The US cities with the largest white population
See more of our coverage in your search results.
New York City is home to about 2.6 million White residents, the most of any city in the country. But White residents make up only 31 percent of New York. The cities with the most White people are the biggest cities, and in most of them, White residents are a minority.
These are non-Hispanic White counts, the Census Bureau's category for people who report White race and no Hispanic origin. Here are the twelve cities with the largest White populations, with each city's White share alongside.
| Rank | City | White population | Share of city |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York, NY | 2,627,063 | 31.0% |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 1,082,393 | 28.1% |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | 870,127 | 32.1% |
| 4 | Phoenix, AZ | 667,224 | 40.6% |
| 5 | San Diego, CA | 568,126 | 40.9% |
| 6 | Houston, TX | 540,342 | 23.2% |
| 7 | Philadelphia, PA | 524,385 | 33.2% |
| 8 | Columbus, OH | 463,364 | 50.7% |
| 9 | Austin, TX | 460,447 | 47.0% |
| 10 | Jacksonville, FL | 457,529 | 46.8% |
| 11 | Seattle, WA | 443,250 | 58.8% |
| 12 | Indianapolis, IN | 433,048 | 48.9% |
The most White residents, the least White cities
Look down the share column and the pattern jumps out. In Houston, the White population of 540,000 is the sixth-largest of any city, yet it's just 23 percent of the city. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago all land near 30 percent. These are the cities with the most White residents mainly because they're enormous, not because they're heavily White.
A city of 8.5 million that's 31 percent White has more White residents than a small town that's 95 percent White. This shows that the biggest American cities are also among the most diverse.
A clear White majority doesn't show up until you get past the megacities. Seattle, at 59 percent, and Portland, at 66 percent, are the first big cities on the list where White residents are most of the population. Both are Pacific Northwest cities that stayed whiter than the national urban norm as they grew.
Why this list differs
If you ranked cities by White share instead of White count, you'd get a completely different set of places: retirement communities, Upper Midwest college towns, and small suburbs, none of which appear above. The two questions sound similar but point in opposite directions. "Where do the most White people live" lands on big, diverse cities. "Which cities are the most White" lands on small, homogeneous ones. We ran that second version in the US cities with the highest White share.
It's the same distinction we keep finding with every group, from the largest Mexican populations to Chinese and Korean communities: count rewards size, share rewards concentration, and they almost never name the same place. The full ranked list of every city is at largest White population cities.
Sources
Figures are non-Hispanic White population from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B03002, which counts people who report White race and no Hispanic or Latino origin. City population totals are from the same table and year.
Add CensusEasy as a preferred source on Google to see our stories first.
GENERALBlack household income rises 76% since 1967, but dollar gap with White households widens
Census figures back to 1967 show Black median household income up 76.2 percent after inflation, to $59,980. The ratio to non-Hispanic White income narrowed, but the gap in dollars grew to $36,730.
GENERALThese U.S. counties have the highest housing vacancy rates, but they're not abandoned
Sixty-one percent of housing in Summit County, Colorado is vacant. That's Breckenridge, not a ghost town. Every county at the top of the vacancy list is a vacation destination.
GENERALThe area codes with the most people
Hawaii's 808 is the most populous area code covering a whole state, with 1.43 million residents. Arizona averages 1.5 million people per code. Here is every state's area codes and residents per code.
Which US city has the largest White population?
New York City has the largest non-Hispanic White population of any US city, about 2.6 million people, followed by Los Angeles at roughly 1.08 million and Chicago at about 870,000. These are the biggest cities overall, so they hold the most residents of every group, including White residents.
Are White residents a majority in these cities?
Usually not. In New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, White residents are around 30 percent of the population, and in Houston just 23 percent, despite these cities having some of the largest White populations in the country. A clear White majority does not appear on the list until Seattle at 59 percent and Portland at 66 percent.
Why isn't the city with the most White residents also the whitest?
Because count and share measure different things. A large city that is 31 percent White can have more White residents than a small town that is 95 percent White, since population size dominates the raw count. Ranking by White share instead produces a completely different list of small, homogeneous towns and retirement communities.
