Race in Hawaii: Betcha Can't Pick Just One

UPDATED 2/28/11 11:20 a.m.

Are you white? Asian? Native Hawaiian?

If you answered yes to more than one of the above, you’re not alone.

There are six distinct options when it comes to identifying race on the U.S. Census but the fastest-growing group in Hawaii between 2000 and 2010 was “two or more.”

Ten years ago, 259,343 of 1,211,537 island residents — 21.4 percent — identified as mixed-race. In 2010, that number jumped to 320,629 of 1,360,301 — 23.6 percent. The increase in mixed-race Hawaii residents — 61,286 — was almost as big as the gains made by Asian and white combined.

	2000		2010		Change
Race	Number	Percent of total population	Number	Percent of total population	Number	Percent
Total population	1,211,537	100.0%	1,360,301	100.0%	148,764	12.3%
One Race	952,194	78.6%	1,039,672	76.4%	87,478	9.2%
Asian	503,868	41.6%	525,078	38.6%	21,210	4.2%
White	294,102	24.3%	336,599	24.7%	42,497	14.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	113,539	9.4%	135,422	10.0%	21,883	19.3%
Black or African American	22,003	1.8%	21,424	1.6%	-579	-2.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native	3,535	0.3%	4,164	0.3%	629	17.8%
Some Other Race	15,147	1.3%	16,985	1.2%	1,838	12.1%
Two or More Races	259,343	21.4%	320,629	23.6%	61,286	23.6%

Source: 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data [xls]

Of those Hawaii residents that are mixed-race, nearly 79.8 percent are part-Asian, 71 percent are part-white and 68.5 percent are part-Pacific Islander. Of the entire population, 57.4 percent are at least part-Asian, 41.5 percent are at least part-white and 26.2 are at least part-Pacific Islander.

The most common two-race combination is Asian and Pacific Islander — 72,607 Hawaii residents claim that mix. Residents who say they’re Asian and white numbered 66,456, while 37,904 say they’re Pacific Islander and white, and 85,723 more say they’re all three.

The following table shows every two-race combination. Where a race intersects itself, the number represents the residents who say they are only that race.¹

	Asian	Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander	White	Black/ African American	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Some Other Race
Asian	525,078	72,607	66,456	2,694	1,343	4,500
Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander	72,607	135,422	37,904	1,809	1,233	1,799
White	66,456	37,904	336,599	3,883	7,932	3,394
Black/ African American	2,694	1,809	3,883	21,424	834	386
American Indian/ Alaska Native	1,343	1,233	7,932	834	4,164	215
Some Other Race	4,500	1,799	3,394	386	215	16,985

Source: Civil Beat analysis of 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data [xls]

Young people are even more likely be mixed-race. Of the 303,818 Hawaii residents younger than 18 years old, 125,550 (41.3 percent) claim two or more races. That’s up from 110,084 of 295,767 (37.2 percent) in the 2000 Census.

For a full race data for Hawaii’s 131 towns in the 2009 American Community Survey, check out Race Breakdown: Hawaii Towns 2009.

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