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Pacific Islands Americans
Oceanian Americans

Total population
540,013 alone 0.2% of the total U.S. population (2010 Census)[1] 1,225,195 alone or in combination 0.4% of the total U.S. population (2010 Census)
Regions with significant populations
American Samoa,  Guam,  Northern Mariana Islands,  California,  Hawaii,  Washington,  Oregon,  Nevada,  Alaska,  Texas
Languages
American English, Polynesian languages, Micronesian languages
Religion
Christianity, Polytheism, Bahá'í, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism
Related ethnic groups
Pacific Islanders, Austronesians

Pacific Islands Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, Pacific Islander Americans or Native Hawaiian and/or other Pacific Islander Americans, are Americans who have ethnic ancestry among the indigenous peoples of Oceania (viz. Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians). For its purposes, the U.S. Census also counts Indigenous Australians as part of this group.^[2][3]

Pacific Islander Americans make up 0.5% of the U.S. population including those with partial Pacific Islander ancestry, enumerating about 1.4 million people. The largest ethnic subgroups of Pacific Islander Americans are Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Chamorros, Fijians, Marshallese and Tongans. Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans, and Chamorros have large communities in Hawaii, California, Utah, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, with sizable communities in Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Alaska. Fijians are predominantly based in California.

American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are insular areas (U.S. territories), while Hawaii is a state.

Population

In the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census, the term "Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander" refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, the Marshalls or other Pacific Islands.

In the 2010 census 1,225,195 Americans claimed "'Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander'" as their race alone or in combination.

Pacific Islands Americans in the 2000^[4]–2010 U.S. Census^[5] (From over 1,000 people)

Ancestry	2000	2000 % of Pacific Islands American population	2010	2010 % of Pacific Islands American population
Native Hawaiians	401,162	45.9%	527,077	43.0%
Samoan	133,281	15.2%	184,440	15.1%
Chamorro	93,237 (Guamanian or Chamorro: 92,611; Saipanese: 475; Mariana Islander: 141)	10.7%	148,220 (Guamanian or Chamorro: 147,798; Saipanese: 1,031; Mariana Islander: 391)	12.2%
Tongan	36,840	4.2%	57,183	4.7%
Fijian	13,581	1.6%	32,304	2.6%
Marshallese	6,650	0.8%	22,434	1.8%
Palauan	3,469	0.4%	7,450	0.6%
French Polynesian	3,313	0.4%	5,062	0.4%
Polynesians with New Zealand citizenship (Māori, Tokelauans, Niueans, Cook Islanders)	2,422 (Māori: 1,994; Tokelauans: 574)	0.3%	925 (Tokelauans only)	0.1%
Micronesian (FSM)	1,948	0.2%	8,185	0.7%
"Micronesian" (not specified)	9,940	1.1%	29,112	2.4%
"Polynesian" (not specified)	8,796	1.0%	9,153	0.7%
Others	188,389	%	241,952	%
TOTAL	874,414	100.0%	1,225,195	100.0%

Location

State/territory	Pacific Islands Americans alone (2010 US Census)[6]	Pacific Islands Americans alone or in combination (2010 US Census)[7]	Percentage (Pacific Islands Americans alone)[note 1]
Alabama	5,208	7,984	0.1%
Alaska	7,662	11,360	1.0%
American Samoa	51,403[8]	52,790[9]	92.6%[10]
Arizona	16,112	28,431	0.2%
Arkansas	6,685	8,597	0.2%
California	181,431	320,036	0.8%
Colorado	8,420	16,823	0.1%
Connecticut	3,491	6,864	0.0%
Delaware	690	1,423	0.0%
District of Columbia	770	1,514	-
Florida	18,790	43,416	-
Georgia	10,454	18,587	0.1%
Guam	78,582 [11]	90,238 [12]	49.3%[13]
Hawaii	138,292	358,951	10.0%
Idaho	2,786	5,508	0.1%
Illinois	7,436	15,873	-
Indiana	3,532	7,392	0.1%
Iowa	2,419	4,173	0.1%
Kansas	2,864	5,445	0.1%
Kentucky	3,199	5,698	0.1%
Louisiana	2,588	5,333	-
Maine	377	1,008	-
Maryland	5,391	11,553	-
Massachusetts	5,971	12,369	-
Michigan	3,442	10,010	<0.1%
Minnesota	2,958	6,819	0.0%
Mississippi	1,700	3,228	-
Missouri	7,178	12,136	0.1%
Montana	734	1,794	0.1%
Nebraska	2,061	3,551	0.1%
Nevada	19,307	35,435	0.6%
New Hampshire	532	1,236	-
New Jersey	7,731	15,777	-
New Mexico	3,132	5,750	0.1%
New York	24,000	45,801	0.1%
North Carolina	10,309	17,891	0.1%
North Dakota	334	801	0.1%
Northern Mariana Islands	18,800 [14]	24,891 [15]	34.9%[16]
Ohio	5,336	11,380	0.03%
Oklahoma	5,354	9,052	0.1%
Oregon	14,649	26,936	0.4%
Pennsylvania	7,115	14,662	-
Puerto Rico	370 [17][18]	No data	0.0%
Rhode Island	1,602	2,803	0.1%
South Carolina	3,957	6,988	0.1%
South Dakota	517	1,040	0.1%
Tennessee	5,426	9,359	0.1%
Texas	31,242	54,801	0.1%
Utah	26,049	37,994	1.3%
Vermont	175	476	-
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	16 [19]	No data	0.0%
Virginia	8,201	17,233	0.1%
Washington	43,505	73,213	0.6%
West Virginia	485	1,295	-
Wisconsin	2,505	5,558	-
Wyoming	521	1,137	0.1%
United States	674,625	1,332,494	0.2%

