Discover more with AncestryDNA® communities

You’ve seen your communities. But what do they mean?

View DNA Insights

Buy AncestryDNA

Learn more about how we find your communities.

How do communities work?

Communities are groups of people who share lots of the same DNA matches, most likely because their relatives lived somewhere at the same time. We look at their family trees for common dates and locations to identify places and events they might share.

How are communities different
from my ethnicity regions?

Communities are designed to provide insights into your family’s recent history—the past couple of hundred years or so. They tend to show smaller, more specific areas than ethnicity regions, and they can even reveal historical journeys your family may have been part of.

Meanwhile, ethnicity regions are usually bigger and look further into the past to show regions where your ancestors may have come from and what percentage of your DNA looks most similar to DNA from people with long histories in those regions.

How do communities
relate to me?

Your communities can reveal details about some of your recent relatives. They might show where they lived, where they moved to, and even the path they took to get there. They can also serve as clues for regional record collections you could search for the chance to make even more discoveries.

Top questions about AncestryDNA

  • Communities are based on your matches with other members in the AncestryDNA database. If family members have different communities, it’s because everyone has their own distinct set of matches. Family members will have different sets of matches because of the way DNA is passed from parent to child. Since you inherit half of your DNA from each of your parents, and which DNA you inherit is random, members of the same family will not have identical sets of matches. Similarly, because siblings inherit different DNA from their parents, they may also have different communities.

  • Instead of comparing and then assigning sections of your DNA to a particular region, we look at your DNA matches to determine which communities you have strong DNA ties to. DNA matches vary a lot in how much DNA they share. Some share a lot, some very little. However, it’s the interrelationship of lots of matches that make you part of a community.

    The result is an assignment that doesn’t tell you how much of your DNA comes from a particular community but can provide much greater detail in other ways, such as geography.

  • Communities are based on AncestryDNA matches who most likely had relatives who lived at the same place and time in the past. However, not all communities trace their roots back to the same point in time. Some are more recent, while others can go back to the 1700s.

  • If you are included in one of these new communities, you’ll find them in the “Additional Communities” section at the bottom of your ethnicity estimate, or nested beneath an ethnic region (the regions with percentages). Communities do not have a percentage assigned to them and are marked by a circle surrounded by a dotted line. They are identified using our patented Genetic Communities™ technology, by analyzing genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA® members. Using public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records, we determine where this group of people lived over time. We’ve identified over 1,500 communities this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently, between 1700-1975.

  • Your ethnicity estimate includes regions based on two different scientific processes: the AncestryDNA reference panel and Genetic Communities™.

    The AncestryDNA reference panel is made up of people who have long-standing, documented roots in a specific geographic area. We compare your DNA to this reference panel to determine your possible origins dating back hundreds to more than a thousand years ago. Regions with a solid circle in your results are based on the reference panel. These regions also have percentages assigned to them.

    The Genetic Communities™ process detects groups of AncestryDNA members who are most likely connected because they share recent ancestors who came from the same community (such as Ulster, Ireland, or Guangzhou, China) or culture (such as Mountain West Mormon Pioneers). Using our Genetic Communities™ technology, we analyze genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA members. We then use public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records to determine where this group of people lived over time. Over 1,500 communities have been identified this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently. Regions with a dotted circle are based on Genetic Communities™. These communities do not have a percentage assigned to them.

  • With this update, you might lose one of the communities in your estimate. Most customers who have lost a community will find that it has been replaced with a new, smaller community. With this release, we’ve broken many larger communities into smaller ones. Sometimes people lose a community without a replacement. This usually happens when the confidence score for one of these communities was low. The number of samples in our database has grown since we first released these types of communities. This additional data allowed us to find hundreds of new communities, but it also refined how we classified who should be in these communities. Based on these new classifiers, some people whose link to one of these communities was already low may lose that community in their updated AncestryDNA results.

  • Your results may change in the future for a couple of reasons. First, because our Genetic Communities™ technology is new, cutting-edge science, it is constantly being updated and refined. As we update how we identify and define our communities, your results may change. Second, as we add more and more customers to our AncestryDNA database, we hope to increase the number and granularity of the regions we offer. This means that in the future, you may be added to new regions or to a newly refined region.

Discover even more by linking your DNA results to a family tree.

AncestryDNA® is just the beginning to discovering your family story. By linking your DNA results to an Ancestry® family tree, the two can work together to bring you even more insights into your family’s past.

Build your tree

Discover more with
AncestryDNA® communities

You’ve seen your communities.
But what do they mean?

