Urban Indian

Urban Indians are American Indians and Canadian First Nations peoples who live in urban areas. Urban Indians represent a growing proportion of the Native population in the United States.^[1] The National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC) considers the term to apply to "individuals of American Indian and Alaska Native ancestry who may or may not have direct and/or active ties with a particular tribe, but who identify with and are at least somewhat active in the Native community in their urban area."^[2]

As defined by NUIFC, urban Indians may variously be permanent residents including long term residents, forced residents, or medium and short term visitors. Long-term residents are those who have been in a city for multiple generations. Some are descendants of the people who traditionally owned land that has been developed as an urban center. Forced residents are those who were forced to relocate to urban centers by government policy or by the need to access specialized health or other services. Medium and short-term visitors are in a city to visit family or friends, to pursue an education, etc.^[3] The term "forced residents" is a contested term.

Urban Indian populations are largely concentrated in cities in the Western United States and parts of the Midwest, with a few exceptions. Major U.S. cities with large Native American populations include Los Angeles, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, Tucson, Albuquerque, and Minneapolis. Canadian cities with large First Nations populations, most of which are in the Prairie Provinces and Northern Canada, include Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Thunder Bay.