2000
#24,529
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 955
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.35
Rare Last name
Hillegass
A place name derived from a location named "Hillegass" in Germany.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 1,196 Americans carry the last name Hillegass. That puts it at #24,934 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.35 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 286,584 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Hillegass surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
1.2K
1 in 286,584
Census rank
#24,934
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.3
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
1.0K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,043 bearers of the surname Hillegass in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.35 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 24934th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Hillegass, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Hillegass
The surname Hillegass is of German origin, originating from the Middle High German words "hille" meaning "hill" and "gasse" meaning "street" or "lane". It is believed to have first emerged in the 14th century in the regions of Bavaria and Franconia in southern Germany, where it was likely used as a descriptive name for someone who lived on a street located on a hill.
One of the earliest documented references to the surname Hillegass can be found in the town records of Nürnberg, Bavaria, dating back to the year 1389, where a certain Hans Hillegasse is mentioned as a resident. Another early record comes from the city of Würzburg in Franconia, where a Michael Hillegass is listed as a guild member in 1427.
The surname Hillegass made its way to other parts of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, as evidenced by records in Switzerland and the Netherlands. One notable individual was Johann Hillegass, a Swiss Protestant theologian born in Basel in 1546, who played a significant role in the Reformation movement.
In the 18th century, members of the Hillegass family began to emigrate to the American colonies, with the first known arrival being that of Hans Peter Hillegass, who settled in Pennsylvania in 1737. His grandson, Michael Hillegas, born in 1729, became a prominent figure in the American Revolution, serving as the first Treasurer of the United States from 1775 to 1789.
Other notable individuals with the surname Hillegass include Johann Hillegass, a German-born American portrait painter active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and Theodor Hillegass, a German-American educator and textbook author born in 1836, who published widely used study guides for literary classics.
In the 19th century, the Hillegass surname was also found in various regions of Germany, such as Saxony and Württemberg, as well as in the Netherlands and Switzerland. One prominent figure was Carl Hillegass, a German-American artist born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1853, known for his landscape paintings of the American West.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hillegass
Among Census respondents with the surname Hillegass, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Hillegass bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Hillegass surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.5% · 944
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 52
- Two or more races2.8% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 11
- Black or African American0.7% · 7
Timeline
Historical Census data for Hillegass
Hillegass appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#24,855
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,001
+46 bearers (+4.8%)
Per 100,000 0.34
Rank movement Down 326 places
2020
#24,934
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,043
+42 bearers (+4.2%)
Per 100,000 0.35
Rank movement Down 79 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #24,529 | 955 | 0.35 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #24,855 | 1,001 | 0.34 | +46 bearers (+4.8%) | Down 326 places |
| 2020 | #24,934 | 1,043 | 0.35 | +42 bearers (+4.2%) | Down 79 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Hillegass surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #24,855 | #24,934 | -0.3% |
| Count | 1,001 | 1,043 | 4.2% |
| Per 100K | 0.34 | 0.35 | 2.6% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Hillegass bearers went from 1,001 to 1,043 (+4.2% change). The surname moved down 79 positions in the national ranking, going from #24,855 to #24,934.
FAQ
Hillegass surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Hillegass?
Name Census estimates that about 1,196 living Americans carry the surname Hillegass. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 286,584 residents.
How common is Hillegass?
Hillegass ranks #24,934 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.35 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,043 people with the surname Hillegass. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (1,196), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.35 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.35 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Hillegass.
Has Hillegass become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Hillegass went from 1,001 recorded bearers to 1,043. That is an increase of 42 (+4.2%). In the national ranking it fell from #24,855 to #24,934.
What does the Census say about the background of Hillegass?
Among Census respondents with the surname Hillegass, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Hillegass in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (944 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Hillegass appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (90.5%), Hispanic (5.0%), Two or More Races (2.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Hillegass (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Hillegass mean?
A place name derived from a location named "Hillegass" in Germany. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Hillegass (0.35 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Hillegass?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.