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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)

Madison County	9,910	404	44	8	0	236	24	46	7	7	0	0
Montana (in 000's)	1,143	50	63	1	4	36	2	3	4	3	1	1
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
Gallatin County	128,410	4,913	850	94	616	3,852	398	1,036	514	272	232	45
Silver Bow County	36,029	1,154	520	20	57	1,430	14	3	151	60	20	7
Jefferson County	13,253	409	155	0	21	216	0	65	36	8	4	3
Fremont County	14,535	708	88	31	66	1,579	0	13	75	19	9	3
Beaverhead County	10,010	532	111	3	1	456	0	3	14	40	3	1

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Madison County	12.19	4.08	0.44	0.08	0.00	2.38	0.24	0.46	0.07	0.07	0.00	0.00
Montana	11.06	4.34	5.50	0.07	0.39	3.14	0.14	0.27	0.33	0.28	0.11	0.07
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
Gallatin County	11.32	3.83	0.66	0.07	0.48	3.00	0.31	0.81	0.40	0.21	0.18	0.04
Silver Bow County	13.25	3.20	1.44	0.06	0.16	3.97	0.04	0.01	0.42	0.17	0.06	0.02
Jefferson County	12.02	3.09	1.17	0.00	0.16	1.63	0.00	0.49	0.27	0.06	0.03	0.02
Fremont County	13.19	4.87	0.61	0.21	0.45	10.86	0.00	0.09	0.52	0.13	0.06	0.02
Beaverhead County	11.32	5.31	1.11	0.03	0.01	4.56	0.00	0.03	0.14	0.40	0.03	0.01

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

Madison County		93.85	8.07	112.36	0.00	75.80	176.72	173.00	21.09	25.22	0.00	0.00
Montana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		93.16	11.71	253.99	847.57	360.52	1,314.03	504.24	320.71	2,693.75	2,034.20	2,992.90
Gallatin County		88.08	12.03	101.89	123.21	95.48	226.16	300.69	119.52	75.64	160.66	50.18
Silver Bow County		73.73	26.22	77.26	40.63	126.33	28.35	3.10	125.14	59.47	49.36	27.82
Jefferson County		71.04	21.25	0.00	40.70	51.88	0.00	182.79	81.11	21.56	26.84	32.41
Fremont County		112.13	11.00	296.85	116.63	345.77	0.00	33.33	154.07	46.68	55.06	29.56
Beaverhead County		122.35	20.15	41.71	2.57	145.00	0.00	11.17	41.76	142.69	26.65	14.31

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

Madison County		100.74	68.86	44.24	0.00	21.03	13.45	34.31	6.58	0.94	0.00	0.00
Montana		107.35	853.67	39.37	11.80	27.74	7.61	19.83	31.18	3.71	4.92	3.34
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Gallatin County		94.55	102.66	40.11	14.54	26.48	17.21	59.63	37.27	2.81	7.90	1.68
Silver Bow County		79.15	223.84	30.42	4.79	35.04	2.16	0.62	39.02	2.21	2.43	0.93
Jefferson County		76.26	181.38	0.00	4.80	14.39	0.00	36.25	25.29	0.80	1.32	1.08
Fremont County		120.37	93.90	116.87	13.76	95.91	0.00	6.61	48.04	1.73	2.71	0.99
Beaverhead County		131.33	171.98	16.42	0.30	40.22	0.00	2.22	13.02	5.30	1.31	0.48

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

Madison County	9,910	77	1,065	164	223	1,766	151	168	934	1,227	0	412
Montana (in 000's)	1,143	6	95	13	21	177	23	12	104	120	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
Gallatin County	128,410	795	12,333	2,981	2,341	19,010	2,898	1,997	11,383	14,283	582	6,312
Silver Bow County	36,029	202	2,732	220	668	4,539	1,194	309	2,606	6,522	188	1,252
Jefferson County	13,253	135	1,588	143	240	2,114	258	218	1,423	1,674	26	705
Fremont County	14,535	30	3,009	131	148	1,685	94	37	1,047	854	29	316
Beaverhead County	10,010	16	1,157	118	233	1,609	261	106	951	1,006	147	413

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Madison County	12.19	0.78	10.75	1.65	2.25	17.82	1.52	1.70	9.42	12.38	0.00	4.16
Montana	11.06	0.52	8.30	1.13	1.81	15.52	2.02	1.04	9.10	10.50	0.50	3.82
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
Gallatin County	11.32	0.62	9.60	2.32	1.82	14.80	2.26	1.56	8.86	11.12	0.45	4.92
Silver Bow County	13.25	0.56	7.58	0.61	1.85	12.60	3.31	0.86	7.23	18.10	0.52	3.47
Jefferson County	12.02	1.02	11.98	1.08	1.81	15.95	1.95	1.64	10.74	12.63	0.20	5.32
Fremont County	13.19	0.21	20.70	0.90	1.02	11.59	0.65	0.25	7.20	5.88	0.20	2.17
Beaverhead County	11.32	0.16	11.56	1.18	2.33	16.07	2.61	1.06	9.50	10.05	1.47	4.13

