Ethnic composition of US cities in 1930

[King of Kensington]

I'm trying to sketch the ethnic composition of major US cities in 1930 that goes beyond the second generation. 

In NYC the population was 6,930,000.  That included 1,765,000 Jews who constituted more than a quarter of the population and represented the largest ethnic group.  There were 1,070,000 first- and second-generation Italians.  In 1930 the third generation would have been minimal so I assume they would have represented no more than 1.15 million or one sixth of the population.

Among the other eastern, central and southern Europeans of the "new" immigration, the vast majority of those of Russian, Romanian or Austrian birth or parentage in NYC would have been Jewish.  Of the 458,000 first- and second-generation from Poland, it seems reasonable to assume that 70% were Polish Jews, leaving about 140,000 Catholic Poles, 2% of the population.   There were also 115,000 Hungarians, probably half of whom were Jewish.  There were also 44,000 Greeks, 0.6% of the population - most of the Greek Americans in NYC today are from the post-WWII immigration.

Moving to northern and western Europe, there were 150,000 first- and second-generation Scandinavians, 2% of the population.  There were also 255,000 immigrants or children of immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales, though a fair number would have been the children of Eastern European Jews born in England London or Leeds - several settled there prior to going on to America (such as Mayor Abraham Beame, who was born in London.)  Most of the 71,000 "other" Canadians and Newfoundlanders ("French Canada" was counted separately) were of English, Scottish or Irish descent.

The largest of the "old" immigrants were the 613,000 first- and second-generation Irish and 600,000 first- and second-generation Germans, or 8.5% each of the population.  Altogether there were 5,083,000 "foreign white stock", 73% of the population and 1,506,000 "native whites of native parentage", 22% of the population.  While in 1890, most native whites of native parentage would still have been of colonial stock, by 1930 most would have been the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of 19th century immigrants.  I'm assuming German and Irish would have been half of the "native whites of native parentage" population.  Giving them 25% each, that would yield 990,000 Irish Americans and 977,000 German Americans, each about one-seventh of the population.  Probably about 100,000 of the German Americans would have been the old German Jewish community.

If we subtract the descendants of the British and Scandinavians and other 19th century immigrant
groups, we'd probably have about 500,000 of colonial (mostly English and Dutch) stock, 7% of the population.   If we assume 80% of the colonial stock and "other" Canadians are of English or Scottish origin, that 10% of the British-born were of Eastern European Jewish origin and add in another 30,000 to the British foreign stock to capture the third generation, we get 717,000 of English or Scottish ancestry, or 10% of the population.

NYC had 328,000 Blacks, or 4.7% of the population.  55,000 were Caribbean-born so it seems reasonable to assume that 75% were African American and 25% were of West Indian origin.  The Puerto Rican-born population was 45,000 - maybe 60,000 with the children of Puerto Rican-born included. 

[King of Kensington]

Chicago:  Out of a population of 3,376,000, there were 2,174,000 "foreign white stock", 64% of the population and 943,000 "native whites of native parentage" at 28%.  The largest "foreign stock" groups were the Poles at 401,000 and Germans at 378,000.  With the third generation included, assuming 5% of NBNPs are of Polish ancestry, the Polish population may go up to 450,000, or 13% of the population.  Assuming one-third of the NBNP are of German descent, that puts the German ancestry population at around 690,000 or about 20% of the population, the largest single ethnic group in Chicago. 

The first- and second-generation Irish numbered 222,000, assuming about one-sixth of the NBNPs are Irish American, we get 380,000 Irish Americans or 11% of the population.  There were 141,000 first- and second-generation Swedes and 222,000 Scandinavians.   Assuming 5% of NBNPs are Swedish, the Swedish American population goes to 188,000 or 5% of the population; the total Scandinavian population is perhaps 295,000 or 8.5% of the population.

The Jewish population of Chicago was 275,000 in 1930 or 8% of the population.  Perhaps 35,000 were German Jews with the remaining 85% being of East European descent.  Italians were 182,000 first- and second-generation, for a total of perhaps of 200,000, or 6%.  The Czechs and Bohemians - who sort of straddled the line between "old" and "new" immigrant groups, included 122,000 or maybe 160,000 with the third generation, or 4.5%.  Other southern and eastern Europeans included 64,000 Lithuanians (2%), 33,000 Yugoslavs (1%) and 26,000 Greeks (0.8%).

The English, Scots and Welsh first- and second generations numbered 108,000 and there were 51,000 "other" Canadians, mostly from Ontario and of British origin.  Perhaps one third of the NBNPs were of colonial stock (Yankees with a few Appalachian white migrants thrown in), 314,000, representing 9% of the population.  Altogether - adding in most colonial stock and Canadians plus some third generation, perhaps 400,000 were of English or Scottish ancestry.

The Black population of Chicago was 233,000 (6.9%), mostly migrants from the South.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Solid thread, keep posting.

