Multiracial youths make up nearly 1 in 5 US children, analysis finds

Nearly one in five children in the U.S. now identifies as multiracial, according to a new analysis by data research organization My Asian Voice of the 2023 American Community Survey. The data show that 53% of Americans under age 18 are youths of color, a shift driven in large part by younger generations selecting more than one race on Census surveys. Multiracial identification among children stands at about 19%, compared with roughly 13% among the total U.S. population.

The analysis, based on nationally representative data collected in 2023 by the U.S. Census Bureau, found that multiracial identification is consistently higher among children than adults across nearly all racial groups, indicating that younger Americans are more likely to report complex racial identities than previous generations. The organization noted that this pattern reflects both demographic change and evolving norms around how race is understood and reported.

Among all groups, Asian American youths were especially likely to identify as multiracial. The data estimate about 4.8 million multiracial Asian Americans nationwide, including roughly 2.1 million children under age 18. While only about 8% of Asian Americans age 65 and older identify as multiracial, that share rises to 36% among children, with wide variation by ancestry, ranging from more than 80% among Japanese American youths to fewer than 15% among Bangladeshi or Nepalese American youths.

About one-quarter of white and Black children identified as multiracial, while nearly two-thirds of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaska Native youths did so. Among Asian American children, multiracial identification approached 60% in states such as Hawaii and Utah, compared with about one-quarter in New York and New Jersey. These patterns indicate that racial identification among U.S. children is changing unevenly across communities and regions.

The rise of multiracial youth populations has significant implications for civil rights and resource distribution. Since Census data determines billions of dollars in funding for schools and health care, these shifting identities require policy formulas to adapt to new demographic baselines. For the Asian American community, where over one third of children now identify as multiracial, these figures suggest that traditional single race outreach may become less effective. As this generation matures, their reporting patterns will redefine how the nation tracks racial trends and ensure that future policies reflect an increasingly diverse population.