American Jews

American Jews or Jewish Americans are <a href="/facts/Americans/srd9GJ5U">American</a> citizens who are <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jewish</a>, whether by <a href="/facts/Jewish_culture/PNFhFn7t">culture</a>, ethnicity, or <a href="/facts/Judaism/tjQ5Tgs6">religion</a>. According to a 2020 poll conducted by <a href="/facts/Pew_Research/082PuVBq">Pew Research</a>, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as <a href="/facts/Ashkenazi/B9PIYy71">Ashkenazi</a>, 3% identify as <a href="/facts/Sephardic/VrvPsCeh">Sephardic</a>, and 1% identify as <a href="/facts/Mizrahi_Jews/sJxlNJFP">Mizrahi</a>. An additional 6% identify as some combination of the three categories, and 25% do not identify as any particular category.
During the colonial era, Sephardic Jews who arrived via <a href="/facts/Portugal/lYzwDQ63">Portugal</a> and via Brazil (<a href="/facts/Dutch_Brazil/DuRpJdyv">Dutch Brazil</a>) - see <a href="/facts/Congregation_Shearith_Israel/GlBvAavv">Congregation Shearith Israel</a> - represented the bulk of America's then-small Jewish population. While their descendants are a minority nowadays, they represent the remainder of those original American Jews along with an array of other Jewish communities, including more recent Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, <a href="/facts/Beta_Israel/KINATX1J">Beta Israel-Ethiopian Jews</a>, <a href="/facts/Jewish_ethnic_divisions/pug5VJbu">various other Jewish ethnic groups</a>, as well as a smaller number of <a href="/facts/Gerim/RGAR32BJ">gerim (converts)</a>. The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, encompassing the <a href="/facts/Jewish_religious_movements/WM3LKTyT">full spectrum of Jewish religious observance</a>.
Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States has the largest or second largest Jewish community in the world, after <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>. As of 2020, the American Jewish population is estimated at 7.5 million people, accounting for 2.4% of the total US population. This includes 4.2 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.5 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.8 million Jewish children. It is estimated that up to 15 million Americans are part of the "enlarged" American Jewish population, accounting for 4.5% of the total US population, consisting of those who have <a href="/facts/Who_is_a_Jew%253F/oxYj1Xuv">at least one Jewish grandparent</a> and would be eligible for <a href="/facts/Israeli_citizenship/bxhmHXjU">Israeli citizenship</a> under the <a href="/facts/Law_of_Return/jvahF9BX">Law of Return</a>.

American Jews open-in-new

American Jews