Statistics for migration across the North Atlantic

(For numbers by shipping line, for numbers by ethnic group, and for 1815-1914 summary totals, scroll down further on this page)

 

 

1.  Shipping companies bringing steerage passengers

to Ellis Island, 1900-1913.

 

The 4 largest lines (embark. ports noted), brought (approx.):

North German Lloyd (Bremen, Italy)              1.6  million

Hamburg American (Hamburg, Italy)             1.5  million

Cunard (Liverpool, Hungary)                           .9  million

 

Note: These numbers above (and the percentages in the chart below) do not incorporate migrants traveling in second class (c. 15%) or entering the USA from Europe at ports other than New York (c. 30%). See here for statistics which do. These measures also do not include Europeans emigrating to countries other than the USA (about half), or non-Europeans moving to America (roughly 10% of all US immigrants in this period).

 
Steerage Passengers to New York
Steerage Passengers to Ellis Island, 1900-1913, by shipping line (with founding year)

Note: The percentage figures shown above are slightly overstated because 28 smaller lines, mostly serving Mediterranean routes, and amounting to about 17%  of total steerage arrivals at Ellis Island, were accidentally left off the chart. The corrected percentages for the four largest lines are NGL 17%, Hamburg American 16%, Cunard 10%, and White Star 7%.

 

Sources:  Embarkation ports and steerage passenger flows from Keeling, Business, Voyage Database. Founding years: Keeling, Business, pp. 28, 97.

 

 

2.  U.S. Immigrants by ethnic group ("race"), 1900-14

 

(Note that "race" in the U.S. Bureau of Immigration classifications was a separate category from national citizenship or origin or resident country. "Germans," for example, included residents of Austria and Switzerland as well as citizens of the German Empire. "Polish" immigrants came from Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary. The main criteria for determining race was "native tongue"; this led to some inconsistencies because the designations were made, in the first instance, by clerks or pursers working in diverse locations for many different shipping lines to fill out U.S. Bureau of Immigration passenger lists.)

Immigrants by race, 1900-1914

 

3.  Summary statistics, US immigration from Europe, 1815-1914

     (in millions; "immigration" as defined in US gov't reports)

 

                  1815-19        .109

                   1820-69      6.389

                   1870-99    10.622

                   1900-14    12.159

 

    Total, 1815-1914:   29.279

 

     Sources:  For 1819-1914, Historical Statistics of the United States,  

                     For 1815-19,  Grabbe, p. 93

 

 

                     This page revised and extended 24-November-2024