apr 6, 2021
Different groups within the continental US also have very different culture and history from each other...
+1
Level 78
Sep 20, 2023
Then, why aren't the native Hawaiians included?
+8
Level ∞
Sep 20, 2023
Because they are Pacific Islanders, not Native Americans.

Please refer all complaints to the Census Bureau.

+1
Level 45
May 3, 2021
Me too!
+17
Level 66
Jan 25, 2018
Was surprised that Oklahoma (i.e. "Indian Territory") was not #1.
+9
Level 39
Mar 5, 2018
It makes a little since why because the state has 4 million people and all the other states above Oklahoma have under a million people except

For New Mexico with just above 2 million

+3
Level 72
Mar 5, 2018
And Arizona just under 7 mio?!?! :D
+2
Level 57
Nov 8, 2020
No, both Kansas and Nebraska have over a million, genius
+1
Level 47
Mar 5, 2018
I was surprised because I thought that I typed it, but apparently not.
+3
Level 73
Aug 9, 2022
Oklahoma was "Indian Territory" for a while until the federal government (and American society at large) decided they wanted white settlers there too, and decided that they wanted Indians to "assimilate". During the land runs of the late 1800s and related policies, all tribal authority in Oklahoma was stripped away and a ton of land was opened up for white settling.

Lots of tribes were sent to live there but it's not a reservation, more like a former reservation that was later seen as lebensraum.

+1
Level 71
Mar 5, 2018
Are Inuits counted for Alaska?
+23
Level 82
Mar 5, 2018
Yeah, why wouldn't they be?
+4
Level 62
Mar 6, 2018
People usually don't think of them as indians. Many people count eskimos as a separate group of people since they have a different culture and are separated by a large amount of land.
+31
Level 82
Mar 7, 2018
It's not as if all the different tribes south of the Canadian border have the same culture or live in the same place.
+15
Level 57
Mar 10, 2018
I'm Metis, Inuit is most definitely considered Native American. Each tribe has cultural differences, some were historically wanderers who followed their migrating food sources, some had more permanent shelters, not all tribes lived in teepees, some lived closer to water thus they fished rather than follow migrating herds. if we didn't we'd all be one big tribe.
+2
Level 71
Nov 9, 2018
They are considered Native Americans but Inuit are a different race than the ones in continental US. They look more closely related to Mongolians or Chinese.
+17
Level 82
Sep 30, 2019
gx: race does not exist in homo sapiens. There are different populations of people in different places, but that's not the same thing. All of the people indigenous to the Americas have ancestors that came from Asia via Alaska over 15,000 years ago.
+2
Level 74
Feb 23, 2023
First part of your comment - yes, 100%.

Second part - that's the dominant hypothesis and may well be true, but is not proven unequivocally. There's some evidence (e.g. linguistic markers) that doesn't fit that idea at this point.

+1
Level 65
Sep 19, 2023
What other possibilities are there?
+2
Level 81
Sep 19, 2023
@HydratedMite Prehistoric immigration via Australia, New Guinea and/or Polynesia is another theory that has some traction.

It doesn't have as much widespread support as the Bering Land Bridge hypothesis (although my understanding - not that I'm anything close to an expert - is that the theory here is that there were multiple separate sources of immigration, with the Polynesian route being one of them, and Siberia/Bering being another).

But to answer your question, that is another possibility.

+1
Level 68
Oct 31, 2023
If I remember right, there is genetic evidence for three waves of human migration into the americas, with the first being dominant among the vast majority of indigenous peoples here, the second wave possibly corresponding to Na-Dene cultures, and the third likely involving some of the the ancestors of the Inuit/Aluet/related cultures.

However, it is somewhat of a moot point as each wave of immigration interbred with the previous so that an average Inuit individual has some ancestors who arrived several thousand years later would also have just as many ancestors who arrived with the first wave of immigration into the Americas and are no less indigenous than a culture further south that never interacted with this later immigration wave.

+17
Level 50
Feb 4, 2020
Tinkle pork: Indigenous people and Inuit, not Indians and Eskimoes.
+2
Level 81
Sep 19, 2023
Indigenous People instead of Indian: for the most part that's preferred, yes.

Inuit instead of Eskimo? No, not at all. Inuit and Eskimo refer to two different peoples. One reason why Eskimo is often considered a problem is because it has been ignorantly used by outsiders to refer to all northern people collectively, including the Inuit, which is not correct.

