THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION BY WORLD REGION OF BIRTH AND BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH,
FOR 100 LARGE CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1850 TO 2020
INTRODUCTION
Data on the foreign-born population for 100 large cities in the United States presented on this website are from the same sources (the decennial census of population from 1850 to 2000, and subsequently from the American Community Survey) and are subject to the same sources of error as corresponding data for the United States and states, as described in the other text document on this website: The Foreign-Born Population by World Region of Birth and by Country of Birth, for the United States and States: 1850 to 2020. Thus, it is strongly suggested that the user of data for cities read the preceding text document before reading this text document, which focuses on the additional limitations and complexities of the published data for cities.
The 100 cities included here are those cities that were ever among the 50 largest cities in the United States during the 1870 to 2020 period. The choice of 50 reflects the fact that data on the foreign-born population by country of birth were shown for the 50 largest cities in 1870. (In 1850 and 1860 census reports, there was not a specific population size criterion for the limited number of cities for which such data were published.) The fact that exactly 100 cities were ever among the 50 largest cities in the 1870 to 2020 period is coincidental. These 100 cities include 3 cities that subsequently were annexed by larger cities: Allegheny by Pittsburgh, Brooklyn by New York City, and Charlestown by Boston.
FIGURES AND TABLES
This section provides a brief description of the figures and tables for 100 cities. The figures present graphically basic information about the foreign-born population and country of birth, while the tables provide more detailed data.
Figures AKRON, OHIO to YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. These 100 one-page graphics show selected data for cities from the tables listed below. The graphics include numbers in thousands and short abbreviations for country names.
Table A. Table A is a master list of cities, showing the populations and population ranks of the 100 cities ever among the 50 largest cities in the United States in the 1870 to 2020 period, based on their populations as enumerated in the decennial census of population.
Table B-1850 to B-2020b. These 24 tables present data on the foreign-born population by world region of birth and country of birth at ten-year intervals from 1850 to 2020, excluding 1960 and 1980 for reasons discussed later. For 1860, 1910, 1920, 1970, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, the data for each year are presented in two tables (e.g., B-1860a and B-1860b).
Tables AKRON, OHIO to YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. These 100 one-page tables present data up to 2020 on the ten leading countries of birth of the foreign-born population for cities. The rankings in these tables for data for 1970 to 2020 are based on the point estimates of data collected on a sample basis and thus do not reflect sampling variability.
DATA ISSUES BY YEAR
1850 and 1860. In contrast with subsequent census years, data on the foreign-born population by country of birth for cities for 1850 and 1860 were published in less than systematic fashion. For 1850, very limited country of birth detail was published for 29 cities (including many but not all of the largest cities) in Statistical View of the United States (1854), Appendix, Table III, p. 399. These data include some inconsistencies, especially for Albany, New York, for which a pro rata adjustment of numbers to the total foreign-born population was done.
For 1860, detailed data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published in Volume I, pp. 608-615 for eight cities with total populations of 100,000 or more. Much less detailed data were included in the Introduction, pp. xxxi-xxxii, for an additional 36 cities.
1870 to 1900. For 1870 and 1880, detailed data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published for the 50 largest cities in the United States. The 50th largest city in 1870 was Fall River, Massachusetts (population 26,766), and the 50th largest city in 1880 was Denver, Colorado (population 35,629).
For 1890, detailed data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published for cities of 25,000 or more population. This included 124 cities in 1890 and 161 cities in 1900, thus including many cities that were never among the 50 largest cities in the United States in the 1870 to 2020 period.
1910 to 1940. Starting with the 1910 census, the publication of data on country of birth of the foreign born population became more complicated, reflecting an increasing focus on data on both nativity (native or foreign born) and parentage (native population by birthplace of parents: both native, one native and one foreign born, or both foreign born). The published data on parentage were limited to the White population. Also starting with the 1910 census, separate reports were published for each state, with an increase in the total quantity published, along with “national-level reports,” which included data for states and “large cities.”
For 1910 and 1920, detailed data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were again published for cities of 25,000 or more population. The state reports included corresponding data for cities of 10,000 or more for the White population, but the country-of-birth detail varied among states and was limited almost entirely to European countries and Canada and sometimes included other countries such as Mexico and Australia. The state reports did not include the total foreign-born population (i.e., including the Nonwhite foreign-born population).
