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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)

Boyd County	47,457	6,910	96	7	139	430	13	19	145	706	240	219
Kentucky (in 000's)	4,629	572	8	3	52	114	28	11	11	236	74	53
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
Lawrence County	55,710	6,220	107	9	104	380	0	75	45	625	171	157
Wayne County	37,662	5,280	45	9	15	148	121	33	10	144	11	60
Greenup County	35,219	6,144	60	4	20	251	10	19	43	140	36	32
Carter County	26,057	4,321	43	1	33	176	2	0	53	107	9	27
Lawrence County	15,647	2,592	1	4	0	112	0	0	8	14	3	3

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Boyd County	19.43	14.56	0.20	0.01	0.29	0.91	0.03	0.04	0.31	1.49	0.51	0.46
Kentucky	14.19	12.35	0.17	0.07	1.12	2.47	0.60	0.24	0.24	5.10	1.61	1.14
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
Lawrence County	24.56	11.16	0.19	0.02	0.19	0.68	0.00	0.13	0.08	1.12	0.31	0.28
Wayne County	25.40	14.02	0.12	0.02	0.04	0.39	0.32	0.09	0.03	0.38	0.03	0.16
Greenup County	21.44	17.45	0.17	0.01	0.06	0.71	0.03	0.05	0.12	0.40	0.10	0.09
Carter County	20.58	16.58	0.17	0.00	0.13	0.68	0.01	0.00	0.20	0.41	0.03	0.10
Lawrence County	28.20	16.57	0.01	0.03	0.00	0.72	0.00	0.00	0.05	0.09	0.02	0.02

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

Boyd County		117.92	121.29	19.95	26.22	36.65	4.57	16.40	126.52	29.15	31.48	40.53
Kentucky		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		32.77	386.61	246.77	295.44	458.09	300.45	554.21	444.78	147.80	142.40	183.57
Lawrence County		90.42	115.16	21.85	16.71	27.59	0.00	55.15	33.45	21.98	19.11	24.75
Wayne County		113.54	71.64	32.31	3.57	15.89	53.60	35.89	11.00	7.49	1.82	13.99
Greenup County		141.29	102.15	15.36	5.08	28.82	4.74	22.10	50.56	7.79	6.36	7.98
Carter County		134.30	98.95	5.19	11.34	27.32	1.28	0.00	84.23	8.05	2.15	9.10
Lawrence County		134.16	3.83	34.57	0.00	28.95	0.00	0.00	21.17	1.75	1.19	1.68

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

Boyd County		359.82	31.37	8.08	8.88	8.00	1.52	2.96	28.45	19.72	22.11	22.08
Kentucky		305.13	25.87	40.52	33.85	21.83	33.28	18.04	22.48	67.66	70.23	54.47
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Lawrence County		275.91	29.79	8.85	5.66	6.02	0.00	9.95	7.52	14.87	13.42	13.48
Wayne County		346.44	18.53	13.10	1.21	3.47	17.84	6.48	2.47	5.07	1.28	7.62
Greenup County		431.10	26.42	6.22	1.72	6.29	1.58	3.99	11.37	5.27	4.47	4.35
Carter County		409.79	25.59	2.10	3.84	5.96	0.43	0.00	18.94	5.44	1.51	4.96
Lawrence County		409.36	0.99	14.01	0.00	6.32	0.00	0.00	4.76	1.19	0.84	0.92

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

Boyd County	47,457	8	6,419	307	299	3,172	388	92	192	5,434	24	810
Kentucky (in 000's)	4,629	8	436	21	35	378	54	23	30	394	6	89
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
Lawrence County	55,710	50	5,522	428	413	4,404	650	153	194	5,743	0	659
Wayne County	37,662	45	5,359	84	110	1,508	268	164	351	3,167	1	930
Greenup County	35,219	45	5,345	140	173	2,047	173	136	126	3,496	1	533
Carter County	26,057	33	4,925	139	182	2,102	118	58	194	2,237	0	187
Lawrence County	15,647	0	1,767	34	70	549	79	29	15	1,381	0	157

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Boyd County	19.43	0.02	13.53	0.65	0.63	6.68	0.82	0.19	0.40	11.45	0.05	1.71
Kentucky	14.19	0.17	9.42	0.45	0.77	8.17	1.17	0.50	0.64	8.52	0.13	1.92
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
Lawrence County	24.56	0.09	9.91	0.77	0.74	7.91	1.17	0.27	0.35	10.31	0.00	1.18
Wayne County	25.40	0.12	14.23	0.22	0.29	4.00	0.71	0.44	0.93	8.41	0.00	2.47
Greenup County	21.44	0.13	15.18	0.40	0.49	5.81	0.49	0.39	0.36	9.93	0.00	1.51
Carter County	20.58	0.13	18.90	0.53	0.70	8.07	0.45	0.22	0.74	8.59	0.00	0.72
Lawrence County	28.20	0.00	11.29	0.22	0.45	3.51	0.50	0.19	0.10	8.83	0.00	1.00