[King of Kensington]

Chicago may be the only big city where Italians, Poles and Scandinavians all exceeded 5% of the population.  Moving on...

Boston:  Population of 781,000 with 559,000 "white foreign stock", 72% of the population and 200,000 "native whites of native parentage", at 26%.

By far the largest group of course were the Irish, with 159,000 first- and second-generation.   To that total of course we need to include not only the third and fourth generation Irish Americans, but also some of the Maritime Canadians who had moved to Boston in large numbers.  85,000 "other" Canadians (mostly from the Maritime provinces) lived in Boston; 90,000 "other" Canadians and Newfoundlanders together.

The Irish dominated immigration flows during the 19th century, with Canadians and British immigrants a distant second and third making up and making up most of the rest.  Of the native born native stock it seems reasonable to assume about one third were Irish, a tenth were Canadian and 5% from the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants directly from Britain.  This brings a population of about 110,000 with roots in Atlantic Canada.  Assuming one quarter of the "other" Canadians were of Irish descent, that leads to an estimated 254,000 people of Irish extraction in Boston, or 33% of the population.  Adding to the 39,000 first- and second-generation British, are 10,000 from the NBNPs and 80,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders.  Assuming half of the NBNPs are Yankees (virtually all of English ancestry), 229,000 are of English, Scottish or Welsh descent, 29% of the population.  The New England Yankees and "Boston Brahmins" are down to about one eighth of Bostonians, and less than half of those of British origin (though the Canadians include descendants of New England Loyalists and Planters as well as Scots).  Perhaps a quarter of the population is of English origin.  

Of the "new" immigrants, there were 91,000 first- and second-generation Italians; maybe 95,000 Italians in total, or 12% of the population.  The Jewish population of Boston was 90,000, 11.5% of the population - a trickle of Boston Jews had already moved to neighboring Brookline.  Virtually all were of Eastern European descent, there was never much of a German Jewish population in Boston.  The other groups were central, eastern and southern Europe were quite small in Boston.  There were 22,000 first- and second-generation from Poland, but the vast majority would be Polish Jews.  The Greek population is 6,000, or 0.8% of the population.

Of the remaining northern and western Europeans, there were 17,000 Germans and 15,000 Scandinavians, about 2% each.

The Black population of Boston was 20,500, 2.6% of the population.  Perhaps a quarter were of West Indian origin, and there were some blacks from Nova Scotia as well.

Up next...Philadelphia and Detroit.

[King of Kensington]

Philadelphia:  Out of a population of 1,951,000, 988,000 were "foreign white stock", just over 50% of the population, and 741,000 were "native whites of native parentage", 38% of the population.

The largest of the "old" immigrant groups of the 19th century were in order of size, Irish, Germans and British.  The first- and second-generation Irish numbered 184,000, the first- and second-generation Germans numbered 131,000 and the first- and second-generation English, Scottish and Welsh numbered 99,000.  I'm going to assume 25%, 15% and 7.5% for the third and fourth generations for the Irish, Germans and British in the NWNP population which brings the Irish to 370,000, the Germans to 242,000 and British to 155,000.  Assuming half the NWNPs are colonial stock and 25% German and 20% Scots-Irish and 50% English and Welsh, we get 444,000 of Irish ancestry, 23% of the population; 335,000 of German ancestry, 17%; and 525,000 of English, Scottish or Welsh ancestry, 27%.

One thing to note about the Irish population in Philadelphia is that whereas in Boston and NYC it was virtually all Irish Catholic, in Philadelphia a significant minority - maybe one-quarter to a third would have been Ulster Irish Protestants.

Of the "new" immigrants, Jews and Italians dominated.  Philadelphia had an estimated Jewish population of 247,000 in the 1930s, 13% of the population.  There were 182,000 first- and second-generation Italians; perhaps there were 200,000 Italians in Philadelphia, 10% of the population.  There were 78,000 first- and second-generation from Poland, assuming a 50/50 split between Polish Jews and Polish Catholics; in other words there were about 40,000 Polish Catholics, 2% of the population.

The Black population of Philadelphia was 220,000, 11.3% of the population, quite a bit larger than other Northern cities at the time.  70% were born in the South.

[patrick1]

Great posts, thanks.  A few random points- you may be under counting the Polish population in NY. Real tough target because of the various carving ups of the state. 

Another interesting thing is that the immigrants from Quebec would not have been exclusively French.  My grandmother was born in Quebec to newly arrived Irish who made their way to NYC after about 5 years or so.

[King of Kensington]

Great posts, thanks.  A few random points- you may be under counting the Polish population in NY. Real tough target because of the various carving ups of the state. 

Another interesting thing is that the immigrants from Quebec would not have been exclusively French.  My grandmother was born in Quebec to newly arrived Irish who made their way to NYC after about 5 years or so.

