Ukrainian Americans (
Ukrainian: Українські американці,
romanized: Ukrayins'ki amerykantsi) are
Americans who are of
Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.3% of the American population.[1] The Ukrainian population of the United States is thus the second largest outside the former
Eastern Bloc; only
Canada has a larger
Ukrainian community under this definition. According to the 2000 U.S. census, the
metropolitan areas with the largest numbers of Ukrainian Americans are:
New York City with 160,000;
Philadelphia with 60,000;
Chicago with 46,000;
Detroit with 45,000;
Los Angeles with 36,000;
Cleveland with 26,000;
Sacramento with 20,000;[4] and
Indianapolis with 19,000.[5][6] In 2018, the number of Ukrainian Americans surpassed 1 million.[7]
History
Distribution of Ukrainian Americans, as a percentage of the population, according to the
2000 census.
The first Ukrainian immigrant to America, Ivan Bohdan, sailed with
John Smith to the
Jamestown colony in 1607. Bohdan met Captain Smith during the
Long Turkish War of 1593–1606 when the latter had fought the
Turks, was captured, and escaped captivity by fleeing through Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, and other countries.[9] Large-scale Ukrainian immigration to America did not begin, however, until the 1880s.[10]
The largest wave of Ukrainians came in the early 1990s, after the 1991
fall of the Soviet Union. A large number[quantify] of those emigrating from Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union were
Jewish or
Protestant. Many Ukrainians of the newest immigration wave settled in large cities and regional centers, forming
ethnic enclaves. In addition, many Ukrainian Americans arrived by way of Canada, which has a larger
Ukrainian presence.
On September 11, 2001, 11 Ukrainian Americans perished at the
World Trade Center in
New York City during the
acts of mass terrorism committed on that day. All of their names were listed and commemorated by
Ukrinform, the National News Agency of Ukraine, during the nineteenth anniversary of the attacks in 2020.[11]
In February 2022, the Pastor Right Reverend Mitred Archpriest Philip Weiner, the leader of St. Josaphat's
Ukrainian Catholic Church in
Rochester, New York, said that there were more than 40,000 Ukrainians in the Rochester Metropolitan Area, which would make it one of the largest Ukrainian American communities in the country.[15]
As of the
2000 U.S. Census, there were 892,922 Americans of full or partial Ukrainian descent. The
New York City Metropolitan Area contains by far the largest Ukrainian community in the United States, due to historically receiving the highest number of Ukrainian immigrants.[2]
The American states with the largest Ukrainian populations are as follows:
Kuropas, Myron B.; Shust, Maria; Pevna, Chrystyna (1984). To Preserve A Heritage: The Story of the Ukrainian Immigration in the United States. New York:
The Ukrainian Museum. 84-050811.
Fedunkiw, Marianne P. "Ukrainian Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 459–474.
online