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What Montana's immigrant population looked like in 1900

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Everett Collection // Shutterstock
Everett Collection // Shutterstock
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Since the first successful English colony settled in Jamestown in 1607, flows of immigrants have arrived on American shores seeking a new life. From Irish immigrants fleeing famine to Chinese immigrants settling in California during the Gold Rush, more than 86 million people legally immigrated to the United States between 1783 and 2019.

There have been four major waves of immigration to the U.S., beginning with settlers from northern and western Europe seeking land on the frontier from 1820 to 1880. The immigrants counted in the 1900 Census hailed primarily from southern and eastern Europe, drawn by the call of industrialization in America. At the advent of the era of world wars, there was a dearth of immigration, but after 1965, individuals from Asia and Latin America began to move to the U.S. in droves.

Though the national immigrant population today and in 1900 is comparable by percentage, hovering around 14% of the overall U.S. population, the raw population tells a different story. Today, the U.S. is home to 44.7 million immigrants, whereas that number was just shy of 10.5 million at the time of the 1900 Census. Stacker compiled a list of the largest sources of immigrants in Montana in 1900 by transcribing a previously untranscribed dataset from the U.S. Census Bureau. Countries are ranked by total residents who were born in that country.

Immigration to the U.S. was handled at the state level prior to 1890, with each state government designating its own processes and checkpoints. New York originally used Castle Garden (now Castle Clinton) as its immigration processing hub, but within a few decades realized that a massive influx of immigrants necessitated a larger venue. Ellis Island opened on Jan. 1, 1892, to the first of more than 12 million individuals who entered the U.S. through its doors.

Keep reading to find out more about the historical immigrant community in your home state or explore the data on your own on our site, GitHub, or data.world.

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#1. Canada

Montana
- Number of residents: 13,826
- Percent of foreign born residents: 20.62%
- Percent of total state population: 5.68%
National
- Number of residents: 1,183,225
- Percent of foreign born residents: 11.31%
- #3 most common country of origin

2 / 42

#2. Ireland

Montana
- Number of residents: 9,436
- Percent of foreign born residents: 14.07%
- Percent of total state population: 3.88%
National
- Number of residents: 1,619,409
- Percent of foreign born residents: 15.48%
- #2 most common country of origin

3 / 42

#3. England

Montana
- Number of residents: 8,077
- Percent of foreign born residents: 12.04%
- Percent of total state population: 3.32%
National
- Number of residents: 843,491
- Percent of foreign born residents: 8.06%
- #4 most common country of origin

4 / 42

#4. Germany

Montana
- Number of residents: 7,162
- Percent of foreign born residents: 10.68%
- Percent of total state population: 2.94%
National
- Number of residents: 2,669,164
- Percent of foreign born residents: 25.52%
- #1 most common country of origin

6 / 42

#6. Austria

Montana
- Number of residents: 3,575
- Percent of foreign born residents: 5.33%
- Percent of total state population: 1.47%
National
- Number of residents: 276,702
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.65%
- #10 most common country of origin

7 / 42

#7. Norway

Montana
- Number of residents: 3,354
- Percent of foreign born residents: 5.00%
- Percent of total state population: 1.38%
National
- Number of residents: 338,426
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.24%
- #9 most common country of origin

8 / 42

#8. Japan

Montana
- Number of residents: 2,427
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.62%
- Percent of total state population: 1.00%
National
- Number of residents: 81,590
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.78%
- #21 most common country of origin

9 / 42

#9. Scotland

Montana
- Number of residents: 2,422
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.61%
- Percent of total state population: 1.00%
National
- Number of residents: 234,699
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.24%
- #11 most common country of origin

11 / 42

#11. Finland

Montana
- Number of residents: 2,103
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.14%
- Percent of total state population: 0.86%
National
- Number of residents: 63,440
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.61%
- #22 most common country of origin

12 / 42

#12. China

Montana
- Number of residents: 1,075
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.60%
- Percent of total state population: 0.44%
National
- Number of residents: 106,659
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.02%
- #16 most common country of origin

