National origins

According to the United States Census Bureau in 2015 the population self-identifies as (alone or in combination):^[119]

• 72.9% White
• 14.7% Asian
• 6.5% Black or African American
• 3.8% Two or More Races
• 1.7% Native American and Alaska Native
• 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

By ethnicity, in 2015 the population was 61.2% non-Hispanic (of any race) and 38.8% Hispanic or Latino (of any race).^[119]
As of 2011, 75.1% of California's population younger than age 1 were minorities, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white (white Hispanics are counted as minorities).^[120]
In terms of total numbers, California has the largest population of White Americans in the United States, an estimated 22,200,000 residents. The state has the 5th largest population of African Americans in the United States, an estimated 2,250,000 residents. California's Asian American population is estimated at 4.4 million, constituting a third of the nation's total. California's Native American population of 285,000 is the most of any state.^[121]
According to estimates from 2011, California has the largest minority population in the United States by numbers, making up 60% of the state population.^[91] Over the past 25 years, the population of non-Hispanic whites has declined, while Hispanic and Asian populations have grown. Between 1970 and 2011, non-Hispanic whites declined from 80% of the State's population to 40%, while Hispanics grew from 32% in 2000 to 38% in 2011.^[122] It is currently projected that Hispanics will rise to 49% of the population by 2060, primarily due to domestic births rather than immigration.^[113] With the decline of immigration from Latin America, Asian Americans now constitute the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in California; this growth primarily driven by immigration from China, India and the Philippines, respectively.^[123]

California Racial Breakdown of Population Racial composition 1970[124] 1990[124] 2000[125] 2010[126]

Estimated ancestries of Californians in 2013[127] Ancestry[fn 1] Estimated population Margin of error (+/-)

Languages

Non-English Languages Spoken in California by more than 100,000 persons

Language	Percentage of population (as of 2010)[128]

English serves as California's de jure and de facto official language. In 2010, the Modern Language Association of America estimated that 57.02% (19,429,309) of California residents age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 42.98% spoke another primary language at home. According to the 2007 American Community Survey, 73% of people who speak a language other than English at home are able to speak English well or very well, with 9.8% not speaking English at all.^[2] Like most U.S. states (32 out of 50), California law enshrines English as its official language, and has done so since the passage of Proposition 63 by California voters. Various government agencies do, and are often required to, furnish documents in the various languages needed to reach their intended audiences.^{[129][130][131]}
In total, 16 languages other than English were spoken as primary languages at home by more than 100,000 persons, more than any other state in the nation. New York State, in second place, had 9 languages other than English spoken by more than 100,000 persons.^[132] The most common language spoken besides English was Spanish, spoken by 28.46% (9,696,638) of the population.^[113][111] With Asia contributing most of California's new immigrants, California had the highest concentration nationwide of Vietnamese and Chinese speakers, the second highest concentration of Korean, and the third highest concentration of Tagalog speakers.^[2]
California has historically been one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world, with more than 70 indigenous languages derived from 64 root languages in 6 language families.^[133][134] A survey conducted between 2007 and 2009 identified 23 different indigenous languages of Mexico that are spoken among California farmworkers.^[135] All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization.^{[note 3]}
As a result of the state's increasing diversity and migration from other areas across the country and around the globe, linguists began noticing a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of spoken English in California since the late 20th century. This dialect, known as California English, has a vowel shift and several other phonological processes that are different from the dialects used in other regions of the country.^[136]