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German and English ancestry are both very common in the West.
Not really. I grew up in Arizona where the other white people were either Mexican American or transplanted from the Midwest. You'll occasionally meet someone whose family is from Philly or NYC, who are usually some combination of Italian, Irish, and/or Polish. For the most part, with the exception of Utah, the the British ancestry dies off in Central Texas, at which point things get more German. And even in the South, most white people are of Scots-Irish origin and not even English.
Not really. I grew up in Arizona where the other white people were either Mexican American or transplanted from the Midwest. You'll occasionally meet someone whose family is from Philly or NYC, who are usually some combination of Italian, Irish, and/or Polish. For the most part, with the exception of Utah, the the British ancestor dies off in Central Texas, at which point things get more German. And even in the South, most people are of Scots-Irish and not even English.
From the 1980 census (prior to the English "leakage"):
English ancestry:
Northeast 8,174,976
Midwest 11,538,184
South 19,618,370
West 10,266,505
German ancestry:
Northeast 9,359,415
Midwest 20,244,888
South 10,742,903
West 8,876,940
Looks like both were pretty common then. Transplants may have altered the balance somewhat, but that doesn't mean that British ancestry is "rare" in the West.
I think the ethnic questions on the census probably aren't too accurate. I've done a lot of genealogy research on my family and discovered we can trace our roots to England with some German mixed in. But my grandfather thought we were Swedish and German. We have a common Anglo name, but my grandfather always said they adopted the name when our ancestors immigrated to the US. Looking back I have no idea why he thought he were Swedish, but everyone in my family thought the same until I showed them our family tree with evidence. On the census I put "American", honestly I don't know if I am more then 50% of any ethnicity.
From the 1980 census (prior to the English "leakage"):
English ancestry:
Northeast 8,174,976
Midwest 11,538,184
South 19,618,370
West 10,266,505
German ancestry:
Northeast 9,359,415
Midwest 20,244,888
South 10,742,903
West 8,876,940
and from selected states...
Arizona
English 645,046
German 591,030
California
English 4,954,556
German 4,189,509
Colorado
German 869,154
English 736,181
Oregon
English 769,466
German 758,918
Utah
English 789,290
German 220,111
Washington
English 1,122,766
German 1,105,532 https://www.census.gov/population/ww...1-10/tab04.pdf
Looks like both were pretty common then. Transplants may have altered the balance somewhat, but that doesn't mean that British ancestry is "rare" in the West.
It's funny that you pull data that's 35 years old. Actually Midwestern transplants have changed things quite a bit.
Since my post referred to my memory from high school, I looked up data from 2000, when I was in high school. By 2000, Germans outnumbered English in Arizona by 40%. And I grew up in Tucson, which is not nearly as Mormon and Central and Northern Arizona.
As far as other Western states:
Germans outnumbered English by 72% in Montana.
Germans outnumbered English by 53% in Alaska.
Germans outnumbered English by 36% in Colorado.
Germans outnumbered English by 34% in Wyoming.
Germans outnumbered English by 33% in Nevada.
Germans outnumbered English by 27% in Washington.
Germans outnumbered English by 22% in Oregon.
Germans outnumbered English by 18% in California.
In New Mexico and Hawaii, English does not even make the top five reported ancestries.
In very Mormon Idaho, things are about split, with there being 4% more Germans than English.
I think the ethnic questions on the census probably aren't too accurate. I've done a lot of genealogy research on my family and discovered we can trace our roots to England with some German mixed in. But my grandfather thought we were Swedish and German. We have a common Anglo name, but my grandfather always said they adopted the name when our ancestors immigrated to the US. Looking back I have no idea why he thought he were Swedish, but everyone in my family thought the same until I showed them our family tree with evidence. On the census I put "American", honestly I don't know if I am more then 50% of any ethnicity.
I guess it depends upon the family. When I researched my family tree the ethnic breakdown I heard as a child was entirely correct, save for a great-great grandfather who passed himself off as Portuguese actually being a Sephardic Jew.
