–

Ancestry refers to the lineage or descent of a person, family, or group, tracing back through generations to identify their origins, heritage, and familial connections. It encompasses the genetic, cultural, and historical ties that link individuals to their forebears, shaping their identity and sense of belonging. Ancestry is a multifaceted concept, intertwining biology, genealogy, history, and culture, and it plays a significant role in how people understand themselves and their place in the world.

At its core, ancestry is rooted in genetics. Each individual inherits a unique combination of DNA from their parents, who in turn inherited their DNA from their own ancestors. This genetic material carries information about physical traits, predispositions to certain health conditions, and even behavioral tendencies. Advances in genetic testing, such as DNA analysis, have made it possible for individuals to trace their biological ancestry with remarkable precision. Companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA offer services that analyze genetic markers to provide insights into a person's ethnic composition and geographic origins, often revealing surprising connections to distant relatives or previously unknown heritage.

Beyond genetics, ancestry is deeply tied to genealogy, the study of family history and lineage. Genealogical research involves constructing family trees, documenting relationships, and uncovering historical records such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, census data, and immigration documents. This process often reveals stories of migration, resilience, and adaptation, offering a window into the lives of ancestors and the challenges they faced. For many, genealogy is a way to honor their forebears and preserve their legacy for future generations.

Cultural ancestry is another critical dimension, encompassing the traditions, languages, customs, and values passed down through generations. It connects individuals to their ethnic or national heritage, shaping their cultural identity and worldview. For example, someone with Irish ancestry might celebrate St. Patrick's Day, learn traditional Irish dance, or explore the Gaelic language, while someone with Japanese ancestry might practice tea ceremonies, study calligraphy, or observe Obon festivals. Cultural ancestry fosters a sense of continuity and belonging, linking individuals to a broader community with shared experiences and values.

Historical ancestry delves into the broader context of a family's or group's past, including significant events, social conditions, and historical movements that shaped their lives. For instance, the transatlantic slave trade, the Irish Potato Famine, or the Jewish diaspora have profoundly influenced the ancestry of millions of people, leaving lasting imprints on their descendants' identities. Understanding historical ancestry often involves grappling with complex narratives of triumph and tragedy, resilience and oppression, and the interplay of individual and collective experiences.

Ancestry also has a deeply personal and emotional dimension. For many, exploring their ancestry is a journey of self-discovery, offering insights into who they are and where they come from. It can foster a sense of pride, connection, and continuity, as well as a deeper appreciation for the struggles and achievements of those who came before. At the same time, it can raise questions about identity, belonging, and the complexities of heritage, particularly for individuals with mixed or multicultural backgrounds.

In a globalized world, ancestry serves as a bridge between the past and the present, connecting individuals to their roots while also highlighting the interconnectedness of human history. It underscores the diversity and richness of human experience, reminding us that every person's story is part of a larger tapestry woven over centuries. Whether through genetic testing, genealogical research, cultural practices, or historical exploration, ancestry offers a profound way to understand ourselves and our place in the world.

A diversification score measures the diversity of ancestries in the county. As the value appoaches 100, ancestry diversity decreases and therefore increasing the risk of a lack of cultural diversity. The ancestry diversification score for this county is:

Most common ancestry not including "Unknown" is:

Ancestry Report Part I
Description	Total Population	American	Native American	Hawaiian	Caribbean (Latino)	Mexican	Central American	South American	Other Hispanic	African American	Sub- Saharan	Caribbean (Black)

Washington County	270,016	12,920	3,155	10,092	1,646	36,334	8,514	1,022	1,647	5,936	1,516	1,248
Arkansas (in 000's)	3,109	238	23	17	14	194	44	6	13	298	79	64
National (in 000's)	343,251	13,890	2,213	626	11,327	38,879	6,181	4,644	3,687	25,893	7,852	7,174
Benton County	330,071	14,241	6,089	3,852	3,681	38,407	11,819	1,234	2,277	4,317	949	390
Crawford County	62,322	7,890	1,371	29	119	2,135	2,205	96	214	511	162	139
Madison County	17,844	1,628	398	345	1	788	190	18	22	35	1	0
Adair County	19,963	535	8,317	12	17	1,199	25	18	48	30	2	20

