Which Congressional district is the most German? Wisconsin's 6th

From Daily Kos:

You might be surprised to find out that German-American is the most common ancestry in the United States, at least according to the Census Bureau; 13.9 percent of Americans claim German ancestry, compared with 10.0 for Irish ancestry and 7.4 percent for English ancestry.

(One theory is that many people who do have primarily English ancestry are from families that have been in the U.S. for so long that there’s no remaining sense of distinct roots, and some of them may end up claiming "American" ancestry instead.)

But German ancestry is, despite how common it is, a fairly regionally-specific ancestry; there’s very little of it in the South, and while it’s more common in the Northeast, it’s by far most heavily concentrated in the Midwest, especially the Upper Midwest: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas.

The largest flow of German immigrants in the 19th century was to the rapidly-growing cities of the Midwest like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Omaha, and St. Louis. While these cities have lost much of their initial German identity thanks to subsequent waves of immigration and mostly ordinary domestic migration, German ancestry is still predominant in the rural areas of the Midwest where there hasn’t been much subsequent population growth.

See more in the TheMostDistrict series

The Growth of "American" as an Ancestral Choice in the ACS

It is interesting to see how the Herkimer/Oneida County response to the question of ancestry has changed over time when looking at those that identified as having a single ancestry - "American". While the area used to be similar to the rest of the state and country, in the last five years it has seen a huge rise regionally in the percent of people who now say that they are simply "American" when asked about their ancestral past.

More from Herkimer and Oneida Counties Census Data Affiliate.

Here are counties with single year ACS data…ordered by % saying AMERICAN…


Madison County, New York 42,638 20,671 48.5%
Chemung County, New York 49,475 16,284 32.9%
Oneida County, New York 134,037 36,384 27.1%
Niagara County, New York 120,241 30,586 25.4%
Steuben County, New York 47,596 11,394 23.9%
Orange County, New York 226,108 48,854 21.6%
Tompkins County, New York 52,753 11,053 21.0%
Oswego County, New York 49,703 9,984 20.1%
Warren County, New York 28,849 4,475 15.5%
Ontario County, New York 50,787 6,216 12.2%
Cattaraugus County, New York 35,854 4,255 11.9%
St. Lawrence County, New York 52,168 5,754 11.0%
Sullivan County, New York 37,400 3,943 10.5%
Broome County, New York 83,176 7,833 9.4%
Albany County, New York 158,430 14,408 9.1%
Chautauqua County, New York 57,055 5,179 9.1%
Saratoga County, New York 93,120 8,007 8.6%
Schenectady County, New York 83,278 7,073 8.5%
Jefferson County, New York 52,942 4,481 8.5%
Cayuga County, New York 34,603 2,674 7.7%
Dutchess County, New York 142,205 9,916 7.0%
Onondaga County, New York 225,269 15,547 6.9%
Rensselaer County, New York 61,427 3,882 6.3%
Rockland County, New York 212,269 13,032 6.1%
Monroe County, New York 406,058 24,249 6.0%
Nassau County, New York 836,135 47,256 5.7%
Suffolk County, New York 850,838 47,395 5.6%
New York County, New York 1,070,770 53,578 5.0%
Kings County, New York 1,955,952 95,355 4.9%
Ulster County, New York 84,629 4,114 4.9%
Westchester County, New York 652,524 31,059 4.8%
Erie County, New York 484,137 19,753 4.1%
Queens County, New York 1,774,242 69,328 3.9%
Richmond County, New York 310,984 9,617 3.1%
Bronx County, New York 1,191,498 19,991 1.7%

Here's The Most Common Ancestry In Each NYC Neighborhood

From Business Insider:

We recently looked at the dominant languages in each of NYC's neighborhoods. Now, we're taking a look at New Yorkers' ancestral backgrounds.

The American Community Survey is a massive annual effort by the Census Bureau to understand the citizens of the United States. Over three million people per year are asked questions about housing, demographics, and economics.

In one of the many questions on the ACS, respondents are asked to identify their ancestry. This is a very open-ended question, and the Census Bureau provides numerous options. Here are the most common ancestries in each NYC neighborhood.

Epodunk ancestry

Epodunk includes a community demographic functionality that maps ancestry. It has mapped communities in the continental U.S. by heritage, showing the places with the highest proportions of Greeks, Swiss and 103 other ethnic groups.

New American Community Survey Data: Race, Tribal, Hispanic and Ancestry Group Data

This is the first time this level of statistical detail has been available for groups since Census 2000. The tables compile five years of data to produce detailed estimates at multiple levels of geography for hundreds of race, Hispanic origin, ancestry and tribal groups.

2006-2010 ACS 5-Year Selected Population Tables:
• Estimates of characteristics for selected race, Hispanic origin, tribal, and ancestry populations
• Based on sample data collected from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010

2006-2010 ACS 5-Year American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Tables:
• Estimates of characteristics for selected American Indian and Alaska Native tribal populations
• Based on sample data collected from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010

Searching Your US Military Ancestry With Newly Released Records

by Cara Meadows
Following on from this important article on the release of the 1940 US Census here, Ancestry.com has paved the way for even more in-depth family history research with the release of a set of vitally important War Service Records dating from as far back as 1850. These records are a great and vital resource to anyone wanting to trace the more recent history of their ancestors and also trace the military pasts of their forebears much further back.
With Family History, Genealogy and Military History in particular becoming an increasingly popular hobby for many people, researchers are opting to take genealogical vacations in different countries rather than other pursuits such as going on a Mediterranean Cruise or a long beach vacation somewhere. This rise in popularity has seen a concurrent rise in demand for online services and also increasing access to archives and repositories all over the US.
New Record Releases
The US Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS (Beneficiary Identification Records Locater Subsystem) Death Records contain some 14,465,024 entries starting in the year 1850 and coming as far forward as 2010.

City Data

The Hill Library's weekly "Business Web Site of the Week" is City-Data.com.

"Enter a county, city, or zip code – or browse by state – to find pages and pages of information on U.S. places. Included are statistics on everything from age and income to ancestral heritage; from population change due to commuting to crime rates; from most common occupation to climate trends."

HOWEVER, it goes on to say, "The page just keeps scrolling, and the mind reels about where all this information comes from. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t make that clear. Because of this, please do attempt to verify any City Data you plan to use."