What Is The Ethnic Composition Of Kentucky?

People are the Kentucky Derby. Editorial credit: jessica.kirsh / Shutterstock.com.

Officially known as the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the US state of Kentucky is situated in the south-central region of the nation. As of 2006, the state had an estimated population of 4,206,074, which represented an increase of about 0.8% compared to the population in 2005. The most recent data shows that the population density of the state is about 101.7 people in a square mile. Despite the population of Kentucky increasing since record-keeping started, there are some parts, especially rural counties, which had a net loss of more than 1 million people.

Ethnic Composition Of Kentucky

As of 2005, data shows that the largest ethnic group in Kentucky (91.27%) was made up of white Americans. Of this percentage of white Americans, about 1.8% identify as Hispanic.

Around 7.98% of the population of Kentucky is made up of African Americans. The relatively small African American population can be attributed to the Great Migration when many black Americans migrated to states further north. Prior to this migration, during the Civil War, the black community made up a quarter of the total population of Kentucky. In that migration, more than six million African-Americans left the rural southern states, for northern states. Today, about 44.2% of the total population of African Americans in Kentucky resides in Jefferson County while the Louisville Metro Area has about 52% of the total African Americans within the state.

As of 2013, the US Census Bureau established that the largest ancestry in the state was American (20.2%). Other significant ancestries include German (14.5%), Irish (12.2%), English (10.1%), and Italian (2.1%).

Religion Of The People Of The State

Data from 2000 from The Association of Religion Data Archives shows that the largest number of the population practices Christianity. Among them, 33.68% practiced Evangelical Protestantism, 10.5% were Roman Catholics, while 8.77% were Mainline Protestants. There were sizable followers of Islam and Judaism as well, especially in Louisville.

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