13 / 42

#13. Denmark

Montana
- Number of residents: 1,041
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.55%
- Percent of total state population: 0.43%
National
- Number of residents: 154,616
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.48%
- #13 most common country of origin

14 / 42

#14. Wales

Montana
- Number of residents: 935
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.39%
- Percent of total state population: 0.38%
National
- Number of residents: 93,744
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.90%
- #20 most common country of origin

16 / 42

#16. France

Montana
- Number of residents: 539
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.80%
- Percent of total state population: 0.22%
National
- Number of residents: 104,534
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.00%
- #18 most common country of origin

17 / 42

#17. Russia

Montana
- Number of residents: 394
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.59%
- Percent of total state population: 0.16%
National
- Number of residents: 424,372
- Percent of foreign born residents: 4.06%
- #7 most common country of origin

18 / 42

#18. Holland

Montana
- Number of residents: 316
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.47%
- Percent of total state population: 0.13%
National
- Number of residents: 105,098
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.00%
- #17 most common country of origin

19 / 42

#19. Poland

Montana
- Number of residents: 313
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.47%
- Percent of total state population: 0.13%
National
- Number of residents: 383,595
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.67%
- #8 most common country of origin

21 / 42

#21. Bohemia

Montana
- Number of residents: 177
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.26%
- Percent of total state population: 0.07%
National
- Number of residents: 156,999
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.50%
- #12 most common country of origin

22 / 42

#22. Turkey

Montana
- Number of residents: 157
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.23%
- Percent of total state population: 0.06%
National
- Number of residents: 9,949
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.10%
- #30 most common country of origin

23 / 42

#23. Belgium

Montana
- Number of residents: 145
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.22%
- Percent of total state population: 0.06%
National
- Number of residents: 29,848
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.29%
- #24 most common country of origin

24 / 42

#24. Australia

Montana
- Number of residents: 93
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.14%
- Percent of total state population: 0.04%
National
- Number of residents: 7,041
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.07%
- #34 most common country of origin

25 / 42

#25. Portugal

Montana
- Number of residents: 84
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.13%
- Percent of total state population: 0.03%
National
- Number of residents: 37,144
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.36%
- #23 most common country of origin

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26 / 42

#26. Born at Sea

Montana
- Number of residents: 60
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.09%
- Percent of total state population: 0.02%
National
- Number of residents: 8,310
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.08%
- #32 most common country of origin

27 / 42

#27. Mexico

Montana
- Number of residents: 47
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.07%
- Percent of total state population: 0.02%
National
- Number of residents: 103,445
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.99%
- #19 most common country of origin

28 / 42

#28. Other Countries

Montana
- Number of residents: 28
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 2,587
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- #39 most common country of origin

29 / 42

#29. South America

Montana
- Number of residents: 28
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 4,814
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.05%
- #35 most common country of origin

31 / 42

#31. Pacific Islands (except Phillipine Islands)

Montana
- Number of residents: 26
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 2,659
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- #38 most common country of origin

32 / 42

#32. Asia (except China, Japan, and India)

Montana
- Number of residents: 23
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 11,928
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.11%
- #27 most common country of origin

33 / 42

#33. Spain

Montana
- Number of residents: 20
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 7,284
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.07%
- #33 most common country of origin

34 / 42

#34. Greece

Montana
- Number of residents: 20
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 8,655
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.08%
- #31 most common country of origin

36 / 42

#36. Africa

Montana
- Number of residents: 16
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 2,577
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- #40 most common country of origin

37 / 42

#37. West Indies (except Cuba and Puerto Rico)

Montana
- Number of residents: 9
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 14,468
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.14%
- #26 most common country of origin

38 / 42

#38. Europe (not otherwise specified)

Montana
- Number of residents: 9
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 2,272
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- #41 most common country of origin

39 / 42

#39. Cuba

Montana
- Number of residents: 9
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 11,159
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.11%
- #28 most common country of origin

41 / 42

#41. Atlantic Islands

Montana
- Number of residents: 5
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 10,955
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.10%
- #29 most common country of origin

42 / 42

#42. Central America

Montana
- Number of residents: 4
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 3,911
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- #36 most common country of origin

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