–

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)

Mitchell County	10,665	542	2	3	71	82	49	1	2	25	6	8
Iowa (in 000's)	3,267	138	9	5	15	161	29	7	10	72	40	15
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
Cerro Gordo County	42,579	1,529	82	121	151	1,796	55	123	142	598	132	96
Mower County	41,122	1,357	59	291	156	3,779	566	149	594	500	1,003	86
Floyd County	15,150	643	35	25	41	440	43	10	17	108	133	52
Chickasaw County	11,902	664	5	0	11	343	83	2	32	78	2	1
Howard County	9,460	265	37	8	31	149	9	0	87	2	11	1
Worth County	7,307	159	9	1	23	194	2	3	3	50	6	3

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Mitchell County	19.43	5.08	0.02	0.03	0.67	0.77	0.46	0.01	0.02	0.23	0.06	0.08
Iowa	12.52	4.23	0.27	0.17	0.46	4.92	0.89	0.22	0.32	2.21	1.24	0.45
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
Cerro Gordo County	14.82	3.59	0.19	0.28	0.35	4.22	0.13	0.29	0.33	1.40	0.31	0.23
Mower County	10.89	3.30	0.14	0.71	0.38	9.19	1.38	0.36	1.44	1.22	2.44	0.21
Floyd County	18.43	4.24	0.23	0.17	0.27	2.90	0.28	0.07	0.11	0.71	0.88	0.34
Chickasaw County	23.20	5.58	0.04	0.00	0.09	2.88	0.70	0.02	0.27	0.66	0.02	0.01
Howard County	18.83	2.80	0.39	0.08	0.33	1.58	0.10	0.00	0.92	0.02	0.12	0.01
Worth County	18.55	2.18	0.12	0.01	0.31	2.65	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.68	0.08	0.04

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

Mitchell County		120.12	6.92	16.88	145.11	15.64	51.40	4.17	5.95	10.62	4.54	16.75
Iowa		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		95.65	237.92	109.49	719.30	230.38	201.48	602.19	340.91	341.89	184.79	466.70
Cerro Gordo County		84.87	71.06	170.51	77.30	85.79	14.45	128.58	105.85	63.65	25.04	50.34
Mower County		78.00	52.94	424.59	82.69	186.91	153.99	161.27	458.48	55.11	197.03	46.70
Floyd County		100.31	85.24	99.01	58.99	59.07	31.76	29.38	35.62	32.31	70.92	76.64
Chickasaw County		131.86	15.50	0.00	20.15	58.62	78.02	7.48	85.34	29.70	1.36	1.88
Howard County		66.21	144.32	50.74	71.43	32.04	10.64	0.00	291.90	0.96	9.39	2.36
Worth County		51.43	45.45	8.21	68.61	54.00	3.06	18.27	13.03	31.01	6.63	9.17

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

Mitchell County		125.59	2.91	15.41	20.17	6.79	25.51	0.69	1.75	3.11	2.46	3.59
Iowa		104.55	42.03	91.33	13.90	43.41	49.63	16.61	29.33	29.25	54.12	21.43
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Cerro Gordo County		88.74	29.87	155.73	10.75	37.24	7.17	21.35	31.05	18.62	13.55	10.79
Mower County		81.55	22.25	387.79	11.50	81.13	76.43	26.78	134.49	16.12	106.63	10.01
Floyd County		104.88	35.83	90.43	8.20	25.64	15.76	4.88	10.45	9.45	38.38	16.42
Chickasaw County		137.86	6.52	0.00	2.80	25.44	38.73	1.24	25.03	8.69	0.73	0.40
Howard County		69.22	60.66	46.34	9.93	13.91	5.28	0.00	85.62	0.28	5.08	0.51
Worth County		53.77	19.10	7.50	9.54	23.44	1.52	3.03	3.82	9.07	3.59	1.96

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

Mitchell County	10,665	4	634	91	114	3,458	45	42	1,274	688	0	344
Iowa (in 000's)	3,267	5	204	73	36	705	37	21	187	274	5	100
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
Cerro Gordo County	42,579	57	2,017	598	428	10,655	243	218	5,126	3,100	39	1,478
Mower County	41,122	75	1,345	365	504	7,636	130	328	5,918	2,197	4	965
Floyd County	15,150	22	644	153	170	4,708	40	80	934	1,220	13	319
Chickasaw County	11,902	27	400	133	86	4,985	32	17	702	981	5	309
Howard County	9,460	18	299	61	87	2,998	78	151	1,121	618	23	766
Worth County	7,307	7	282	76	43	1,759	84	33	1,968	425	21	160

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Mitchell County	19.43	0.04	5.94	0.85	1.07	32.42	0.42	0.39	11.95	6.45	0.00	3.23
Iowa	12.52	0.16	6.24	2.24	1.11	21.59	1.14	0.65	5.73	8.39	0.15	3.05
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
Cerro Gordo County	14.82	0.13	4.74	1.40	1.01	25.02	0.57	0.51	12.04	7.28	0.09	3.47
Mower County	10.89	0.18	3.27	0.89	1.23	18.57	0.32	0.80	14.39	5.34	0.01	2.35
Floyd County	18.43	0.15	4.25	1.01	1.12	31.08	0.26	0.53	6.17	8.05	0.09	2.11
Chickasaw County	23.20	0.23	3.36	1.12	0.72	41.88	0.27	0.14	5.90	8.24	0.04	2.60
Howard County	18.83	0.19	3.16	0.64	0.92	31.69	0.82	1.60	11.85	6.53	0.24	8.10
Worth County	18.55	0.10	3.86	1.04	0.59	24.07	1.15	0.45	26.93	5.82	0.29	2.19

