There are basically three ways to examine Somali and other African populations with Census data--by examining answers to questions in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey regarding country of birth, ancestry/ethnicity, or language spoken in the home.
Ancestry
Ancestry was first measured in the 1980 decennial Census, but Somali (typically appearing as Somalian in the table) ancestry first appears in the 2005 American Community Survey data tables for Minnesota. Examining ancestry data may include people born in Africa, and people born in Minnesota (or anywhere else). This means ancestry may be best for including children in Minnesota's African communities who were born in the U.S. However, because ancestry data result from an open-ended question, one challenge with ancestry data is that some people answer with a broader ancestry group. It's likely that some people of Somali or Liberian ancestry answer simply with "African" which would exclude them from ACS estimates of Somali or Liberian ancestry. Data are available by the first ancestry they selected, or total ancestry, where individuals are represented in all ancestry groups they have selected. However, users should note that in total ancestry tables, the sum of all the ancestry groups will far exceed the total population because individuals are represented multiple times.
These African ancestries are available in the tables from the 1990 and 2000 decennial Census long-form (SF3) data:
- African
- Cape Verdean
- Ethiopian
- Ghanian
- Nigerian
- Subsaharan African
- South African
Ancestry does not appear in the 2010 decennial Census data.
These African ancestries are available in the ongoing American Community Survey data:
- Kenyan
- Liberian
- Senegalese
- Sierra Leonean
- Somalian
- Sudanese
- Ugandan
- Zimbabwean
- Other Subsaharan African
Birthplace
Birthplace data are useful for seeing those in African communities and other newer populations who are foreign-born. Respondents are asked for a specific country of birth, so the challenges with differing interpretations of ancestry detailed above are avoided. Foreign-born data will not include children of immigrants who were born here, or subsequent generations born in the U.S. Currently, a large proportion of Minnesota's African communities are foreign-born, but this will change as these communities grow with more and more children born in the U.S. Data users should also be cautious of identifying a group solely by birthplace in the case of many refugee groups. For example, many Hmong now living in Minnesota were not born in Laos, but in refugee camps in Thailand.
Language
The Census Bureau collects data on language spoken at home, which is an alternative method of identifying different communities. Unfortunately, language data on African populations in the U.S. are published as an "African language." Look to ancestry or foreign-born data if you're looking for a specific country or nationality within Africa.
Find data about African groups on our Data By Topic: Immigration & Language page.