Of course, like many people who have ancestors from the urban Northeast, I have virtually no colonial ancestry. I have one Irish Catholic ancestor whose family seems to have been in the U.S. since colonial times (a rarity I know). One or two others drop off mysteriously in the early 19th century. But virtually every other one immigrated to the U.S. some time between 1840 and 1920. This is in contrast to say my wife, who on her father's side (which was originally Virginian) doesn't have a single ancestor who immigrated to the U.S. after the Revolutionary War).
Unlike say Italian Americans or Polish Americans, postwar German immigrants (there were quite a lot in the 50s) haven't settled in particularly "German" places and have assimilated very quickly.
NYC and LA metros have the most people born in Germany.
Anyway OP has asked which cities have the most German ancestry. Here are some Midwestern metros:
Chicago 1,476,979 15.5%
Minneapolis-St. Paul 1,111,065 32.4% St. Louis 819,894 29.3%
Detroit 710,893 17.7%
Cincinnati 633,015 29.7%
Milwaukee 561,481 35.9%
Cleveland 420,723 20.4%
Indianapolis 399,478 20.7%
Not shocking at all considering you can't throw a rock without hitting someone with a German last name in the St. Louis area, although what's interesting is that the city is far more interested in promoting its French origins. Being a former French colony is simply more interesting, I suppose, although I did see the German flag flying in a small town over on the Illinois side. Granted the town is called Millstadt, so I really wasn't shocked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close
I would even tell those Americans who think they don't have German ancestry to look harder, because you will probably find a large amount of it going back far enough.
None over here. It helps that we know when we got here, I suppose.
German is by far the largest ancestry in Pittsburgh.
German - 673,619
Irish - 442,953
Italian - 387,705
Polish - 211,980
English - 196,691
American - 105,102
Slovak - 97,417
Hungarian - 42,995
Russian - 36,806
Croatian - 30,519
German ancestry is by a large overreported in the US. Irish and Italian ancestry aswell.
Many of those "germans", "italians or "Irish" in america are just 1/4 those ethnicities.
Also many French or Swiss who spoke german in the US were counted as germans without being really ethnic-german people.
By far the largest ancestry is english and scotch-Irish.
The only areas where real german ancestry is common would be Northern-Texas, and areas of the midwest such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakotas and Michigan. Usually all the areas with large scandinavian presence also are dominated by germans. The south is largely British/Irish, the east coast is mainly Irish/Italian with British and Jewish as the second group. West is a big mix with largely hispanic/asian growing population and mixture of european and non european heritage from everywhere.
I've met quite a few Polish-American who looked like any random american and would have blended better in the UK than in Poland. Ancestry in america is mostly meaningless since people know little of their whole ancestry and family tree.
German ancestry is by a large overreported in the US. Irish and Italian ancestry aswell.
Many of those "germans", "italians or "Irish" in america are just 1/4 those ethnicities.
Also many French or Swiss who spoke german in the US were counted as germans without being really ethnic-german people.
By far the largest ancestry is english and scotch-Irish.
The only areas where real german ancestry is common would be Northern-Texas, and areas of the midwest such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakotas and Michigan. Usually all the areas with large scandinavian presence also are dominated by germans. The south is largely British/Irish, the east coast is mainly Irish/Italian with British and Jewish as the second group. West is a big mix with largely hispanic/asian growing population and mixture of european and non european heritage from everywhere.
I've met quite a few Polish-American who looked like any random american and would have blended better in the UK than in Poland. Ancestry in america is mostly meaningless since people know little of their whole ancestry and family tree.
Real German ancestry is common over the entirety of the Midwest, and while it exists in Texas isn't nearly as numerous. The Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio are all very high in German ancestry. Other states outside the Midwest where German ancestry is common includes Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Florida and Texas are the biggest concentrations of German in the South, but the South is relatively absent of German ancestry.
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