Overview

A brief overview of tribes and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) peoples in the U.S.

  • As of August 2018, there are 573 federally recognized tribes in the U.S., 48% of which are in the Northwest region of the United States.
  • In 2010, the AI/AN population was 1.7% of the U.S. total population, or about 5.2 million people. This includes individuals who identified as AI/AN in combination with one or more other races.
  • AI/AN make up 2.8% of the population in the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, 37 and 18% of the population in Alaska. 38
  • More than 70% of AI/ANs live in urban areas; fewer than 30% live on reservations or in rural communities. 5
  • The AI/AN population is growing almost twice as fast as the total U.S. population. 6
  • In 2012, 20% of AI/ANs reported speaking a language other than English at home. 7
An Alaska native mother and child

Note: These data have known issues, including undercounting and inconsistency by region and time period. For example:

  • Mixed-race AI/AN people might go uncounted.
  • AI/AN people might be misclassified as a different race.
  • Indian people and tribes might answer surveys using varying definitions of who counts as AI/AN.
  • Gender nonconforming individuals, including two-spirit people, might be classified incorrectly. 8, 9

A Caution against Generalizing

The Northwest region is home to 274 federally recognized tribes. Please note that this region is also the traditional land of many indigenous communities that are non-federally recognized. As part of the historical legacy of colonization, it is important to remember that the description of tribes as federally recognized or unrecognized does not provide a complete picture of the cultures, experiences, and lives of all American Indian and Alaska Native peoples in the US.

When working with tribes, it’s important to remember that every tribe is different—when you know one tribe, you know one tribe. Learn as much as you can about any specific tribe you’re going to work with, including its history, customs, key concerns, and leadership.

Continue exploring this section to learn about tribes in each of the Northwest states.