OMB Race and Ethnicity Standards: Seven Categories and One Question

The OMB race and ethnicity standards are set by Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, which the Office of Management and Budget revised in March 2024. The revision replaced the 1997 framework with seven minimum categories, merged race and ethnicity into a single question, and added Middle Eastern or North African as a standalone group for the first time.¹ These rules govern the U.S. Census, federal job applications, benefit enrollment forms, and every other federal collection of demographic data. Full implementation across the federal government is required by September 28, 2029.²

The Seven Minimum Categories

Any federal form or survey that collects race and ethnicity data must offer at least these seven options, defined as follows:¹

American Indian or Alaska Native: people with origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, and South America, such as members of the Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Tribe, or communities with Aztec or Maya heritage.
Asian: people with origins in Central or East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, such as Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, or Japanese communities.
Black or African American: people with origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, including African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Somali communities.
Hispanic or Latino: people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, or other Central or South American or Spanish culture or origin.
Middle Eastern or North African: people with origins in any of the original peoples of the Middle East or North Africa, such as Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, and Israeli communities.
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: people with origins in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands, such as Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, and Marshallese communities.
White: people with origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, such as English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and Scottish communities.

What Changed From the 1997 Standards

Two shifts matter most. Hispanic or Latino is no longer treated as a separate ethnicity asked in its own question; it now sits alongside the other groups as one of seven equal race and ethnicity categories.³ And people of Middle Eastern or North African descent, who were previously counted under the White category, now have their own designation. Those two changes will visibly reshape federal demographic data once agencies finish updating their systems.

Detailed Subcategories Are the Default

The seven groups are a floor, not a ceiling. Agencies must collect detailed data beyond the minimum categories unless they obtain a specific exemption from OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.⁴ In practice, most federal forms will list specific subcategories under each broad group.

The directive specifies which subcategories must appear:¹

Asian: Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, plus an open field for other groups like Pakistani, Hmong, or Afghan.
Black or African American: African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, plus an open field for other groups like Trinidadian, Ghanaian, or Congolese.
Hispanic or Latino: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, plus an open field for other groups like Colombian, Honduran, or Spaniard.
Middle Eastern or North African: Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Israeli, plus an open field for other groups like Moroccan, Yemeni, or Kurdish.
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, plus an open field for other groups like Chuukese, Palauan, or Tahitian.
White: English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Scottish, plus an open field for other groups like French, Swedish, or Norwegian.

The American Indian or Alaska Native category works differently. Respondents are typically asked to write in their tribal affiliation or community name rather than choose from a preset list. Each subcategory list also includes an “Another group” option with a write-in field so people whose heritage is not named can still be counted accurately.

One Combined Question, Select All That Apply

The most visible change on the page is the shift from two questions to one. Under the 1997 rules, forms asked about Hispanic or Latino ethnicity first, then asked about race separately. The 2024 standards require a single combined question in which respondents see all seven categories together and select every group that applies.⁴ The standard instruction reads “Select all that apply” when only the minimum categories are shown, or “Select all that apply and enter additional details in the spaces below” when write-in fields accompany the detailed subcategories. The directive does not mandate a particular display order for the categories.

An agency that wants to collect only the minimum seven categories, with no detailed subcategories and no write-in fields, must file a formal exemption request with OMB.⁴ Detailed data collection is the default.

Self-Identification Comes First

The directive treats self-reporting as the gold standard. Wherever possible, the person filling out the form should choose their own categories.¹ When self-reporting is not possible, agencies can use proxy reporting (someone who knows the person answers), record matching (pulling from existing files), or observer identification (a visual estimate).

Observer identification is the least reliable, and the rules reflect that. Agencies using visual observation are not required to collect detailed subcategories and are encouraged to stick to the seven minimum groups. For statistical surveys, agencies must document which collection method was used and how missing data were handled, and make that information available to researchers.

How Multiple Selections Get Reported

Because a respondent can now pick more than one category, agencies need clear tabulation rules. The directive offers three approaches and requires agencies to report as much detail as possible, including data on people who selected more than one group.⁵

Alone or in combination: each person who selected a given category is counted under that category, even if they also selected others. Percentages across groups add up to more than 100 percent.
Most frequent multiple responses: every unique combination gets its own count. Someone who selected Black and White is placed in a distinct “Black and White” group, and percentages sum to 100 percent.
Combined multiracial or multiethnic: people who selected exactly one category appear in that group, and everyone who selected two or more is grouped into a single “Multiracial and/or Multiethnic” bucket. This sums to 100 percent but loses detail, so agencies should pair it with one of the other approaches.

Whichever approach an agency uses, the seven minimum categories must be treated equally in a given table. Agencies cannot merge groups under a generic “Other” label to hit sample-size thresholds; any combined group has to be labeled with the names of all groups it includes.⁵

When Agencies Have to Comply

The revised standards took effect on March 28, 2024, and applied immediately to any brand-new data collection that includes race or ethnicity. For existing forms and systems, OMB set a phased timeline that has already been extended twice.⁶

Major federal agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers Act, along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, must submit action plans to OMB by March 28, 2027 describing how they will update their software, forms, and reporting systems.⁶ Full compliance across all federal information collections that gather race and ethnicity data is due by September 28, 2029.²

Where the Standards Already Show Up

The Census Bureau has confirmed it is preparing to use the updated standards for both the 2027 American Community Survey and the 2030 decennial Census.⁷ The 2030 Census will be the first national count to use the combined question format and to include Middle Eastern or North African as a standalone category.

Private employers are a different story. Federal contractors and employers with 100 or more workers currently file demographic data with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission through the EEO-1 form, which still uses the older categories. The current EEO-1 collection is approved through 2026, and the EEOC has not announced a firm date for adopting the revised standards. If you are a private employer, you face no immediate obligation to change your internal reporting categories until the EEOC formally updates the form.

1
Federal Register. Revisions to OMBs Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 – Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
2
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. OMB Announcing Timeline Extensions for SPD 15 Implementation
3
Office of Management and Budget. Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 – Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
4
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. Question Format
5
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. Presentation of Data on Race and Ethnicity
6
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. OMB Announcing Additional Timeline Extension for SPD 15 Implementation
7
U.S. Census Bureau. Updates to Race/Ethnicity Standards for Our Nation