Urban migration

As of 2012, 70% of American Indians live in urban areas, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Rapid City. Many live in poverty. Racism, unemployment, drugs and gangs are common problems which Indian social service organizations such as the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis attempt to address.^[120]

Distribution by U.S. state

This Census Bureau map depicts the locations of differing Native American groups, including Indian reservations, as of 2000. Note the concentration (blue) in modern-day Oklahoma in the South West, which was once designated as an Indian Territory before statehood in 1907.

According to 2003 United States Census Bureau estimates, a little over one third of the 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States live in three states: California at 413,382, Arizona at 294,137 and Oklahoma at 279,559.^[127]
In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 0.8% of the U.S. population was of American Indian or Alaska Native descent. This population is unevenly distributed across the country.^[128] Below, all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are listed by the proportion of residents citing American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry, based on the 2010 U.S. Census.^[129]

Alaska – 14.8% 104,871

New Mexico – 9.4% 193,222

South Dakota – 8.8% 71,817

Oklahoma – 8.6% 321,687

Montana – 6.3% 62,555

North Dakota – 5.4% 36,591

Arizona – 4.6% 296,529

Wyoming – 2.4% 13,336

Washington – 1.5% 103,869

Oregon – 1.4% 53,203

Idaho – 1.4% 21,441

North Carolina – 1.3% 122,110

Utah – 1.2% 32,927

Nevada – 1.2% 32,062

Nebraska – 1.2% 18,427

Minnesota – 1.1% 60,916

Colorado – 1.1% 56,010

California – 1.0% 362,801

Wisconsin – 1.0% 54,526

Kansas – 1.0% 28,150

Arkansas – 0.8% 22,248

Texas – 0.7% 170,972

Louisiana – 0.7% 30,579

New York – 0.6% 106,906

Michigan – 0.6% 62,007

Alabama – 0.6% 28,218

Maine – 0.6% 8,568

Rhode Island – 0.6% 6,058

Missouri – 0.5% 27,376

Puerto Rico – 0.5% 19,839

Mississippi – 0.5% 15,030

Delaware – 0.5% 4,181

Florida – 0.4% 71,458

Virginia – 0.4% 29,225

Maryland – 0.4% 20,420

South Carolina – 0.4% 19,524

Iowa – 0.4% 11,084

Vermont – 0.4% 2,207

Illinois – 0.3% 43,963

Georgia – 0.3% 32,151

New Jersey – 0.3% 29,026

Tennessee – 0.3% 19,994

Massachusetts – 0.3% 18,850

Indiana – 0.3% 18,462

Connecticut – 0.3% 11,256

Hawaii – 0.3% 4,164

District of Columbia – 0.3% 2,079

Pennsylvania – 0.2% 26,843

Ohio – 0.2% 25,292

Kentucky – 0.2% 10,120

West Virginia – 0.2% 3,787

New Hampshire – 0.2% 3,150

In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about less than 1.0% of the U.S. population was of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander descent. This population is unevenly distributed across twenty-six states.^[128] Below, are the twenty-six states that had at least 0.1%. They are listed by the proportion of residents citing Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander ancestry, based on 2006 estimates:

Hawaii – 8.7

Utah – 0.7

Alaska – 0.6

California – 0.4

Nevada – 0.4

Washington – 0.4

Arizona – 0.2

Oregon – 0.2

Alabama – 0.1

Arkansas – 0.1

Colorado – 0.1

Florida – 0.1

Idaho – 0.1

Kentucky – 0.1

Maryland – 0.1

Massachusetts – 0.1

Missouri – 0.1

Montana – 0.1

New Mexico – 0.1

North Carolina – 0.1

Oklahoma – 0.1

South Carolina – 0.1

Texas – 0.1

Virginia – 0.1

West Virginia – 0.1

Wyoming – 0.1

Population by tribal grouping

Below are numbers for U.S. citizens self-identifying to selected tribal grouping, according to the 2000 U.S. census.^[130]

Tribal grouping	American Indian and Alaska Native alone		American Indian and Alaska Native in combination with one or more races		American Indian and Alaska Native tribal grouping alone or in any combination
	One tribal grouping reported	More than one tribal grouping reported	One tribal grouping reported	More than one tribal grouping reported
Total	2,423,531	52,425	1,585,396	57,949	4,119,301
Apache	57,060	7,917	24,947	6,909	96,833
Blackfeet	27,104	4,358	41,389	12,899	85,750
Cherokee	281,069	18,793	390,902	38,769	729,533
Cheyenne	11,191	1,365	4,655	993	18,204
Chickasaw	20,887	3,014	12,025	2,425	38,351
Chippewa	105,907	2,730	38,635	2,397	149,669
Choctaw	87,349	9,552	50,123	11,750	158,774
Colville	7,833	193	1,308	59	9,393
Comanche	10,120	1,568	6,120	1,568	19,376
Cree	2,488	724	3,577	945	7,734
Creek	40,223	5,495	21,652	3,940	71,310
Crow	9,117	574	2,812	891	13,394
Delaware (Lenape)	8,304	602	6,866	569	16,341
Houma	6,798	79	1,794	42	8,713
Iroquois	45,212	2,318	29,763	3,529	80,822
Kiowa	8,559	1,130	2,119	434	12,242
Latin American Indian	104,354	1,850	73,042	1,694	180,940
Lumbee	55,913	642	4,934	379	57,868
Menominee	7,883	258	1,551	148	9,840
Navajo	269,202	6,789	19,491	2,715	298,197
Osage	7,658	1,354	5,491	1,394	15,897
Ottawa	6,432	623	3,174	448	10,677
Paiute	9,705	1,163	2,315	349	13,532
Pima	8,519	999	1,741	234	11,493
Potawatomi	15,817	592	8,602	584	25,595
Pueblo	59,533	3,527	9,943	1,082	74,085
Puget Sound Salish	11,034	226	3,212	159	14,631
Seminole	12,431	2,982	9,505	2,513	27,431
Shoshone	7,739	714	3,039	534	12,026
Sioux	108,272	4,794	35,179	5,115	153,360
Tohono O'odham	17,466	714	1,748	159	20,087
Ute	7,309	715	1,944	417	10,385
Yakama	8,481	561	1,619	190	10,851
Yaqui	15,224	1,245	5,184	759	22,412
Yuman	7,295	526	1,051	104	8,976
Other specified American Indian tribes	240,521	9,468	100,346	7,323	357,658
American Indian tribe, not specified	109,644	57	86,173	28	195,902
Alaskan Athabaskans	14,520	815	3,218	285	18,838
Aleut	11,941	832	3,850	355	16,978
Eskimo	45,919	1,418	6,919	505	54,761
Tlingit-Haida	14,825	1,059	6,047	434	22,365
Other specified Alaska Native tribes	2,552	435	841	145	3,973
Alaska Native tribe, not specified	6,161	370	2,053	118	8,702
American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, not specified	511,960	(X)	544,497	(X)	1,056,457