DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET 12  •   ROOTS AND WINGS Pacific Islander Americans live in urban communities of color alongside lower-​ income African Americans and Latinos. Language is also an issue for many Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants in the United States. While 95 percent of US-​born Asian and Pacific Islander Amer- icans rate themselves as speaking English well, only half of foreign-​born Asian and Pacific Islander Americans rate themselves as speaking English well. Over 2 million children under five years old in the United States speak Chinese at home. After Spanish, Chinese is the third most widely spoken language in the United States. American Indians and Alaska Natives The population of American Indians and Alaska Natives increased 39 percent from 2000 to 2010. American Indians and Alaska Natives make up 2 percent of the total population. In the 2010 census, 5.2 million people identified themselves as American Indian, or Alaska Native or American Indian in combination with another race, while 2.9 million identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native alone. Census 2000 offered the first chance for people to report biracial identity. The 2010 census confirmed that many American Indians identify themselves as com- ing from two or three racial or ethnic groups. The most common combinations were American Indian and white, American Indian and African American, or American Indian, white, and African American. There are 566 federally recognized American Indian tribes in the United States. The largest tribes, all with more than one hundred thousand responses in the 2010 census, are Cherokee, Navajo, Choctaw, Mexican American Indian, Chippewa, Sioux, Apache, and Blackfeet. The states with the highest American Indian and Alaska Native populations are California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, and Michigan. Interestingly, 78 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives live outside tribal reservation lands. But the largest concentrations of American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to be near these areas. Poverty is a major issue for American Indians and Alaska Natives, with 26 percent of these families living in poverty. South Dakota has the highest poverty rate, with 43 to 47 percent of American Indian families earning incomes below the poverty line. In Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska, more than 30 percent of American Indians earn incomes below the poverty line. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL