Biggest Native American tribes in the US today
Biggest Native American tribes in the US today
It's commonly believed that the first people arrived in North America during the Ice Age when they ventured across the Bering Strait between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago. Over time, they dispersed across the continent and into South America, establishing distinct tribes, territories, and cultures. Waves of people likely continued to arrive at different times and by different means, with some researchers arguing that humans traveled to South America and the West Coast via Pacific routes.
When Christopher Columbus and other explorers sailed to North America, they sought to colonize the Native Americans' territory and claim it as their own. Through decades of wars and treaties, Native Americans have had a complicated, painful history with European colonists. As they were experts in the North American landscape and its resources, Native Americans were able to build a strong economy based on trade with the Europeans. But as colonial presence grew and Manifest Destiny rhetoric set in, westward expansion sponsored by the U.S. government pushed Native Americans out of the land they had known for generations. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act, which forced many tribes from their ancestral lands and pushed them west onto reservations. About 100,000 Native Americans were forcibly removed under this policy.
Though some customs and traditions have been lost to colonization, war, and missionary efforts, many tribes still maintain a unique identity that honors their rich ancestral history.
In celebration of the robust history of North America's ancestral people, Stacker used 2020 estimates from the Census, the most comprehensive recent population report on the United States' Native American population, to compile a list of 50 of the largest Native American tribal populations in the country today.
As of the 2020 Census, about 2.3 million people identify exclusively as Native American or Alaska Native in the United States. Another 4.3 million people identify as Native American or Alaska Native in combination with other races and ethnicities. The tribes are ranked based on the number of people who identify as members of this tribe alone or in any combination.
For example, someone who is Cherokee and white would be included in the Cherokee population. The list also includes people who identify as each tribe in combination with other Native American groups (e.g., Apache and Navajo), as well as people who identify solely as a member of one Native American tribe. Native American groups unconnected to specific tribes (e.g., Mexican American Indian, Canadian, and French American Indian) are not included on this list.
The Census Bureau's data tracks identity for tribes more generally as well as specific nations. As a result, certain indigenous groups may appear multiple times on the list, like Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation. Some tribal populations cited below, including Micmac and Inca, represent migration from countries outside of the U.S., such as Canada, Peru, and the like. Other groups like Taino are indigenous to the Caribbean including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Read ahead to see the country's most prominent Native American tribes.
#50. Aleut
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 13,805
- Tribe alone: 4,878
#49. Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 13,810
- Tribe alone: 10,703
#48. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,090
- Tribe alone: 8,075
#47. United Houma Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,116
- Tribe alone: 7,817
#46. Oneida
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,302
- Tribe alone: 5,740
#45. Shoshone
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,552
- Tribe alone: 4,090
#44. Pueblo
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,578
- Tribe alone: 4,340
#43. Menominee Indian Tribe
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,682
- Tribe alone: 8,389
#42. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 15,175
- Tribe alone: 10,064
#41. Micmac
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 15,253
- Tribe alone: 2,577
#40. Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 15,301
- Tribe alone: 13,697
#39. Cheyenne
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 15,820
- Tribe alone: 3,382
#38. Cree
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 16,749
- Tribe alone: 2,059
#37. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 17,252
- Tribe alone: 8,415
#36. Mixtec
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 17,278
- Tribe alone: 12,274
#35. Shawnee
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 17,525
- Tribe alone: 2,162
#34. Seneca Nation of Indians
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 20,025
- Tribe alone: 6,412
#33. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 20,059
- Tribe alone: 13,046
#32. White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 20,116
- Tribe alone: 15,429
#31. Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 20,462
- Tribe alone: 15,319
#30. Tarasco (Purepecha)
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 21,800
- Tribe alone: 10,785
#29. Crow Tribe of Montana
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 22,151
- Tribe alone: 11,014
#28. Tlingit
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 22,601
- Tribe alone: 7,792
#27. Hopi Tribe of Arizona
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 22,921
- Tribe alone: 12,412
#26. Delaware (Lenni-Lenape)
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 22,946
- Tribe alone: 4,461
#25. Iroquois
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 24,918
- Tribe alone: 1,916
#24. Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 25,895
- Tribe alone: 19,451
#23. The Osage Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 29,049
- Tribe alone: 8,250
#22. Inca
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 31,367
- Tribe alone: 13,305
#21. Potawatomi
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 33,722
- Tribe alone: 11,358
#20. Oglala Sioux Tribe
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 35,507
- Tribe alone: 25,212
#19. Mohawk
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 36,144
- Tribe alone: 8,522
#18. Seminole
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 37,879
- Tribe alone: 7,189
#17. Comanche Nation, Oklahoma
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 39,808
- Tribe alone: 12,388
#16. Yaqui
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 40,732
- Tribe alone: 17,048
#15. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 47,955
- Tribe alone: 25,088
#14. Cherokee Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 77,232
- Tribe alone: 31,432
#13. Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 79,424
- Tribe alone: 54,293
#12. The Chickasaw Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 85,511
- Tribe alone: 29,436
#11. Taino
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 112,682
- Tribe alone: 28,346
#10. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 121,581
- Tribe alone: 40,677
#9. Sioux
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 126,571
- Tribe alone: 30,408
#8. Apache
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 129,589
- Tribe alone: 36,492
#7. Chippewa
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 130,048
- Tribe alone: 39,057
#6. Choctaw
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 255,557
- Tribe alone: 69,454
#5. Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 297,899
- Tribe alone: 34,810
#4. Maya
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 300,519
- Tribe alone: 180,359
#3. Navajo Nation
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 423,412
- Tribe alone: 315,086
#2. Aztec
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 583,981
- Tribe alone: 387,122
#1. Cherokee
- Tribe alone or in any combination: 1,513,326
- Tribe alone: 214,940
Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Robert Wickwire.