But Eskimo people, as a distinct population from the Inuit, are definitely a thing, and a valid term for them remains Eskimo. Although "Yupik" is probably a better word in many (most?) cases. But the word Yupik aside, Eskimo is preferred over Inuit for those people.

I note that you - like me - are Canadian. Here in Canada, we don't really have any Yupik people, so Inuit is pretty much always correct, and this fact has been drilled into us. But in Alaska, the Yupik dominate among their aboriginal populations, and the word "Inuit" is an outsider word for them, making it just as wrong as "Eskimo" is here.

+3
Level ∞
Sep 19, 2023
Worth pointing out that Indian is quite often a perfectly acceptable term as well. There is a tribe near me who call themselves the "Puyallup Tribe of Indians".

A lot of grievance culture was invented by white academics anyway.

+2
Level 90
Sep 20, 2023
Amen. Like most of the "controversy" over using Native American terms in sport team names.The overwhelming majority of actual tribe members support it or have no opinion. One of my best friends in college was the son of the chief of the Creek Nation. His favorite teams were the Cleveland Indians, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Blackhawks. His favorite NFL is the Forty Niners. Not because he thought that Redskins was racist but because he loved Joe Montana.
+1
Level 22
Feb 9, 2021
I don't know... they have a COMPLETELY different history, culture, and lifestyle. Calling them the same is a bit like calling Western Europeans and Eastern Europeans the same
+9
Level 56
Oct 19, 2021
Uh yeah. You call them Europeans.
+1
Level 40
Jun 7, 2022
It's not 'Indians' it's Native Americans. Be a bit more culturally sensitive.
+3
Level 73
Aug 9, 2022
Chiming in that even within indigenous communities there's a lot of debate about what the right word to use is. "Indians" and "Native Americans" are both preferred by different indigenous individuals and are both are despised by some indigenous individuals. "Indigenous" is similar. There is no one "culturally sensitive" word to use, because the words have their own pros and cons and their own histories as words.

"Eskimo" really isn't a good word to use, though.

+2
Level 65
Sep 19, 2023
Personally, I say "Native American" to refer to all "native" (as in before Europeans and stuff) cultures in the New World, including the Mayans and Incas and Aztecs and stuff.
+1
Level 83
Sep 18, 2020
It's all the American continent(s) isn't it
+2
Level 70
Mar 5, 2018
I was a bit surprised to not see Minnesota on the list.
+3
Level 86
Mar 5, 2018
According to Wikipedia (not the same source as used for this quiz), MN is tied for 16th (with Colorado) at 1.1%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
+1
Level 44
Mar 5, 2018
yeah I guessed Minnesota before the hardest one that I got last which was middle of the pack state that started with M ;)
+4
Level 70
Sep 12, 2019
I guess I don't learn. A year and a half later, and I came here to say the same thing, only to see I already said it...
+7
Level 75
Mar 5, 2018
Would be interesting to see the same quiz before the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
+5
Level 82
Mar 5, 2018
The Carolinas would almost certainly make it. I was a bit surprised that North Carolina doesn't still.
+2
Level 87
Sep 19, 2020
And Florida, certainly, prior to Andrew Jackson.
+2
Level 75
Nov 8, 2020
Georgia and Alabama, too.
+1
Level 51
Apr 19, 2021
...and Mississippi
+2
Level 51
Mar 5, 2018
Fun quiz.
+3
Level 31
Mar 5, 2018
I was thinking ¨Washington... nah.¨
+1
Level 67
Mar 5, 2018
Where does Hawaii come in?
+8
Level 86
Mar 5, 2018
Given that the quiz description says "Does not include native Hawaiians," I'm gonna guess pretty low.
+7
Level 37
Jul 12, 2018
I would guess that Hawaiians would fit in genetically more with people from Fiji, Palau, Indonesia, New Zealand and Malaysia than with Native Americans.
+2
Level 33
Mar 22, 2023
Not Malaysia or Indonesia — anthropological evidence suggests that the ancient ancestors of Pacific Islanders probably came from Taiwan or the Philippines.

Not to mention, there are huge differences ethnically between Fijians, Palauans, and Hawaiians. Native Hawaiians are more related to Samoans, Tongans, Māori, etc.

