by James Gregory
This is part 2 of the sequence on the European immigration. It follows Part 1 short essay which explains the history and geography of this world changing migration. Here we track European immigrants and European ancestries by country of origin using three kinds of data. (1) Ship passenger records and federal immigration tallies, 1820-2020; (2) Census counts of birthplaces 1850-2023; and census counts of declared ancestry 1980-2023. Filters allow you to specify countries of origin and select particular states to see birthplace and ancestry distributions. Tables follow the graphs and maps. These visualization are hosted by Tableau Public. If slow, refresh the page.
Move between six graphs and maps by selecting the tabs below
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Here are the data for the charts and maps in tabular form
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Note on country identification: Nation states and boundaries are ever changing. For the sake of consistency federal immigration statistics are based on identifications common before the breakup of the Soviet Union and in some cases before World War I. The label Russian Empire includes the Ukraine and other nations that became independent after 1989. Austria-Hungary includes the now independent nations of that vast empire, except that Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia are reported separately after 1919 but do not reflect later breakups. Norway and Sweden are reported together even though they have been separate since 1905.
Sources: Immigration graphs are based on Table 1. Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status: Fiscal Years 1820 to 2023, Department of Homeland Security Statistics. Birthplace and Ancestry graphs and tables are calculated from weighted 1% samples of U.S. Census data from the Minnesota Population Center's IPUMS USA: Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Ronald Goeken, Josiah Grover, Erin Meyer, Jose Pacas and Matthew Sobek. IPUMS USA: Version 9.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2019. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V9.0. The following samples: 1850 1%, 1860 1%, 1870 1%, 1880 1% 1900 1%, 1910 1%, 1920 1%, 1930 1%, 1940 1%, 1950 1%, 1960 5%, 1970 1% State FM1, 1980 5% State, 1990 5% State, 2000 1%, 2010 ACS, 2023 ACS.