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It depends on where you are. Portland, Oregon was extremely tall (there are a ton of Europeans there, and a lot were 6'3-6'6"+ and I even randomly walked by a 6'11" guy). However, I noticed in other big cities in Oregon (like Salem, Eugene, Gresham and Bend for example) that the male whites were significantly shorter with the female whites actually being like 5'9-5'11" often (pretty ironic, isn't it?). The Asians were actually taller there as well for some reason which made no sense to me (I ran into several who I swore were like 6'4-6'5", when most white men were like 5'9-5'11" in these places!).
It is not surprise that if you meet several tall asians, since there are so many new Asian immigrants settles in US. Each ethnic has tall people. Not to metion Many asians from rich families. However, you might notice most Asians are still much shorter than most White men. You ran into several 6'4-6'5 asians, but I think you ran into several taller white men ( like 6'6-6'8").
I graduated a high school in California, which 60% students were asians, there are too many at school. Of course, with a large number of asians, there were some 6'1, even several 6'3 ones. But the Top 10 tallest students at school were White and Black students, 5 were 6'7 or taller, the other between 6'6-6'7. The tallest one was 6'10, African American. And most asian students were still shorter than Whites and Blacks. No doubt, there are many tall asians live in US, but compare to lots of taller Whites and African Americans, they are still short.
You guys should every city in US has different height because of diversity. Even the same city, some districts are taller than others. If you walk down poor area, you may feel people are shorter, but if you hang out with rich people you may think you are short even though you are a bit of 5'11 (180cm). I graduated a high school in Cali. People are usually short, but I had met many tall people(I mean tall = 6'3++) , most them are White and African American, a few of them are asian or Latino. I am taller than 97% at being 6'1( 185 cm)
Now I live in Iowa, people are much taller here. At 6'1 height, I have noticed 25%-30% young Whites as tall as I am or taller than me, there are fewer African students here, some are very short, but some are very tall, like 6'7+. There are not uncommon to see a guy over 6'4 (192cm+), and a girl over 5'10 (177cm+). The average height here is much taller than California.
Utah too, I have noticed most of mormons from that state tend to be quite tall.
I would say Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin,Dakotas, Utah, Iowa.
Utah has a very high Scandinavian population (%-wise). In fact, somebody mentioned Iowa as having a large % of people of Scandinavian descent, but what most don't know is that over 50% of Scandinavians that emigrated to Iowa (and Nebraska) during the 1800's were Mormon converts that became disassociated with the church after difficulties crossing the plains.
Both of my dad's grandmothers came from Denmark to Utah, and my wife's family (her surname is Sanderson, her 2nd cousin is Cael Sanderson, Olympic Gold medalist in wrestling) are Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
2012 census data shows only about 12% of Utahns that identity themselves of Scandinavian descent, but it's believed to be a number that is very low, and some conservative estimates are that over 40% of native Utahns have 25% or more Scandinavian ancestry. However, because of the religion, converts from all countries were integrated within the culture so immediately that now, a few generations later, a large portion don't identify themselves with the countries of their ancestors.
Having worked in every region of the U.S., the only places I've been to with people that were of similar height as Utahns are...Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Idaho and parts of California (I've never been to either of the Dakotas, nor Montana...except to Yellowstone as a kid). Whoever guessed that Idaho has some of the nation's shortest, has never been there....idaho also has a large Scandinavian-descent, mormon population that Brigham Young sent to that state (as well as to southern Canada), 130 some years ago, to farm for the church. Gutzon Borglum, who carved Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, was the son of Danish Immigrants/mormon converts that Brigham Young commanded to live in Idaho and farm.
Dinaric Alps ethnics actually tend to be taller than Scandinavians. This would include Croatian and Serbians. We just don't hear about them much because those countries are poor and war-torn, so their people don't have much spotlight in the media and the statistics are skewed. Croatia sends a lot of basketball players to the NBA. Also, it's hit or miss with Eastern Euro groups such as Polish and Ukrainian but the tall genes definitely run in them as well.
Funny thing is, as much as the Dutch and Scandinavians are known for tallness, you don't see many of their surnames in the NBA and growing up around them in the Midwest they never seemed to be that athletic to me. German-Americans are athletic, but not Scandinavians.
Last edited by skidamarink; 02-27-2016 at 11:26 PM..
Utah has a very high Scandinavian population (%-wise). In fact, somebody mentioned Iowa as having a large % of people of Scandinavian descent, but what most don't know is that over 50% of Scandinavians that emigrated to Iowa (and Nebraska) during the 1800's were Mormon converts that became disassociated with the church after difficulties crossing the plains.