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

Boyd County		9.87	143.59	142.99	82.27	81.81	70.10	38.52	63.00	134.47	37.83	88.76
Kentucky		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		230.30	55.88	117.71	138.54	88.10	225.50	270.12	270.78	70.56	248.49	144.88
Lawrence County		52.55	105.23	169.81	96.80	96.76	100.04	54.56	54.23	121.06	0.00	61.51
Wayne County		69.96	151.06	49.30	38.14	49.01	61.01	86.52	145.13	98.75	1.99	128.41
Greenup County		74.81	161.12	87.86	64.14	71.14	42.12	76.72	55.71	116.57	2.12	78.70
Carter County		74.15	200.66	117.91	91.20	98.74	38.83	44.22	115.94	100.82	0.00	37.32
Lawrence County		0.00	119.89	48.03	58.42	42.94	43.29	36.82	14.93	103.65	0.00	52.18

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

Boyd County		4.29	256.95	121.47	59.38	92.85	31.09	14.26	23.27	190.56	15.22	61.26
Kentucky		43.42	178.94	84.95	72.18	113.50	44.35	37.02	36.93	141.71	40.24	69.02
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Lawrence County		22.82	188.30	144.26	69.87	109.82	44.36	20.20	20.03	171.56	0.00	42.46
Wayne County		30.38	270.31	41.88	27.53	55.63	27.06	32.03	53.60	139.95	0.80	88.63
Greenup County		32.48	288.30	74.64	46.30	80.74	18.68	28.40	20.57	165.20	0.85	54.32
Carter County		32.20	359.06	100.17	65.83	112.07	17.22	16.37	42.82	142.88	0.00	25.76
Lawrence County		0.00	214.53	40.80	42.17	48.74	19.20	13.63	5.51	146.89	0.00	36.01

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

Boyd County	47,457	12	48	16	4	0	10	70	62	45	4,072	17,049
Kentucky (in 000's)	4,629	10	8	4	6	6	24	11	7	13	554	1,350
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
Lawrence County	55,710	24	18	2	45	0	18	128	40	61	4,374	24,891
Wayne County	37,662	3	6	4	4	0	7	2	22	239	2,690	16,822
Greenup County	35,219	13	34	12	10	4	102	21	21	45	2,749	13,234
Carter County	26,057	0	0	0	25	0	0	0	26	3	1,918	9,138
Lawrence County	15,647	14	0	0	0	0	0	74	4	2	1,302	7,433

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Boyd County	19.43	0.03	0.10	0.03	0.01	0.00	0.02	0.15	0.13	0.09	8.58	35.93
Kentucky	14.19	0.22	0.16	0.09	0.12	0.12	0.51	0.23	0.15	0.29	11.96	29.17
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
Lawrence County	24.56	0.04	0.03	0.00	0.08	0.00	0.03	0.23	0.07	0.11	7.85	44.68
Wayne County	25.40	0.01	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.02	0.01	0.06	0.63	7.14	44.67
Greenup County	21.44	0.04	0.10	0.03	0.03	0.01	0.29	0.06	0.06	0.13	7.81	37.58
Carter County	20.58	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.01	7.36	35.07
Lawrence County	28.20	0.09	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.47	0.03	0.01	8.32	47.50

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

Boyd County		11.26	61.46	37.54	6.99	0.00	4.14	64.86	88.92	32.94	71.74	123.14
Kentucky		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		578.61	532.89	257.20	372.30	458.43	312.08	210.48	243.77	195.42	115.27	50.93
Lawrence County		19.18	19.63	4.00	66.97	0.00	6.35	101.04	48.87	38.04	65.65	153.15
Wayne County		3.55	9.68	11.83	8.81	0.00	3.65	2.34	39.76	220.48	59.72	153.10
Greenup County		16.43	58.66	37.94	23.54	9.34	56.91	26.22	40.58	44.39	65.26	128.80
Carter County		0.00	0.00	0.00	79.55	0.00	0.00	0.00	67.91	4.00	61.55	120.21
Lawrence County		39.83	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	207.97	17.40	4.44	69.57	162.83

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

Boyd County		1.95	11.53	14.60	1.88	0.00	1.33	30.82	36.48	16.86	62.24	241.79
Kentucky		17.28	18.77	38.88	26.86	21.81	32.04	47.51	41.02	51.17	86.75	196.35
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Lawrence County		3.31	3.68	1.55	17.99	0.00	2.03	48.00	20.05	19.47	56.95	300.71
Wayne County		0.61	1.82	4.60	2.37	0.00	1.17	1.11	16.31	112.82	51.81	300.62
Greenup County		2.84	11.01	14.75	6.32	2.04	18.23	12.46	16.65	22.72	56.62	252.90
Carter County		0.00	0.00	0.00	21.37	0.00	0.00	0.00	27.86	2.05	53.39	236.03
Lawrence County		6.88	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	98.81	7.14	2.27	60.36	319.72

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

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