Population And People Of The USA

The population and people of the USA are often referred to as a "melting pot." This means that the United States is comprised of a diverse mix of peoples who live side by side, sharing their cultures. Cultural diversity is not a new phenomenon in the US: from aboriginal peoples (often still called American Indians) to recent immigrants, the land now called the United States has long been a meeting ground for people of different tribes, nationalities and ways of life.

Today, there are thirty-one different ancestry groups that have over a million members in the US. Some of these ethnic/cultural groups in the US include Scottish, Irish, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Cuban, Mexican, Filipino, Greek, Vietnamese, Hispanic, Lebanese, Indian, Romanian, Hungarian, Czech, Danish, French Canadian, African (from various countries), and many more. According to the Census Bureau, in 2005 the nation's minority population totaled 98 million, or approximately one third of the country's total population (circa 306, 708, 081). This minority population includes both immigrants and the US-born descendants of past immigrants. Immigration to the US continues to grow each year, and so the population continues to become more and more diverse.

English is the de facto national language of the US, and in 2005, 81% of the population (about 216 million) spoke exclusively English at home. Spanish is the country's second most common language with 12% of the population speaking it at home, and it is the unofficial second language of states such as New Mexico and California. Spanish is also the most widely taught foreign language in American schools. Other states with large minority language populations are Louisiana, with unofficial state languages of both English and French, and Hawaii, where state law declares both Hawaiian and English as its official languages.

The vast majority of Americans (79%) live in urban areas, mostly in medium to large-sized cities. The US has four "global cities" that each have populations of over 5 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).

Leading Population Centres (2006)

Core City	State	Population (Metro Area)
New York City	New York	18,818,536
Los Angeles	California	12,950,129
Chicago	Illinois	9,505,748
Dallas	Texas	6,003,967
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	5,826,742
Houston	Texas	5,539,949
Phoenix	Arizona	4,039,182
San Diego	California	2,941,454
San Antonio	Texas	1,942,217
San Jose	California	1,787,123

Languages in the US by number of speakers (2000 census)
Language	Number of speakers (over age 5)
English	215 million
Spanish	28 million
Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin)	2.0 million
French	1.6 million
German	1.4 million
Tagalog	1.2 million
Vietnamese	1.01 million
Italian	1.01 million
Korean	890,000
Russian	710,000
Polish	670,000
Arabic	610,000
Portuguese	560,000
Japanese	480,000
French Creole	450,000
Greek	370,000
Hindi	320,000
Persian	310,000
Urdu	260,000
Gujurati	240,000
Armenian	200,000

*US cities with the greatest increase in immigrant populations from 2000-2007**
City	Percent increase
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida	122%
Nashville, Tennessee	74%
Indianapolis, Indiana	71%
Las Vegas, Nevada	65%
Orlando, Florida	64%
Charlotte, North Carolina	64%
Raleigh, North Carolina	62%
Phoenix, Arizona	61%
Atlanta, Georgia	58%
*only metro areas with foreign-born populations of more than 65,000.
(source: ABC News)