View DNA Insights

Buy AncestryDNA

Learn more about how we find your communities.

How do communities work?

Communities are groups of people who share lots of the same DNA matches, most likely because their relatives lived somewhere at the same time. We look at their family trees for common dates and locations to identify places and events they might share.

How are communities different from my ethnicity regions?

Communities are designed to provide insights into your family’s recent history—the past couple of hundred years or so. They tend to show smaller, more specific areas than ethnicity regions, and they can even reveal historical journeys your family may have been part of.

Meanwhile, ethnicity regions are usually bigger and look further into the past to show regions where your ancestors may have come from and what percentage of your DNA looks most similar to DNA from people with long histories in those regions.

How do communities relate to me?

Your communities can reveal details about some of your recent relatives. They might show where they lived, where they moved to, and even the path they took to get there. They can also serve as clues for regional record collections you could search for the chance to make even more discoveries.

Top questions about AncestryDNA

  • Communities are based on your matches with other members in the AncestryDNA database. If family members have different communities, it’s because everyone has their own distinct set of matches. Family members will have different sets of matches because of the way DNA is passed from parent to child. Since you inherit half of your DNA from each of your parents, and which DNA you inherit is random, members of the same family will not have identical sets of matches. Similarly, because siblings inherit different DNA from their parents, they may also have different communities.

  • Instead of comparing and then assigning sections of your DNA to a particular region, we look at your DNA matches to determine which communities you have strong DNA ties to. DNA matches vary a lot in how much DNA they share. Some share a lot, some very little. However, it’s the interrelationship of lots of matches that make you part of a community.

    The result is an assignment that doesn’t tell you how much of your DNA comes from a particular community but can provide much greater detail in other ways, such as geography.

  • Communities are based on AncestryDNA matches who most likely had relatives who lived at the same place and time in the past. However, not all communities trace their roots back to the same point in time. Some are more recent, while others can go back to the 1700s.

  • If you are included in one of these new communities, you’ll find them in the “Additional Communities” section at the bottom of your ethnicity estimate, or nested beneath an ethnic region (the regions with percentages). Communities do not have a percentage assigned to them and are marked by a circle surrounded by a dotted line. They are identified using our patented Genetic Communities™ technology, by analyzing genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA® members. Using public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records, we determine where this group of people lived over time. We’ve identified over 1,500 communities this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently, between 1700-1975.

  • Your ethnicity estimate includes regions based on two different scientific processes: the AncestryDNA reference panel and Genetic Communities™.

    The AncestryDNA reference panel is made up of people who have long-standing, documented roots in a specific geographic area. We compare your DNA to this reference panel to determine your possible origins dating back hundreds to more than a thousand years ago. Regions with a solid circle in your results are based on the reference panel. These regions also have percentages assigned to them.

    The Genetic Communities™ process detects groups of AncestryDNA members who are most likely connected because they share recent ancestors who came from the same community (such as Ulster, Ireland, or Guangzhou, China) or culture (such as Mountain West Mormon Pioneers). Using our Genetic Communities™ technology, we analyze genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA members. We then use public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records to determine where this group of people lived over time. Over 1,500 communities have been identified this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently. Regions with a dotted circle are based on Genetic Communities™. These communities do not have a percentage assigned to them.

  • With this update, you might lose one of the communities in your estimate. Most customers who have lost a community will find that it has been replaced with a new, smaller community. With this release, we’ve broken many larger communities into smaller ones. Sometimes people lose a community without a replacement. This usually happens when the confidence score for one of these communities was low. The number of samples in our database has grown since we first released these types of communities. This additional data allowed us to find hundreds of new communities, but it also refined how we classified who should be in these communities. Based on these new classifiers, some people whose link to one of these communities was already low may lose that community in their updated AncestryDNA results.

  • Your results may change in the future for a couple of reasons. First, because our Genetic Communities™ technology is new, cutting-edge science, it is constantly being updated and refined. As we update how we identify and define our communities, your results may change. Second, as we add more and more customers to our AncestryDNA database, we hope to increase the number and granularity of the regions we offer. This means that in the future, you may be added to new regions or to a newly refined region.

Discover even more by linking your DNA results to a family tree.

AncestryDNA® is just the beginning to discovering your family story. By linking your DNA results to an Ancestry® family tree, the two can work together to bring you even more insights into your family’s past.

Build your tree

Build your tree

Build your tree

Discover more with
AncestryDNA® communities

You’ve seen your communities.
But what do they mean?

