Seattle American Indian Population

Although the City of Seattle is today known for its progressive values of inclusivity, diversity, and equity, the historic population demographics reveal data that is heavily reflecive of racialized segregation. And though American Indians were often subjected to the same discrimination and segregation as other racial and ethnic groups, this data also reflects the circumstances that brought American Indians to Seattle, such as the relocation programs. The data reviewed here helps to paint a fuller picture of the racial landscape that the Urban Indian population of Seattle was woven into.

Seattle has adequate census and demographic data from previous decades. To provide a brief idea of the data we want in the context of this project, I will examine the decades that we have at least some information regarding the American Indian population in King County, the county Seattle resides in, and compare it to reports of other racial/ethnic groups and their respective resident numbers in the county and the city where specified.

Unless otherwise indicated by associated text, all demographic data was obtain from this source:

"Seattle Segregation Maps," Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project <https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/segregation_maps.htm> and

"Tableau Map: Race Seattle/King County 1940-2010," Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project <https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/maps_race_seattle.htm>

1940s

  • Black: 4,039
  • Japanese: 5,778
  • Chinese: 1,781
  • Filipinos: 1,392
  • Native American: 222
  • White: 354,223 (96% of total)

1950s

  • Black: 16,453
  • Asian/other: 12,790
  • White: 646,047 (96% of total)

1960s

Historic segregation maps of racial/ethnic groups had been compiled that show the distribution of groups across Seattle. This map shows the Indian population distribution in 1960.

  • Black: 27,805
  • Japanese: 10,789
  • Chinese: 4,321
  • Filipinos: 4,434
  • Native American: 2,929
  • White: 882,789 (94% of total)

1970s

This was the first decade that Native Americans were uniquely identified in the census tract data without them being identified by various other reports.

  • Black: 40,597
  • Asian/other: 23,360
  • Native American (NA): 7,391
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 47 (combined of tracts 55, 56, 57 populations)
    • Highest Concentration in Seattle: 386 (tract 107)
  • White: 1,075,628 (93% of total)
  • Hispanic: 3,283

1980s

  • Black: 55,950
  • Asian/Pacific Islander: 58,712
  • Native American: 12,437
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 55 (combined of tracts 55, 56, 57 populations)
    • Highest Concentration in Seattle: 216 (tract 286)
  • White: 1,122,011 (88% of total)
  • Other: 20,639

1990s

The Magnolia Neighborhood data was obtained from the "Basic Population and Housing Unit Characteristics Decennial Census" from the City of Seattle.

  • Black: 76,212
  • Asian/Pacific Islander: 118,753
  • Native American: 17,286
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 73 (0.6% of neighborhood population)
    • Highest Concentration in Seattle: 249 (tract 107)
  • White: 1,277,738 (84% of total)
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 11,010 (92.3% of neighborhood population)
  • Hispanic: 44,286

2000s

All of the data in this section pertains specifically to the city of Seattle as reported by the "Race/Ethnicity by Community Reporting Area" from the 2000 Census and is counting only single race categories. The Magnolia Neighborhood data was obtained from the "Basic Population and Housing Unit Characteristics Decennial Census" from the City of Seattle.

  • Black: 47,541
  • Asian: 73,910
  • Native American (American Indian/Alaska Native): 5,659
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 52 (0.4% of neighborhood population)
  • White: 394,889 (70.1% of total in Seattle)
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 10,877 (89% of neighborhood population)
  • Hispanic: 29,719

2010s

The Department of Planning and Development prepared this map from 2010 Census data showing the distribution of American Indian/Alaska Native individuals in Seatle. The Magnolia Neighborhood data was obtained from the "Basic Population and Housing Unit Characteristics Decennial Census" from the City of Seattle.

  • Black: 116,326
  • Asian: 294,097
  • Native American: 12,931
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 39 (0.3% of neighborhood population)
  • White: 1,325,845 (65% of total)
    • Magnolia Neighborhood: 10,885 (87.9% of neighborhood population)
  • Hispanic: 172,378
Historical Context
Demographics