There is no single agreed-on number, but historians work with a well-defined range and timeline for how many Native Americans there were in what is now the United States.

Short direct answer

  • Before European contact (around 1491–1492), scholarly estimates for Native Americans in the area of the present‑day United States generally range from about 2.5–7 million people , with some researchers arguing for as high as 10–18 million.
  • By around 1800 , that number had fallen to roughly 600,000 , and by the 1890s to about 250,000–250,000+ , due largely to disease, dispossession, and violence.
  • Today, people who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native in the United States number in the millions , roughly around 1–2% of the U.S. population depending on how identity is counted (alone vs. in combination with other races).

What “how many Native Americans were there” can mean

The phrase “how many Native Americans were there” can refer to different points in time:

  1. Before European arrival (pre‑contact population).
  2. After the worst demographic collapse (the low point in the 1800s).
  3. The current population.

Historians and demographers emphasize that all early numbers are estimates, not precise counts, because no continent‑wide census existed before European colonization.

Pre‑contact: how many before Columbus?

Researchers use archaeological evidence, early colonial records, ecological data, and models of population density to estimate how many Indigenous people lived in North America before large‑scale European settlement.

  • For what is now the United States and Canada (Northern America) , many modern estimates fall around 2.5–7 million people.
  • Some specialists, such as anthropologist Henry F. Dobyns, argued that the pre‑contact population for the area that becomes the United States could have been 10–12 million , later revising upward toward 18 million , but these high numbers are contested.
  • Other historians (for example David Henige) criticize the higher estimates as relying on weak or selectively applied evidence, arguing for lower, more conservative totals.

Because of this scholarly debate, it is more accurate to say there was a wide range of several million people, quite possibly over ten million , rather than a single exact figure.

The collapse after European contact

After Europeans arrived, Native American populations declined catastrophically.

Key drivers included:

  • Newly introduced diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza, to which Native populations had no prior immunity.
  • Wars, massacres, and forced removals.
  • Destruction of traditional food systems and displacement from homelands.

Some landmarks for what is now the United States:

  • By 1790 , in some eastern regions, Native populations had already lost more than two‑thirds of their original numbers; one analysis notes about 55,900 remaining in a particular eastern region, a roughly 72% decline there.
  • For the whole area of the present‑day United States, estimates suggest around 600,000 Native people by about 1800.
  • The population reached a low point (nadir) in the late 19th century: around 250,000 Native Americans remaining in the 1890s.

Official statistics from the late 1800s and early 1900s show similarly small totals:

  • The 1890 U.S. Census recorded about 248,253 Native Americans in the continental United States.
  • Other census counts around this period show Native American numbers in the 200,000–400,000 range, depending on methods and inclusion of Alaska Natives.

20th century recovery and today

Despite the devastation, Native nations survived, and their populations began to recover in the 20th century.

Some key modern figures:

  • In 1960 , there were about 551,636 people recorded as Native American in the United States.
  • By 1970 , this rose to about 827,273.
  • Around 2000 , one international minority‑rights report estimated roughly 1.77 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States (depending on the classification used).
  • By the early 21st century, Native Americans were about 1% of the U.S. population , and they are often described as one of the fastest‑growing demographic groups, especially when including people who identify as Native in combination with other races.

The exact present‑day number shifts with each census and depends heavily on how identity is defined (tribal enrollment, “race alone,” “race in combination,” etc.), but it is firmly in the millions.

Timeline summary in words

To put it as a short narrative:

  1. Before contact (pre‑1492): Likely millions of Native people across the future United States, plausibly in the range of 2.5–7+ million , with some scholars arguing for 10–18 million.
  2. By around 1800: Roughly 600,000 Native Americans in what is now the United States.
  3. By the 1890s: Around 250,000 Native Americans at the demographic low point.
  4. Late 20th century onward: Rapid population recovery to well over a million , then several million , as more people identify as Native American and communities grow.

This arc—from many millions, to a collapse to a few hundred thousand, then partial recovery to several million—captures the story behind the question “how many Native Americans were there.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.