View DNA Insights

Buy AncestryDNA

Learn more about how we find your communities.

How are communities different from my ethnicity regions?

Communities are designed to provide insights into your family’s recent history—the past couple of hundred years or so. They tend to show smaller, more specific areas than ethnicity regions, and they can even reveal historical journeys your family may have been part of.

Meanwhile, ethnicity regions are usually bigger and look further into the past to show regions where your ancestors may have come from and what percentage of your DNA looks most similar to DNA from people with long histories in those regions.

How do communities work?

Communities are groups of people who share lots of the same DNA matches, most likely because their relatives lived somewhere at the same time. We look at their family trees for common dates and locations to identify places and events they might share.

How do communities
relate to me?

Your communities can reveal details about some of your recent relatives. They might show where they lived, where they moved to, and even the path they took to get there. They can also serve as clues for regional record collections you could search for the chance to make even more discoveries.

Top questions about AncestryDNA

  • Communities are based on your matches with other members in the AncestryDNA database. If family members have different communities, it’s because everyone has their own distinct set of matches. Family members will have different sets of matches because of the way DNA is passed from parent to child. Since you inherit half of your DNA from each of your parents, and which DNA you inherit is random, members of the same family will not have identical sets of matches. Similarly, because siblings inherit different DNA from their parents, they may also have different communities.

  • Instead of comparing and then assigning sections of your DNA to a particular region, we look at your DNA matches to determine which communities you have strong DNA ties to. DNA matches vary a lot in how much DNA they share. Some share a lot, some very little. However, it’s the interrelationship of lots of matches that make you part of a community.

    The result is an assignment that doesn’t tell you how much of your DNA comes from a particular community but can provide much greater detail in other ways, such as geography.

  • Communities are based on AncestryDNA matches who most likely had relatives who lived at the same place and time in the past. However, not all communities trace their roots back to the same point in time. Some are more recent, while others can go back to the 1700s.

  • If you are included in one of these new communities, you’ll find them in the “Additional Communities” section at the bottom of your ethnicity estimate, or nested beneath an ethnic region (the regions with percentages). Communities do not have a percentage assigned to them and are marked by a circle surrounded by a dotted line. They are identified using our patented Genetic Communities™ technology, by analyzing genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA® members. Using public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records, we determine where this group of people lived over time. We’ve identified over 1,500 communities this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently, between 1700-1975.

  • Your ethnicity estimate includes regions based on two different scientific processes: the AncestryDNA reference panel and Genetic Communities™.

    The AncestryDNA reference panel is made up of people who have long-standing, documented roots in a specific geographic area. We compare your DNA to this reference panel to determine your possible origins dating back hundreds to more than a thousand years ago. Regions with a solid circle in your results are based on the reference panel. These regions also have percentages assigned to them.

    The Genetic Communities™ process detects groups of AncestryDNA members who are most likely connected because they share recent ancestors who came from the same community (such as Ulster, Ireland, or Guangzhou, China) or culture (such as Mountain West Mormon Pioneers). Using our Genetic Communities™ technology, we analyze genetic connections between groups of AncestryDNA members. We then use public family trees, ethnicity data, and historical records to determine where this group of people lived over time. Over 1,500 communities have been identified this way. These groups identify areas where your ancestors may have lived more recently. Regions with a dotted circle are based on Genetic Communities™. These communities do not have a percentage assigned to them.

  • With this update, you might lose one of the communities in your estimate. Most customers who have lost a community will find that it has been replaced with a new, smaller community. With this release, we’ve broken many larger communities into smaller ones. Sometimes people lose a community without a replacement. This usually happens when the confidence score for one of these communities was low. The number of samples in our database has grown since we first released these types of communities. This additional data allowed us to find hundreds of new communities, but it also refined how we classified who should be in these communities. Based on these new classifiers, some people whose link to one of these communities was already low may lose that community in their updated AncestryDNA results.

  • Your results may change in the future for a couple of reasons. First, because our Genetic Communities™ technology is new, cutting-edge science, it is constantly being updated and refined. As we update how we identify and define our communities, your results may change. Second, as we add more and more customers to our AncestryDNA database, we hope to increase the number and granularity of the regions we offer. This means that in the future, you may be added to new regions or to a newly refined region.

Discover even more by linking your DNA results to a family tree.

AncestryDNA® is just the beginning to discovering your family story. By linking your DNA results to an Ancestry® family tree, the two can work together to bring you even more insights into your family’s past.

Build your tree