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

Mitchell County		22.97	95.32	38.16	96.61	150.19	36.91	60.79	208.59	76.86	0.00	105.77
Iowa		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		240.92	84.40	23.82	95.89	33.34	230.07	209.87	30.36	71.59	218.67	91.37
Cerro Gordo County		81.99	75.96	62.81	90.85	115.91	49.92	79.03	210.22	86.74	60.29	113.83
Mower County		111.71	52.44	39.70	110.77	86.01	27.65	123.13	251.30	63.66	6.40	76.95
Floyd County		88.94	68.16	45.16	101.42	143.95	23.10	81.51	107.65	95.95	56.49	69.05
Chickasaw County		138.94	53.89	49.97	65.31	194.01	23.52	22.05	102.99	98.20	27.65	85.14
Howard County		116.54	50.68	28.84	83.12	146.80	72.13	246.40	206.92	77.84	160.04	265.53
Worth County		58.67	61.88	46.52	53.19	111.51	100.56	69.71	470.30	69.30	189.18	71.81

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

Mitchell County		9.54	112.93	160.22	100.75	450.44	16.04	28.97	686.98	107.36	0.00	115.77
Iowa		41.51	118.48	419.87	104.29	299.91	43.47	47.65	329.35	139.68	45.73	109.45
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Cerro Gordo County		34.03	89.99	263.72	94.74	347.64	21.70	37.66	692.34	121.17	27.57	124.59
Mower County		46.37	62.13	166.67	115.52	257.97	12.02	58.67	827.64	88.92	2.93	84.23
Floyd County		36.92	80.75	189.63	105.76	431.71	10.04	38.84	354.55	134.02	25.83	75.57
Chickasaw County		57.67	63.84	209.83	68.10	581.86	10.22	10.51	339.20	137.17	12.65	93.18
Howard County		48.37	60.04	121.08	86.68	440.26	31.35	117.40	681.48	108.72	73.19	290.63
Worth County		24.35	73.31	195.30	55.47	334.43	43.71	33.22	1,548.90	96.80	86.52	78.59

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

Mitchell County	10,665	3	23	2	12	6	10	0	0	9	477	2,638
Iowa (in 000's)	3,267	12	6	1	7	9	19	16	8	8	310	720
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
Cerro Gordo County	42,579	133	48	2	31	56	138	80	26	64	3,529	9,688
Mower County	41,122	147	141	5	41	172	166	1,504	31	19	4,230	6,659
Floyd County	15,150	0	77	9	10	27	5	126	2	0	1,140	3,904
Chickasaw County	11,902	0	5	1	2	0	0	3	5	0	708	2,280
Howard County	9,460	0	14	7	4	0	7	0	0	1	302	2,305
Worth County	7,307	0	15	5	2	0	0	0	7	0	421	1,546

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Mitchell County	19.43	0.03	0.22	0.02	0.11	0.06	0.09	0.00	0.00	0.08	4.47	24.74
Iowa	12.52	0.36	0.19	0.04	0.23	0.27	0.59	0.50	0.25	0.25	9.48	22.04
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
Cerro Gordo County	14.82	0.31	0.11	0.00	0.07	0.13	0.32	0.19	0.06	0.15	8.29	22.75
Mower County	10.89	0.36	0.34	0.01	0.10	0.42	0.40	3.66	0.08	0.05	10.29	16.19
Floyd County	18.43	0.00	0.51	0.06	0.07	0.18	0.03	0.83	0.01	0.00	7.52	25.77
Chickasaw County	23.20	0.00	0.04	0.01	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.04	0.00	5.95	19.16
Howard County	18.83	0.00	0.15	0.07	0.04	0.00	0.07	0.00	0.00	0.01	3.19	24.37
Worth County	18.55	0.00	0.21	0.07	0.03	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.00	5.76	21.16

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

Mitchell County		7.85	113.53	50.63	49.82	20.60	15.99	0.00	0.00	34.41	47.17	112.21
Iowa		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		362.77	461.68	623.66	198.84	204.04	270.80	96.34	143.40	229.35	145.41	67.40
Cerro Gordo County		87.19	59.34	12.68	32.24	48.15	55.26	37.82	24.45	61.29	87.41	103.22
Mower County		99.78	180.50	32.83	44.15	153.14	68.82	736.17	30.18	18.84	108.49	73.46
Floyd County		0.00	267.56	160.40	29.23	65.25	5.63	167.40	5.29	0.00	79.36	116.90
Chickasaw County		0.00	22.11	22.69	7.44	0.00	0.00	5.07	16.82	0.00	62.74	86.90
Howard County		0.00	77.91	199.79	18.72	0.00	12.62	0.00	0.00	4.31	33.67	110.54
Worth County		0.00	108.07	184.75	12.12	0.00	0.00	0.00	38.35	0.00	60.77	95.98

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

Mitchell County		2.16	24.59	8.12	25.06	10.10	5.90	0.00	0.00	15.00	32.44	166.48
Iowa		27.57	21.66	16.03	50.29	49.01	36.93	103.80	69.74	43.60	68.77	148.36
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Cerro Gordo County		24.03	12.85	2.03	16.21	23.60	20.41	39.26	17.05	26.72	60.12	153.14
Mower County		27.51	39.10	5.26	22.20	75.05	25.42	764.14	21.05	8.21	74.61	108.99
Floyd County		0.00	57.95	25.72	14.70	31.98	2.08	173.76	3.69	0.00	54.58	173.44
Chickasaw County		0.00	4.79	3.64	3.74	0.00	0.00	5.27	11.73	0.00	43.15	128.93
Howard County		0.00	16.87	32.03	9.42	0.00	4.66	0.00	0.00	1.88	23.16	163.99
Worth County		0.00	23.41	29.62	6.10	0.00	0.00	0.00	26.75	0.00	41.79	142.40

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

Advertisers