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 Utah 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. England
Utah
- Number of residents: 18,879
- Percent of foreign born residents: 35.11%
- Percent of total state population: 6.82%
National
- Number of residents: 843,491
- Percent of foreign born residents: 8.06%
- #4 most common country of origin
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#2. Denmark
Utah
- Number of residents: 9,182
- Percent of foreign born residents: 17.07%
- Percent of total state population: 3.32%
National
- Number of residents: 154,616
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.48%
- #13 most common country of origin
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#3. Sweden
Utah
- Number of residents: 7,025
- Percent of foreign born residents: 13.06%
- Percent of total state population: 2.54%
National
- Number of residents: 574,625
- Percent of foreign born residents: 5.49%
- #5 most common country of origin
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#4. Scotland
Utah
- Number of residents: 3,143
- Percent of foreign born residents: 5.84%
- Percent of total state population: 1.14%
National
- Number of residents: 234,699
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.24%
- #11 most common country of origin
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#6. Wales
Utah
- Number of residents: 2,141
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.98%
- Percent of total state population: 0.77%
National
- Number of residents: 93,744
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.90%
- #20 most common country of origin
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#7. Norway
Utah
- Number of residents: 2,128
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.96%
- Percent of total state population: 0.77%
National
- Number of residents: 338,426
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.24%
- #9 most common country of origin
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#8. Ireland
Utah
- Number of residents: 1,516
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.82%
- Percent of total state population: 0.55%
National
- Number of residents: 1,619,409
- Percent of foreign born residents: 15.48%
- #2 most common country of origin
9 / 42
#9. Switzerland
Utah
- Number of residents: 1,469
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.73%
- Percent of total state population: 0.53%
National
- Number of residents: 115,959
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.11%
- #15 most common country of origin
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#11. Italy
Utah
- Number of residents: 1,062
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.97%
- Percent of total state population: 0.38%
National
- Number of residents: 484,703
- Percent of foreign born residents: 4.63%
- #6 most common country of origin
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#12. Finland
Utah
- Number of residents: 734
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.36%
- Percent of total state population: 0.27%
National
- Number of residents: 63,440
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.61%
- #22 most common country of origin
13 / 42
#13. China
Utah
- Number of residents: 544
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.20%
National
- Number of residents: 106,659
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.02%
- #16 most common country of origin
14 / 42
#14. Holland
Utah
- Number of residents: 523
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.97%
- Percent of total state population: 0.19%
National
- Number of residents: 105,098
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.00%
- #17 most common country of origin
16 / 42
#16. Austria
Utah
- Number of residents: 240
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.45%
- Percent of total state population: 0.09%
National
- Number of residents: 276,702
- Percent of foreign born residents: 2.65%
- #10 most common country of origin
17 / 42
#17. France
Utah
- Number of residents: 220
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.41%
- Percent of total state population: 0.08%
National
- Number of residents: 104,534
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.00%
- #18 most common country of origin
18 / 42
#18. Australia
Utah
- Number of residents: 161
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.30%
- Percent of total state population: 0.06%
National
- Number of residents: 7,041
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.07%
- #34 most common country of origin
19 / 42
#19. Pacific Islands (except Phillipine Islands)
Utah
- Number of residents: 149
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.28%
- Percent of total state population: 0.05%
National
- Number of residents: 2,659
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- #38 most common country of origin
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#21. Africa
Utah
- Number of residents: 97
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.18%
- Percent of total state population: 0.04%
National
- Number of residents: 2,577
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- #40 most common country of origin
22 / 42
#22. Hungary
Utah
- Number of residents: 88
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.16%
- Percent of total state population: 0.03%
National
- Number of residents: 145,815
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.39%
- #14 most common country of origin
23 / 42
#23. Born at Sea
Utah
- Number of residents: 76
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.14%
- Percent of total state population: 0.03%
National
- Number of residents: 8,310
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.08%
- #32 most common country of origin
24 / 42
#24. Poland
Utah
- Number of residents: 65
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.12%
- Percent of total state population: 0.02%
National
- Number of residents: 383,595
- Percent of foreign born residents: 3.67%
- #8 most common country of origin
26 / 42
#26. Belgium
Utah
- Number of residents: 29
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.05%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 29,848
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.29%
- #24 most common country of origin
27 / 42
#27. India
Utah
- Number of residents: 23
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 2,069
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- #42 most common country of origin
28 / 42
#28. Central America
Utah
- Number of residents: 19
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 3,911
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.04%
- #36 most common country of origin
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#29. Turkey
Utah
- Number of residents: 18
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- Percent of total state population: 0.01%
National
- Number of residents: 9,949
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.10%
- #30 most common country of origin
30 / 42
#30. Other Countries
31 / 42
#31. Bohemia
Utah
- Number of residents: 13
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.02%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 156,999
- Percent of foreign born residents: 1.50%
- #12 most common country of origin
32 / 42
#32. Spain
Utah
- Number of residents: 8
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 7,284
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.07%
- #33 most common country of origin
33 / 42
#33. Portugal
Utah
- Number of residents: 8
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 37,144
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.36%
- #23 most common country of origin
34 / 42
#34. Greece
Utah
- Number of residents: 8
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 8,655
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.08%
- #31 most common country of origin
35 / 42
#35. Europe (not otherwise specified)
36 / 42
#36. Asia (except China, Japan, and India)
Utah
- Number of residents: 8
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 11,928
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.11%
- #27 most common country of origin
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#37. South America
Utah
- Number of residents: 7
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.01%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 4,814
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.05%
- #35 most common country of origin
38 / 42
#38. West Indies (except Cuba and Puerto Rico)
Utah
- Number of residents: 5
- 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
39 / 42
#39. Luxemburg
Utah
- Number of residents: 2
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.00%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 3,049
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.03%
- #37 most common country of origin
40 / 42
#40. Atlantic Islands
41 / 42
#41. Roumania
Utah
- Number of residents: 1
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.00%
- Percent of total state population: 0.00%
National
- Number of residents: 15,043
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.14%
- #25 most common country of origin
42 / 42
#42. Cuba
Utah
- Number of residents: 1
- Percent of foreign born residents: 0.00%
- 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