Micronesian Americans

Micronesian Americans are Americans of Micronesian descent.

According to the 2010 census, the largest Chamoru populations were located in California, Washington and Texas, but their combined number from these three states totaled less than half the number living throughout the U.S. It also revealed that the Chamoru people are the most geographically dispersed Oceanic ethnicity in the country.^[20]

Marshallese Americans or Marshallese come from the Marshall Islands. In the 2010 census 22,434 Americans identified as being of Marshallese descent.

Because of the Marshall Islands entering the Compact of Free Association in 1986, Marshallese have been allowed to migrate and work in the United States. There are many reasons why Marshallese came to the United States. Some Marshallese came for educational opportunities, particularly for their children. Others sought work or better health care than what’s available in the islands. Massive layoffs by the Marshallese government in 2000 led to a second big wave of immigration.

Arkansas has the largest Marshallese population with over 6,000 residents. Many live in Springdale, and the Marshallese comprise over 5% of the city's population. Other significant Marshallese populations include Spokane and Costa Mesa.

Polynesian Americans

Polynesian Americans are Americans of Polynesian descent.

Large subcategories of Polynesian Americans include Native Hawaiians and Samoan Americans. In addition there are smaller communities of Tongan Americans (see Culture and diaspora of Tonga), French Polynesian Americans, and Māori Americans.

A Samoan American is an American who is of ethnic Samoan descent either from the independent nation Samoa or the American territory of American Samoa. Samoan American is a subcategory of Polynesian American. About 55,000 people live on American Samoa, while the US census in 2000 and 2008 has found 4 times the number of Samoan Americans live in the mainland USA.

California has the most Samoans; concentrations live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, and San Diego County. San Francisco has approximately 2,000 people of Samoan ancestry, and other Bay Area cities such as East Palo Alto and Daly City have Samoan communities. In Los Angeles County, Long Beach and Carson have abundant Samoan communities, as well as in Oceanside in San Diego County.^[21][22][23] Other West Coast metropolitan areas such as Seattle have strong Samoan communities, mainly in King County and in Tacoma. Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii both have thousands of Samoan Americans residing in each city.

Persons born in American Samoa are United States nationals, but not United States citizens.^[24] (This is the only circumstance under which an individual would be one and not the other.) For this reason, Samoans can move to Hawaii or the mainland United States and obtain citizenship comparatively easily. Like Hawaiian Americans, the Samoans arrived in the mainland in the 20th century as agricultural laborers and factory workers.

Elsewhere in the United States, Samoan Americans are plentiful throughout the state of Utah, as well as in Killeen, Texas, Norfolk, Virginia and Independence, Missouri.

A Tongan American is an American who is of ethnic Tongan descent. Utah has the largest Tongan American population and Hawaii has the second largest. Many of the first Tongan Americans came to the United States in connection to the LDS Church.

Military

Based on 2003 recruiting data, Pacific Islander Americans were 249% over-represented in the military.^[25]

American Samoans are distinguished among the wider Pacific Islander group for enthusiasm for enlistment. In 2007, a Chicago Tribune reporter covering the island's military service noted, "American Samoa is one of the few places in the nation where military recruiters not only meet their enlistment quotas but soundly exceed them."^[26] As of 23 March 2009^[update] there have been 10 American Samoans who have died in Iraq, and 2 who have died in Afghanistan.^[27]

Pacific Islander Americans are also represented in the Navy SEALS, making up .6% of the enlisted and .1% of the officers.^[28]

See also

• Pacific Island Migration and Pacific Island American Identities

Notes

References

External links

• The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population: 2010 Census


• Infoplease: Native Hawaiian and Other U.S. Pacific Islander Population, Census 2000 - 2010


• Pacific Islander Populations, Census 2000