| Illinois | 
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POPULATION BY RACE
Census data on race and ethnicity can be difficult to interpret: "race" and "Hispanic ethnicity" are asked as separate questions. Thus, a Hispanic person can be of any race. Changes over time in the Census categories regarding race can also make trend data difficult to interpret: for example, persons who selected "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" on the 2000 Census, the first to offer this category, could have responded in a number of different ways on previous Censuses. The 2000 Census also marked the first time that respondents were allowed to select more than one racial category. On earlier Censuses, multiracial individuals were asked to chose a single racial category, or respond as Some Other Race. For more information on the multiracial population in 2000, please see the multiracial profile .
| Hispanic Population and Race Distribution for Non-Hispanic Population | ||||||
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | ||||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Total Population | 11,426,518 | 100.00% | 11,430,602 | 100.00% | 12,419,293 | 100.00% |
| Total Hispanics | 635,602 | 5.56% | 904,446 | 7.91% | 1,530,262 | 12.32% |
| White* | 8,911,705 | 77.99% | 8,550,208 | 74.80% | 8,424,140 | 67.83% |
| Black* | 1,661,910 | 14.54% | 1,673,703 | 14.64% | 1,856,152 | 14.95% |
| American
Indian and Eskimo* |
16,283 | 0.14% | 18,213 | 0.16% | 18,232 | 0.15% |
| Asian* | 159,595 | 1.40% | 275,568 | 2.41% | 419,916 | 3.38% |
| Hawaiian
and Pacific Islander* |
- | - | - | - | 3,116 | 0.03% |
| Other* | 41,423 | 0.36% | 8,464 | 0.07% | 13,479 | 0.11% |
| Two or More Races* | - | - | - | - | 153,996 | 1.24% |
* Non-Hispanic only; in 1980 and 1990 "Asians" includes Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).