This article focuses on the places where Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Finns reside in the US. It examines (1) nationally the number of people, (2) number by state, (3) the percent of the total US ethnic group by metro area and (4) the proportion of the metro population, per 100,000 residents. The Finns and Lithuanians constitute by far the largest populations with approximately 650,000 each. By comparison, there are 85,000 Latvians and 28,000 Estonians. The assessment was not extended to include Poles, since there are more people of Polish descent in the Chicago area, 850,000, their largest center, than there are Lithuanians or Finns nationally and nearly 9.5 million in the US.
The largest center for both Estonians and Latvians is metro New York, while for Lithuanians metro Chicago is their center. Finns are found largely in the upper Midwest with Minneapolis, Duluth and Detroit the largest centers. Further, the largest portion of the local metropolitan population belongs to the Finns in Duluth where there are 11,222 for every 100,000 residents. The greatest chance of encountering a Lithuanian in a large metro area is in Chicago, 882 per 100K or 667 per 100K in Boston. The highest concentration of Latvians in a large metropolitan area is 86 per 100K in Milwaukee. The figures for Estonians in large metro areas is 23 per 100K in Boston and 18 per 100K in New York. There are 95 Estonians per 100K in Norwich Connecticut, a small metro area.
The table below provides some general information about the four ethnicities in question. In addition to the relative sizes noted above, it is evident that the Balts reside predominantly in metropolitan areas (generally over 100,000 in population). Approximately 85% of the US population lives in one of the 381 metropolitan areas, while Balts have percentages at least six points above that level. The Finns, on the other hand, are more than six points below the national average.
Estonians are most likely to report only one ancestry (47.5%), followed by Latvians. The Finns and Lithuanians exhibit the lowest percentages reporting a single ancestry; perhaps their longer residency in the US plays a role.
Ancestry Estonian Latvian Lithuanian Finnish
USA total 28,182 85,307 659,664 643,821
In Metro Areas 26,170 80,132 601,954 501,176
List Single Ancestry 13,374 37,628 209,656 213,554
% in a Metro Area 92.9% 93.9% 91.3% 77.8%
% Single Ancestry 47.5% 44.1% 31.8% 33.20%
The data by state totals is somewhat complicated by the fact that metro boundaries cross state lines. New York state has fewer Estonians than metro New York, 3165 versus 3660, because many of the metro residents live in New Jersey (1856 Estonians in the state) and Connecticut (1218). Consequently, California is the most populous Estonian state (4098). Its metro areas are within the state boundary as tends to be the case with Florida (2367), the third largest state, followed by New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington. The second most populous state, Texas, ranks sixteenth, and it doesn’t rank in the top ten for the other three ethnic groups. The Latvian pattern is similar except Illinois is number 3 and Michigan is number 5. Lithuanians are different in that Illinois and Pennsylvania rank ahead of California. Massachusetts is fourth, followed by New York. The Finnish distribution is most distinct. Over 30 percent of the Finns live in Minnesota or Michigan. None of the Balts are close to 20% of their national population in two adjacent states. Also, the six largest Finnish states are in the Midwest and West, Massachusetts is seventh and New York is eleventh.
ESTONIANS. The largest Estonian centers are in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Washington. Boston and New York have the highest concentration with Washington scoring 15 per 100,000 residents. Both Los Angeles and Chicago are slightly less than 10. There are several places that score the same as New York (18) including San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, OR and Baltimore with Denver and Cincinnati at 17. Numerous smaller metro areas have substantially higher ratios, but these ratios may be attributable to the sample size. While the national 5-year sample approaches 15 million, it is not sufficient to accurately describe small groups like the Estonians. The smaller metropolitan areas, in rank order of the number of Estonians in the metropolitan area and their ratios (per 100K) include Worcester 36, Stockton CA 38, Modesto CA 43, Salisbury MD 41, Eugene OR 34, Longview WA 112, Racine WI 58, Boulder CO 33, and Kingston NY 55. Each of these metropolitan areas are reported to have at least 100 people of Estonian ancestry. Some are college towns. Low ratios among large metro areas are in Austin 4, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and St Louis all with 3 and Houston and San Antonio with 2.
LATVIANS. The two largest centers, NY (10.6%) and Chicago (5.8%) together account for 16.4% of the Latvians in the US, similar to the 16.5% of the Estonians that live in NY and LA. The highest proportion of the metropolitan population that is Latvian is in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Among the medium and small metros, Grand Rapids MI has 112 per 100,000 residents and Kalamazoo MI has 172 per 100,000.
LITHUANIANS. Their two largest centers, Chicago 11.9% and NY 7.8% account for the largest combined percentage, 18.7% of the four groups examined here. The Lithuanians and the Finns, however, are least likely to reside in the three largest Florida metros, Miami, Tampa and Orlando. Tallied by state Lithuanians are principally in Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and Massachusetts.
FINNS. Minneapolis 6.9% and Duluth 4.8% have the smallest combined percentage, 11.7%, for their two largest centers. Still, the Finnish population is mainly in the upper Midwest with well over a third living in Minnesota, Michigan or Wisconsin. This is evident in the percentages that live in the Boston-NY-Philadelphia-Washington metro areas. They account for about 6% of the Finns. The other three Baltic nationalities are in the 20% range with the Lithuanians leading with approximately 25%. Also, it is the only group with less than 5% of its population in Florida where 8.4% of the Estonians live.
In summary, Estonians live predominantly in metropolitan areas, second to Latvians and they are the most likely individuals to declare a single ancestry. Given their substantially smaller numbers, the probability of a chance encounter with an Estonian is rather small. High probabilities in large metro areas are found in two Massachusetts places, Boston and Worcester. Lastly Estonians are much more likely to reside in Florida than the other three groups. While 5.3% of the Estonians live in the three largest Florida metro areas, for the Finns the figure is only 2.1%. Nevertheless, the absolute number of the Finns in Florida is far greater, nearly 26,000 versus 2,367 Estonians. There is no escaping the small absolute numbers of Estonians. We also see that with other ancestries in the US. The 28,000 Estonians compare with those from (in thousands) Iceland 49, Luxembourg 41, Macedonia 57, Malta 40, ‘Basque’ 57, Sweden 3,984 and Norway 4,451. We do, however, outnumber the Cypriots by 7. Thus, given our small numbers, we can be especially proud of our achievements in the US.
Data used in this article may be obtained by contacting me at siim@uic.edu.
Siim Sööt,
Honorary Vice Consul, Republic of Estonia
