Nebraska

Migration

The pioneers who settled Nebraska in the 1860s consisted mainly of Civil War veterans from the North and foreign-born immigrants. Some of the settlers migrated from the East and easterly parts of the Midwest, but many came directly from Europe to farm the land. The Union Pacific and Burlington Northern railroads, which sold land to the settlers, actively recruited immigrants in Europe. Germans were the largest group to settle in Nebraska (in 1900, 65,506 residents were German-born), then Czechs from Bohemia, and Scandinavians from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The Irish came to work on the railroads in the 1860s and stayed to help build the cities. Another wave of Irish immigrants in the 1880s went to work in the packinghouses of Omaha. The city's stockyards also attracted Polish workers. The 1900 census showed that over one-half of all Nebraskans were either foreign-born or the children of foreign-born parents. For much of the 20th century, Nebraska was in a period of out-migration. From 1930 to 1960, the state suffered a net loss of nearly 500,000 people through migration, with more than one third of the total leaving during the dust-bowl decade, 1930–40. This trend continued, with Nebraska experiencing a net out-migration of 27,400 for the period 1985–90. Between 1990 and 1998, the state had net gains of 2,000 in domestic migration and 14,000 in international migration. In 1998, 1,267 foreign immigrants arrived in Nebraska. The state's overall population increased 5.3% between 1990 and 1998. In the period 1995–2000, 154,025 people moved into the state and 169,378 moved out, for a net loss of 15,353, many of whom moved to Iowa.