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Washington County	11.96	4.78	1.17	3.74	0.61	13.46	3.15	0.38	0.61	2.20	0.56	0.46
Arkansas	12.56	7.66	0.73	0.55	0.45	6.24	1.41	0.19	0.41	9.59	2.55	2.07
National	7.83	4.05	0.64	0.18	3.30	11.33	1.80	1.35	1.07	7.54	2.29	2.09
Benton County	12.48	4.31	1.84	1.17	1.12	11.64	3.58	0.37	0.69	1.31	0.29	0.12
Crawford County	15.72	12.66	2.20	0.05	0.19	3.43	3.54	0.15	0.34	0.82	0.26	0.22
Madison County	19.32	9.12	2.23	1.93	0.01	4.42	1.06	0.10	0.12	0.20	0.01	0.00
Adair County	26.17	2.68	41.66	0.06	0.09	6.01	0.13	0.09	0.24	0.15	0.01	0.10

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		62.43	159.03	679.36	136.95	215.80	224.06	195.93	149.24	22.92	22.04	22.34
Arkansas		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		52.80	87.76	33.17	741.37	181.65	127.96	700.38	262.80	78.63	89.81	101.03
Benton County		56.29	251.07	212.12	250.55	186.61	254.44	193.53	168.79	13.63	11.29	5.71
Crawford County		165.18	299.40	8.46	42.90	54.94	251.41	79.74	84.02	8.55	10.21	10.78
Madison County		119.04	303.57	351.43	1.26	70.82	75.66	52.22	30.17	2.04	0.22	0.00
Adair County		34.97	5,670.25	10.93	19.13	96.32	8.90	46.68	58.83	1.57	0.39	4.84

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		118.24	181.21	2,048.15	18.47	118.80	175.10	27.98	56.79	29.14	24.54	22.11
Arkansas		189.40	113.95	301.48	13.49	55.05	78.15	14.28	38.05	127.17	111.34	98.98
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Benton County		106.62	286.10	639.52	33.79	102.73	198.84	27.63	64.23	17.34	12.57	5.65
Crawford County		312.85	341.18	25.50	5.79	30.25	196.47	11.39	31.97	10.87	11.36	10.67
Madison County		225.46	345.92	1,059.50	0.17	38.99	59.13	7.46	11.48	2.60	0.24	0.00
Adair County		66.23	6,461.35	32.94	2.58	53.03	6.95	6.66	22.39	1.99	0.44	4.79

Ancestry Report Part II
Description	Total Population	Canadian	British	Dutch	French	German	Italian	Polish	Scandinavian	Scotish/ Irish	Spanish	Other European

Washington County	270,016	535	19,777	1,540	2,548	15,416	3,228	1,501	2,797	18,341	805	6,053
Arkansas (in 000's)	3,109	4	224	15	25	167	26	13	24	209	6	44
National (in 000's)	343,251	1,350	18,069	1,828	3,642	24,708	9,027	4,667	5,969	20,625	1,140	9,563
Benton County	330,071	673	22,515	1,926	2,839	22,783	3,296	1,775	4,195	20,356	1,080	5,703
Crawford County	62,322	173	4,458	325	523	3,757	571	259	461	5,270	222	683
Madison County	17,844	13	1,652	126	207	1,064	233	37	156	1,139	81	305
Adair County	19,963	25	331	35	54	418	34	22	31	499	7	54

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Washington County	11.96	0.20	7.32	0.57	0.94	5.71	1.20	0.56	1.04	6.79	0.30	2.24
Arkansas	12.56	0.14	7.20	0.47	0.81	5.38	0.82	0.41	0.77	6.72	0.19	1.42
National	7.83	0.39	5.26	0.53	1.06	7.20	2.63	1.36	1.74	6.01	0.33	2.79
Benton County	12.48	0.20	6.82	0.58	0.86	6.90	1.00	0.54	1.27	6.17	0.33	1.73
Crawford County	15.72	0.28	7.15	0.52	0.84	6.03	0.92	0.42	0.74	8.46	0.36	1.10
Madison County	19.32	0.07	9.26	0.71	1.16	5.96	1.31	0.21	0.87	6.38	0.45	1.71
Adair County	26.17	0.13	1.66	0.18	0.27	2.09	0.17	0.11	0.16	2.50	0.04	0.27

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		143.76	101.72	121.41	116.79	106.09	145.39	136.38	134.67	101.13	158.85	157.57
Arkansas		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		285.40	73.11	113.37	131.31	133.76	319.86	333.55	226.06	89.46	177.00	195.83
Benton County		147.94	94.74	124.22	106.45	128.26	121.45	131.93	165.23	91.82	174.34	121.45
Crawford County		201.41	99.35	111.01	103.86	112.02	111.43	101.96	96.17	125.90	189.80	77.03
Madison County		52.86	128.58	150.32	143.57	110.80	158.81	50.87	113.66	95.04	241.87	120.14
Adair County		90.87	23.03	37.32	33.48	38.91	20.71	27.04	20.19	37.22	18.68	19.01