For 1930, the published data on the foreign-born population by country of birth were similar to what is described above for 1910 and 1920, the main difference being that the country-of-birth detail for the total foreign-born population was limited, unfortunately, to cities of 100,000 or more population instead of 25,000 or more population. Numbers on the total foreign-born population (without country of birth detail) were published for cities of 50,000 or more population. An added complication for 1930 data was that for the only time in the history of the decennial census, Mexican was defined as a race, thus making data on the White foreign-born population not directly comparable between 1920 and 1930. Fortunately, 1940 census reports included revised numbers for 1930 for cities of 10,000 or more population that included the Mexican population in the White population.
For 1940, the published country-of-birth detail for cities, unfortunately, was all limited to the White population. However, numbers were published for the total foreign-born population for cities of 10,000 or more population. For cities of 100,000 or more population, data were published on the nativity of the population by race for both 1930 and 1940. And for cities of 10,000 or more population, data were published on the nativity of the Chinese and Japanese populations (racial categories) for 1940.
While there are thus many complexities in the published data on country of birth of the foreign-born population for cities in the 1910 to 1940 period, it is also the case that at the national level, the Nonwhite percentage of the total foreign-born population was extremely small during this period. As noted in the text for the United States and states, it was 1.5 percent in 1940 at the national level. While the percentage was higher than this in many Western cities with their higher proportions of Chinese and Japanese, it was lower in most cities elsewhere in the United States. As a result, it was possible to make estimates of the total foreign-born population by world region of birth and for the ten leading countries of birth for cities for the 1910 to 1940 period with a small degree of error in cases where the published detail was limited to the White foreign-born population, as described above. These estimates were modeled separately for each city, in part by using more detailed data available at the state level for the 1910 to 1940 period (e.g., data on the Nonwhite population by nativity shown separately for Black, American Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and All other Asian).
1950. The published data on the foreign-born population by country of birth for cities from the 1950 census were again focused on the White population but were even more limited than from the 1940 census. First, the table with data for cities (Table 34a) was omitted in the state reports for states in the South region. Second, the number of countries of birth shown in Table 34a was much less detailed than shown in 1940 census reports, thus making a listing of the ten leading countries of birth of the foreign-born population unreliable. Third, data on the Nonwhite population by nativity (Table 55) were limited to cities with 100,000 or more population. Fourth, data on nativity of the Chinese and Japanese populations (the leading sources of the Nonwhite foreign-born population in most cities) were not published for cities. At the national level in 1950, 2.5 percent of the foreign-born population was Nonwhite. For cities outside the South region with 100,000 or more population in 1950, estimates were made of the Nonwhite foreign-born population by world region of birth modeled on the distributions for their respective states. These estimates were combined with the published data for the White foreign-born population to provide estimates of the total foreign-born population by world region of birth. As a result of the limitations of the data for 1950, the data shown in Table B-1950 are not so comprehensive as in Table B for other census years. For a detailed discussion of limitations of the 1950 data, see also the other text document on this website: The Foreign-Born Population by World Region of Birth and by Country of Birth, for the United States and States: 1850 to 2020.
1960 and 1980. Published data on detailed country of birth of the foreign-born population in 1960 and 1980 census reports were limited to the United States, states, and metropolitan areas with 250,000 or more population and were shown in Chapter D reports. Much less detailed data on country of birth for 1980 were published in Chapter C reports, but are not included on this website.
1970. Data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published for cities with 100,000 or more population.
1990. Data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published for urban places with 10,000 or more population.
2000 to 2020. Data on country of birth of the foreign-born population were published for all urban places. These data were published on the Census Bureau website (rather than in printed reports); so, the quantity of printed pages was no longer an issue, and thus a population threshold was not needed. For 2000, these data are from the decennial census of population. For 2010 and 2020, these data are five-year average data for 2008-2012 and 2018-2022, respectively, from the American Community Survey.
SAMPLING ERROR
Data from 1960 to 2020 on the total foreign-born population and by country of birth are subject to sampling error, as discussed with examples in the text document on this website: The Foreign-Born Population by World Region of Birth and by Country of Birth, for the United States and States: 1850 to 2020. The primary difference between the data for states and for large cities is that since on average, the numbers are larger for states than for cities, the sampling errors on both numbers and percentages tend to be larger for the data for cities. In particular, the relative sampling error on small point estimates (e.g., under 2,500) from ACS data for 2010 and 2020 is so large, as shown in the other text document, that comparisons with other estimates frequently are not justified.
GRAPHICS
Figure 1-100. AKRON, OHIO to YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. Population by Nativity, Foreign-Born Population by World Region of Birth, and Ten Leading Countries of Birth: 1850 to 2020.
Table C. AKRON, OHIO to YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. Ten Leading Countries of birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 1850 to 2020
INDIVIDUAL CITIES