Both of my dad's grandmothers came from Denmark to Utah, and my wife's family (her surname is Sanderson, her 2nd cousin is Cael Sanderson, Olympic Gold medalist in wrestling) are Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
2012 census data shows only about 12% of Utahns that identity themselves of Scandinavian descent, but it's believed to be a number that is very low, and some conservative estimates are that over 40% of native Utahns have 25% or more Scandinavian ancestry. However, because of the religion, converts from all countries were integrated within the culture so immediately that now, a few generations later, a large portion don't identify themselves with the countries of their ancestors.
Having worked in every region of the U.S., the only places I've been to with people that were of similar height as Utahns are...Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Idaho and parts of California (I've never been to either of the Dakotas, nor Montana...except to Yellowstone as a kid). Whoever guessed that Idaho has some of the nation's shortest, has never been there....idaho also has a large Scandinavian-descent, mormon population that Brigham Young sent to that state (as well as to southern Canada), 130 some years ago, to farm for the church. Gutzon Borglum, who carved Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, was the son of Danish Immigrants/mormon converts that Brigham Young commanded to live in Idaho and farm.
Interesting, I thought Mormons were interested in genealogy so it was easier for them to know their heritage; hence the knowledge of having high English ancestry from both early American ancestors and 19th century immigration. I don't think Scandinavian ancestry exceed 20 % of the population nowadays.
Interesting, I thought Mormons were interested in genealogy so it was easier for them to know their heritage; hence the knowledge of having high English ancestry from both early American ancestors and 19th century immigration. I don't think Scandinavian ancestry exceed 20 % of the population nowadays.
Don't quote me on this exactly but I believe in the Mormon religion there is a practice with their baptisms that go back into ancestors and relatives, hence the interest in genealogy. The LDS Church has a huge ancestry log because of this.
It probably is race and ethnicity. Asians, Italians, and Hispanics are a large percentage of NYC residents.
and Jews who tend to be short. I am a short (5'7) Jewish guy myself. Living in 50% Hispanic Yakima Washington I blend in height wise. This is the first place I have lived where no one has teased me about being short. My 4'11 Latina girlfriend actually thinks I am tall.
Although I see a wide range in heights, the whites here do seem overall taller than average. A lot of whites in Yakima have Swedish ancestry.
Funny thing is, as much as the Dutch and Scandinavians are known for tallness, you don't see many of their surnames in the NBA and growing up around them in the Midwest they never seemed to be that athletic to me. German-Americans are athletic, but not Scandinavians.
That's interesting. Must be a cultural Dutch-American/Scandinavian-American thing then. I'm Dutch (half Argentinian) and I would rate us and the Scandis as very athletic. Going by historic Olympic medal tallies I would actually say that Scandis (and the Dutch not far behind) are in fact THE most athletic people in the world. Though obviously this is biased by funding, politics (participation), environment and so forth.
Of course this is also dependent on all sorts of other factors. Not sure if the NBA is a good gauge of this type of athleticism but in the USA maybe it is. In Europe by far the dominant power in basketball is Spain, coincidentally also probably the shortest European nation.
Scandinavia really dominates those total medal tallies (relative to population):
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table[/url]
But part of that may also be that Scandinavians are not really that strong in global sports so a varied range of sports relevant to the Olympics might be popular there. Holland dominates in a few international sports (field-hockey, speed-skating and really good at swimming and baseball as well) but the only thing that matters here is football, so most of the talent goes there. Nobody cares about or watches any of the others (cept every 4 years for the Olympics).
Spain is weak in those Olympic tallies but they have been incredible at major international sports the last decade. Football, tennis, formula 1, tour de France. You name it. So obviously it's not a perfect measure of athleticism.
Guess I kind of went off-topic, well if you can navigate it you might find the answer of the topic here:
[url=http://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/4683/average-height-of-males-and-females-for-each-of-the-50-us-states-where-can-i-do]usa - Average height of males and females for each of the 50 US states: Where can I download the data? - Open Data Stack Exchange[/url]
Tallest would be out-state Minnesotans where 6 foot plus for a guy is the majority. I was stunned how tall the guys were in Minnesota. Twin Cities is a bit shorter then rural areas and college towns in the state.
North Dakota, Nebraska, Utah and South Dakota are a bit taller then average but I would not say they have the height of out-state Minnesotans.
Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, Wyoming seem about average.
Pittsburgh seemed a bit below average on height. Maybe a half inch or so shorter then the national average.
California is mainly short but they do have more tall guys then I thought in the state. They do get alot of transplants so there is a range in heights.
Nevada and New Mexico I would say is the shortest I have seen.
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