+1
Level 81
Sep 19, 2023
Haha I totally missed that bullet point in the description. I was wondering why Hawaii wasn't there! Guess that might have something to do with it... 😆
+1
Level 65
Sep 19, 2023
In Polynesia.
+1
Level 38
Nov 5, 2018
I forgot about Alaska...
+1
Level 50
Apr 28, 2019
I got Alaska. That's it. :(
+1
Level 36
Apr 28, 2019
Why Alaska. Why!!!!!!!!!
+1
Level 70
Apr 11, 2020
Why doesn't Hawaii count?
+5
Level 83
Sep 18, 2020
It's a different "continent"
+4
Level 75
Sep 19, 2020
My guess is that their exclusion is because their history and culture are far too distinct from continental Native Americans.
+2
Level 33
Mar 22, 2023
Native Hawaiians are actually not related to Native Americans. I get what you're saying — they are the indigenous people of a part of America, but their ancestors came from a much different place than those of Native Americans.
+3
Level 65
Sep 19, 2023
They're Polynesians, not Americans.
+1
Level 51
Sep 3, 2020
Got Wyoming with a second left
+2
Level 72
Sep 19, 2020
I guess it wouldn't be quite the unique boon it is in other states to grant the tribes in Nevada the right to open a casino.
+5
Level 68
Oct 6, 2020
Weird that Native Americans, despite arriving first, chose to settle on some of the most deserted and least fertile lands, with the most hostile climates. I wonder how that happened...
+14
Level 82
Nov 8, 2020
They settled all over the continent. Then after Europeans showed up those people often intermarried and intermingled with Europeans. If they did not, they were often displaced, relocated, or killed off. Some of my ancestors were in both camps. Are you trying to be clever? Also... if you're the first to get to place, isn't *everywhere* you settle going to be deserted?
+10
Level 60
Nov 8, 2020
He's being sarcastic
+4
Level 82
Nov 8, 2020
It's not really sarcasm it's more passive aggressive dissimulation. But anyway, I know. And he's trying to make some point about Native Americans being pushed off their land or something. It's just a weird comment with implications that are not entirely true. I also don't think the nonsensical use of deserted was intentional.
+3
Level 57
Nov 8, 2020
I was a bit surprised about Washington. I would think that the large populations of Seattle and it’s suburbs would outweigh the Native American populations.
+1
Level 81
Sep 19, 2023
That surprised me too. I got it, but it was the last one, and I only really tried it at all because when I got a hit with Oregon, I decided to try all the adjacent states.

But I'm really surprised that Washington is there when Idaho isn't...

+1
Level 75
Nov 10, 2020
No Massachusetts???
+1
Level 51
Nov 10, 2020
No Washington D.C.???
+3
Level 55
Nov 14, 2020
Not a state
+1
Level 51
Apr 19, 2021
Just joking
+1
Level 77
Apr 21, 2022
i'm surprised about Hawaii.
+1
Level 59
Feb 12, 2023
Same Here. Why not Native Hawaiians? They're native, just like the native people in the continental 48. Also, Alaska.
+2
Level 61
Jun 20, 2023
Look at the caveat. The US Census independently groups them with Pacific Islander groups. However if counted Hawaii would be 2nd with 10.5%
+2
Level 65
Sep 19, 2023
...Maybe because they're not Native Americans? "Native American" means people native to America, not people native to the U.S.
+1
Level 67
Sep 21, 2023
56 seconds used
+1
Level 64
Oct 14, 2023
I got Alaska with a single second remaining. Phew!
+1
Level 71
Oct 31, 2023
Pheeeew! Time used: 1:30.
+1
Level 56
Oct 31, 2023
After living in Southern Oregon for 30+ years I moved to Sequim, WA. There are 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations, there are 29 in Washington and 9 in Oregon. They each have cultural and historic differences and a rich history beyond our relatively short-lived 'America' history. The eastern state equally had indigenous populations, but they were driven west, eradicated, or absorbed by the European invasion. I go with the Bering Land Bridge Theory for populations spreading east to Canada and then south to the amercias.

https://www.washingtontribes.org/the-tribes-of-washington/

+1
Level 66
Nov 6, 2023
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Americans ever done for us?
+1
Level 43
Feb 20, 2024
you can like the sewers and still be pissed off about the genocide