What percentage of Native American blood do you need to be in a tribe?
How much American Indian blood is required to be considered Native American?
Native ancestry is a nuanced topic. Many people with Native American ties often wonder whether they have enough American Indian blood or a strong enough Native heritage to be considered for tribal enrollment.
But how do you know for sure?
We'll break it down for you here.
Check out our calculator below to find your %!
Native Americans are the people who contain blood one of the more than 500 distinguished tribes that still endure as sovereign states within the United States’ present geographical boundaries. These are the Native American tribes that descended from the pre-Colombian indigenous peoples of North America.
Am I Native American?
For a person to be considered Native American by the United States government, they must either have a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) card or be enrolled in a tribe.
A CDIB card is issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) an agency under the United States Department of Interior. This certificate (CDIB) is the basis most tribes use to enroll tribal members.
The CDIB is an official U.S. document used to certify that a person does possess a percentage of Native American blood and therefore has legitimate Native ancestry. Note though, the blood must be identified with a federally recognized Native American tribe.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs issues the certificate after the individual has forwarded a finalized genealogy.
The genealogy must be submitted with legal documents that include birth certificates, and documents showing the applicant’s descent both from the maternal and the paternal sides.
Certificate Degree of Indian Blood card issued to Morris Phillip Konstantin (Phil Konstantin) in 1996. It shows him to be 3/16ths Cherokee by blood. – Wikipedia
A Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood shows the constituent blood degree of a particular tribe or that of all tribes in the applicant’s ancestry. The percentage required by each tribe to enroll varies. Some tribes require that a minimum degree must be met before granting membership to an individual.
Interestingly, even the federal government requires that you meet a certain minimum before granting Native Americans federal benefits.
To give you an example, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum of 1/16 degree of Cherokee Indian blood for tribal enrollment, while the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Higher Education Grant expects you to have a minimum of 1/4 Native American blood percentage.
That means 25% of your blood is of Native American ancestry.
Tribal Blood Quantum Calculator and Requirements
A Blood Quantum Calculator can also be helpful in certain instances. This will help you zero in on the origin of your American Indian heritage. where here you got the Native American heritage from. The calculations are translated as:
For instance, if you are 50% Native American or half blood quantum, that means you have one parent who's of direct American Indian lineage / Half Blooded Quantum meaning One Parent
If you are 25% American Indian or one-quarter blood quantum, that means you have one grandparent who's of direct Native American lineage.
The same conversion rate applies as you go further down the line. If you are 12.5% American Indian or one-eighth blood quantum, you have one great-grandparent.
If you are 6.25% or one-sixteenth blood quantum, you have one great-great-grandparent, and so on.
Below is a list of some tribal requirements. This is not a comprehensive list, just a sampling of the more than 500 federally recognized tribes.
Native American Tribal Enrollment Requirement
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50 Percent / One-Half Blood Quantum (One Parent)
Kialegee Tribal Town
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona
Yomba Shoshone Tribe, Utah
25 Percent / One-Fourth Blood Quantum (One Grandparent)
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Native American Indians
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington
Oneida Tribe of Indians, Wisconsin
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma
Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Arizona
Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas
Navajo Nation, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico
Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, North and South Dakota
Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe, California
Havasupai-Prescott Tribe, Arizona
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Oklahoma
Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Montana
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, New York, Canada
12.5 Percent / One-Eighth Blood Quantum (One Great-Grandparent)
Apache Tribe, Oklahoma
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma
Delaware Nation, Oklahoma
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon
Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Oklahoma
Karuk Tribe, California
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of the Muckleshoot Reservation, Washington
Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation of Utah (Washakie)
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Native American Indians, Oklahoma
Pawnee Nation, Oklahoma
Ponca Nation, Oklahoma
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma
Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska
Squaxin Island Tribe of the Squaxin Island Reservation, Washington
Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington
Three Affiliated Native American Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation
Upper Skagit Indian Tribe of Washington
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie)
6.25 Percent / One-Sixteenth Blood Quantum (One Great-Great-Grandparent)
Caddo Nation
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town
Cherokee Nation
Chickasaw Nation
Choctaw Nation
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Delaware Tribe of Indians
Eastern Shawnee Tribe
Kaw Nation
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma
Modoc Tribe
Muscogee Creek Nation
Osage Nation
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma
Peoria Tribe of Indians
Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan
Seminole Nation
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
Shawnee Tribe
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town
Tonkawa Tribe
Wyandotte Nation
33 Comments
My material grandmother was born in Indian Territory in Oklahoma. My mother had to go to the registry to find her birth certificate. We were told that she was 1/2 Creek. I do not have that documentation. What would be the best way to begin the journey to trace my tribal heritage. Growing up our father was very good about exposing us to the history of the people around us. I was raised in Oklahoma. All my life I have felt a connection and looked for more knowledge. I have no information on my father’s parents birth place. Is there a DNA test that would show my heritage. How do I begin the paper journey to learn more?
My dna 🧬 test told me I’m 23 % Native American Indian from Choctaw-Apache tribe of Ebarb Louisiana and if there is any Native American Indian ladies from 25-35 interested in hit me up…..Vincent Ebarb
My father was from Mexico, the State of Chihuahua to be more precise, My mother was from New Mexico. My father often told us stories that his mother would tell him and his siblings of how the young girls and women in her hometown of Jimenez would hide in baskets when there were raids from Apache tribes, which apparently there were many. My father looked very Native American, dark and very straight black hair, which led us to believe we have some Apache ancestry in our bloodline. I did an Ancestry DNA test and also a 23&Me test, I came out to have 43% (Ancestry test) and 47% (23&Me test) Native American blood but we have no records of anything from Mexico. What other ways are there to prove bloodlines?
Good morning to all Native Americans
I may not have any of Native American blood in my veins, but my heart and soul are completely full blooded.
I just wished I had been more proactive in learning more about you. It breaks my heart to learn just how badly you have been treated from the time when the white man in America. You have been lied to and robbed by the white man.
I am 2nd generation Here in America. I have learned more about the Native Americans in the last year than I have my whole live. I’m 65 years old. I want to learn everything I can about you.
Well, I guess I have run off long enough. I am sorry for the way your people have been lied too and land stolen from you. The stories and history I have read I think it’s time to have a Native American as the leader of the greatest Country on earth. I may not have any to none %of blood being one of you, Buy My Heart is in the right place. My GOD the Great Creator bless each an every one of you.
Thanks for your time. Doug Cruickshank
My maternal grandfather always said we descended from native americans. I was too young to ask which tribe?