These organizations, located within the United States, self-identify as Native American tribes, heritage groups, or descendant communities, but they are not federally recognized or state-recognized as Native American tribes. The U.S. Governmental Accountability Office states: "Non-federally recognized tribes fall into two distinct categories: (1) state-recognized tribes that are not also federally recognized and (2) other groups that self-identify as Indian tribes but are neither federally nor state recognized." The following list includes the latter. For organizations that are recognized by the government of the United States as Native American tribes and tribal nations, see List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States and List of Alaska Native tribal entities. For groups that are recognized by state governments as Native American tribes, see State-recognized tribes in the United States. Many of these organizations are not accepted as being Native American by established Native American tribes. Exceptions exist, including tribes whose previous recognition was terminated, especially in California under the California Rancheria Termination Acts. Certain historic tribes in California signed treaties in 1851 and 1852 that the U.S. Senate secretly rejected after being pressured by the state of California; many of these historic tribes remain unrecognized. The following groups claim to be of Native American, which includes American Indian and Alaska Native, or Métis heritage by ethnicity but have no federal recognition through the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA), United States Department of the Interior Office of the Solicitor (SOL), and are not recognized by any state government in the United States. Some of the organizations are regarded as fraudulent. Some organizations are described as Corporations Posing as Indigenous Nations (CPAIN). Non-recognized tribes is a term for "groups that have no federal designation and are not accepted as sovereign entities under U.S. law," which includes state-recognized tribes. "An additional sub-designation under this classification are 'Federally Non-Recognized' tribes, which includes groups that have previously held federal recognition, either under governments prior to the U.S. Federal Government or as Nations that are no longer in existence and/or no longer meet the criteria as a Nation to have sovereignty status." Indigenous communities in the Pacific such as Native Hawaiians, Samoan Americans, Chamorro people of Guam, and Indigenous peoples of the Northern Mariana Islands are classified as Pacific Indigenous Communities and are not organized into tribes.

Caribbean

This list also includes some groups from non-sovereign U.S. territories outside the contiguous United States, especially Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, that identify as having Caribbean Indigenous heritage and which also lack formal recognition. Groups outside the 48 contiguous states and Alaska are currently ineligible for federal recognition. Some of these groups are represented on the International Indian Treaty Council under the United Confederation of Taíno People, which has campaigned nationally and at the United Nations for the United States to recognize such groups.

List of groups self-identifying as American Indian tribes

Following is a list of groups known to self-identify as Native American tribes but that are not recognized by the U.S. federal government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) or by any state government.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Carolina recognizes some Native American entities as groups or special interest organizations, but not as tribes. Unrecognized organizations include:

Tennessee

Texas

As journalists Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee Nation) and Tristan Ahtone (Kiowa) reported, Texas has "no legal mechanism to recognize tribes."

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

List of groups self-identifying as Caribbean Indigenous tribes

Following is a list of groups known to self-identify as Caribbean Indigenous tribes but that have been recognized neither by the federal government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) nor by any state, territory or tribal government.

Puerto Rico

U.S. Virgin Islands