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

Madison County		149.05	129.43	146.75	124.48	114.83	75.33	163.31	103.53	117.89	0.00	108.91
Montana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		75.45	63.40	47.23	58.69	46.38	130.01	130.97	19.10	57.21	66.76	72.99
Gallatin County		118.76	115.67	205.86	100.85	95.39	111.57	149.81	97.37	105.90	91.09	128.77
Silver Bow County		107.55	91.32	54.15	102.57	81.18	163.83	82.62	79.45	172.35	104.86	91.03
Jefferson County		195.40	144.31	95.68	100.18	102.78	96.24	158.46	117.94	120.26	39.43	139.36
Fremont County		39.59	249.32	79.92	56.33	74.70	31.97	24.52	79.12	55.94	40.10	56.95
Beaverhead County		30.66	139.21	104.53	128.77	103.57	128.90	102.01	104.36	95.69	295.13	108.09

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

Madison County		197.54	204.15	310.75	212.09	247.56	57.94	124.69	542.02	206.06	0.00	149.22
Montana		132.53	157.73	211.75	170.38	215.60	76.92	76.35	523.55	174.80	149.79	137.01
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Gallatin County		157.40	182.45	435.92	171.83	205.66	85.81	114.38	509.80	185.12	136.44	176.43
Silver Bow County		142.54	144.05	114.66	174.75	175.02	126.01	63.08	415.97	301.27	157.08	124.72
Jefferson County		258.97	227.62	202.61	170.68	221.60	74.02	120.99	617.49	210.22	59.06	190.93
Fremont County		52.47	393.27	169.24	95.97	161.05	24.59	18.72	414.26	97.78	60.06	78.03
Beaverhead County		40.64	219.57	221.35	219.39	223.30	99.14	77.89	546.37	167.26	442.08	148.09

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

Madison County	9,910	11	2	39	0	0	1	2	8	19	837	2,028
Montana (in 000's)	1,143	2	2	1	1	0	1	1	1	2	108	237
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
Gallatin County	128,410	848	221	87	134	13	176	44	26	417	10,414	28,293
Silver Bow County	36,029	13	16	0	7	4	1	16	104	164	2,986	8,850
Jefferson County	13,253	3	0	13	31	0	0	5	3	10	1,060	2,687
Fremont County	14,535	14	0	2	0	0	0	4	7	13	1,654	2,870
Beaverhead County	10,010	6	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	780	2,010

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Madison County	12.19	0.11	0.02	0.39	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.02	0.08	0.19	8.45	20.46
Montana	11.06	0.18	0.20	0.07	0.08	0.03	0.05	0.06	0.11	0.16	9.43	20.72
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
Gallatin County	11.32	0.66	0.17	0.07	0.10	0.01	0.14	0.03	0.02	0.32	8.11	22.03
Silver Bow County	13.25	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.02	0.01	0.00	0.04	0.29	0.46	8.29	24.56
Jefferson County	12.02	0.02	0.00	0.10	0.23	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.02	0.08	8.00	20.27
Fremont County	13.19	0.10	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.05	0.09	11.38	19.75
Beaverhead County	11.32	0.06	0.28	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.05	7.79	20.08

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

Madison County		62.48	10.35	560.02	0.00	0.00	18.51	32.99	76.17	121.24	89.61	98.75
Montana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		731.57	449.60	328.70	558.96	1,711.84	2,913.25	782.44	337.96	355.69	146.27	71.70
Gallatin County		371.73	88.23	96.41	129.90	31.10	251.39	56.02	19.11	205.36	86.04	106.32
Silver Bow County		20.31	22.77	0.00	24.18	34.10	5.09	72.60	272.38	287.85	87.93	118.53
Jefferson County		12.74	0.00	139.59	291.16	0.00	0.00	61.68	21.36	47.72	84.86	97.83
Fremont County		54.22	0.00	19.58	0.00	0.00	0.00	44.99	45.44	56.56	120.73	95.28
Beaverhead County		33.74	143.40	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	31.59	82.67	96.89

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

Madison County		8.54	2.30	170.38	0.00	0.00	0.64	4.22	22.54	34.09	61.26	137.73
Montana		13.67	22.24	30.42	17.89	5.84	3.43	12.78	29.59	28.11	68.37	139.48
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Gallatin County		50.81	19.62	29.33	23.24	1.82	8.63	7.16	5.65	57.74	58.83	148.29
Silver Bow County		2.78	5.06	0.00	4.33	1.99	0.17	9.28	80.59	80.93	60.12	165.32
Jefferson County		1.74	0.00	42.47	52.09	0.00	0.00	7.88	6.32	13.42	58.01	136.46
Fremont County		7.41	0.00	5.96	0.00	0.00	0.00	5.75	13.45	15.90	82.54	132.89
Beaverhead County		4.61	31.89	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	8.88	56.52	135.15

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

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