Thanks Patrick.  To reply to your points:

I'm pretty certain the majority of those born in Poland in NYC were Jewish.  Glazer and Moynihan state that in Beyond the Melting Pot.  If we split the Polish origin population 50/50 we get about 230,000 Polish Catholics in NYC or about 3% of the population.  That seems too high to me.

As for Canadians, the census split Canada into "Canada - French" and "Canada - other."  Not sure if this is based on mother tongue or Quebec vs. other provinces.

[King of Kensington]

Detroit had a population of 1,569,000, with 902,000 "white foreign stock", 57% of the population and 538,000 NWNPs, 34%. 

Detroit's population in 1890 was more than three quarters immigrants or the children of immigrants, and the largest immigrant groups were, in order of size, Germans, Canadians, British and Irish.  I'm assuming about one third of NWNPs in 1930 were descended from the Yankees that dominated the "old stock" (though there were probably some Appalachian whites as well), the vast majority of English origin.  Adding to that is 97,000 first- and second-generation British, and maybe 80% of the 148,000 "other Canadians", most of whom came from southwestern Ontario.  Assuming that about a fifth of the NWNPs were third generation British or British-Canadian, we get 323,000 of English, Scottish or Welsh origin, 21% of the population. 

There were 127,000 first- and second-generation Germans.  Adding to that would be one-third of the NWNPs and perhaps 10% of the Canadians, for a total of 382,000, or 24%. 

The Irish are a smaller group than in other cities so far.  Adding to the 34,000 first- and second-generation Irish are perhaps 7.5% of the "old stock" and 10% of the Canadians are Irish-Catholic like the notorious Father Coughlin (the Irish Protestants are hard to separate out from the other "British Canadians"), getting a total of 89,000, or 6% of the population.   

The largest "new" group to Detroit by far are the Poles, with 172,000 first- and second-generation.  200,000 seems a reasonable estimate for the Polish American community of Detroit, 13% of the population.

The Jewish community in Detroit was about 75,000, just under 5% of the population.  There were 62,000 first- and second-generation Italians, maybe 65,000 in total, or 4%. Other groups included 22,000 Hungarians, 1.5%; 16,000 Yugoslavs, 1%; and 10,000 Greeks (0.6%).  The third generation of these groups would have been minimal.

Detroit also had 15,000 Belgians, 1% and probably the largest Belgian population in the US.  There were also 27,000 first- and second-generation French Canadians and 7,500 first- and second-generation from France - with the later generations included there were perhaps 45,000 f French/French Canadian origin, 3%.

Detroit had 120,000 Blacks in 1930, 7.6% of the population.  The vast majority would have been from the South, but a small number would have come from the Windsor-Chatham area across the border in Ontario. 

[scotopino]

Great posts, thanks.  A few random points- you may be under counting the Polish population in NY. Real tough target because of the various carving ups of the state. 

Another interesting thing is that the immigrants from Quebec would not have been exclusively French.  My grandmother was born in Quebec to newly arrived Irish who made their way to NYC after about 5 years or so.

Same thing here...doing geneology on my paternal grandmothers side I discovered that my great great grandparents on that side came from Montreal...but before Montreal they all came from Ireland. So Ireland, Montreal and to Pennsylvania. I guess this might have been common?

[TDAS04]

Solid thread, keep posting.

[King of Kensington]

OK I will do more this week.

[TeePee4Prez]

Great posts, thanks.  A few random points- you may be under counting the Polish population in NY. Real tough target because of the various carving ups of the state.  

Another interesting thing is that the immigrants from Quebec would not have been exclusively French.  My grandmother was born in Quebec to newly arrived Irish who made their way to NYC after about 5 years or so.

Trying to do some digging on Ancestry.com myself.  Not all of my Irish ancestors came in through Philly.  Some were from upstate PA/Lehigh Valley and one of them was even from Virginia!  Not sure if the upstate PA ancestors came into NYC and the VA one who knows??  From what I read VA was definitely not a place considered Irish Catholic friendly, in fact I'm thinking some kind of indentured servant may not be out of the question.

I even have a great grandfather I only know the names of his parents, but nothing else.  His name was Moore and I'm thinking Irish, but that name was commonly Anglo-Irishized from other Central/Eastern European names.  Researching the Irish, or anything else non-Anglo-Germanic, is quite difficult.

[H. Ross Peron]

This is one of the best threads I've seen on this site. Will you ever be getting around to Los Angeles?

[muon2]

Chicago:  Out of a population of 3,376,000, there were 2,174,000 "foreign white stock", 64% of the population and 943,000 "native whites of native parentage" at 28%.  The largest "foreign stock" groups were the Poles at 401,000 and Germans at 378,000.  With the third generation included, assuming 5% of NBNPs are of Polish ancestry, the Polish population may go up to 450,000, or 13% of the population.  Assuming one-third of the NBNP are of German descent, that puts the German ancestry population at around 690,000 or about 20% of the population, the largest single ethnic group in Chicago. 

My mother's HS yearbook (1955) is almost entirely German and Polish reflecting the immigrant population of the previous generation.