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		50.37	139.14	107.10	88.94	79.31	45.46	40.89	59.57	113.05	89.75	80.46
Arkansas		35.04	136.78	88.21	76.16	74.76	31.26	29.98	44.24	111.78	56.50	51.06
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Benton County		51.84	129.58	109.57	81.07	95.89	37.97	39.55	73.09	102.64	98.50	62.01
Crawford County		70.57	135.89	97.92	79.10	83.75	34.84	30.57	42.54	140.73	107.23	39.33
Madison County		18.52	175.87	132.59	109.34	82.84	49.65	15.25	50.28	106.23	136.65	61.35
Adair County		31.84	31.50	32.92	25.50	29.09	6.48	8.11	8.93	41.60	10.56	9.71

Ancestry Report Part III
Description	Total Population	Chinese	Filipino	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese	South Central Asian	South East Asian	Other Asian	Middle Eastern	Other Ancestry	Unknown

Washington County	270,016	1,102	598	227	159	496	909	1,628	1,119	686	41,139	65,382
Arkansas (in 000's)	3,109	6	6	1	3	6	17	8	7	4	512	793
National (in 000's)	343,251	4,461	3,010	793	1,541	1,913	5,452	1,643	1,229	1,931	47,322	51,000
Benton County	330,071	944	1,219	150	283	1,574	10,300	989	801	553	54,978	83,883
Crawford County	62,322	68	77	0	109	44	39	434	83	159	10,928	18,808
Madison County	17,844	5	15	1	15	20	0	10	12	6	2,530	6,791
Adair County	19,963	20	9	0	3	87	0	0	98	0	4,615	3,398

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Washington County	11.96	0.41	0.22	0.08	0.06	0.18	0.34	0.60	0.41	0.25	15.24	24.21
Arkansas	12.56	0.18	0.21	0.03	0.08	0.19	0.56	0.26	0.21	0.14	16.45	25.52
National	7.83	1.30	0.88	0.23	0.45	0.56	1.59	0.48	0.36	0.56	13.79	14.86
Benton County	12.48	0.29	0.37	0.05	0.09	0.48	3.12	0.30	0.24	0.17	16.66	25.41
Crawford County	15.72	0.11	0.12	0.00	0.17	0.07	0.06	0.70	0.13	0.26	17.53	30.18
Madison County	19.32	0.03	0.08	0.01	0.08	0.11	0.00	0.06	0.07	0.03	14.18	38.06
Adair County	26.17	0.10	0.05	0.00	0.02	0.44	0.00	0.00	0.49	0.00	23.12	17.02

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		227.85	107.57	255.25	72.36	95.74	60.64	229.33	195.96	188.16	92.59	94.89
Arkansas		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		725.57	425.98	701.32	551.83	290.47	286.12	182.05	169.36	416.57	83.79	58.22
Benton County		159.67	179.38	137.98	105.36	248.55	562.14	113.97	114.75	124.08	101.23	99.59
Crawford County		60.91	60.01	0.00	214.93	36.80	11.27	264.88	62.98	188.95	106.57	118.26
Madison County		15.64	40.83	17.02	103.30	58.42	0.00	21.32	31.80	24.90	86.17	149.14
Adair County		55.93	21.90	0.00	18.47	227.15	0.00	0.00	232.13	0.00	140.50	66.70

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Washington County		31.40	25.25	36.40	13.11	32.96	21.20	125.97	115.71	45.17	110.51	162.97
Arkansas		13.78	23.48	14.26	18.12	34.43	34.95	54.93	59.04	24.01	119.35	171.75
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Benton County		22.01	42.11	19.67	19.09	85.57	196.47	62.60	67.75	29.79	120.82	171.04
Crawford County		8.40	14.09	0.00	38.95	12.67	3.94	145.50	37.18	45.36	127.19	203.12
Madison County		2.16	9.58	2.43	18.72	20.11	0.00	11.71	18.78	5.98	102.84	256.14
Adair County		7.71	5.14	0.00	3.35	78.20	0.00	0.00	137.06	0.00	167.68	114.56

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

Advertisers