SOURCES OF IMMIGRATION
TOP TEN SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR SELECT STATES, 1999:
**US % CA % NY % WA %**
Mexico 28.54 Mexico 43.28 Dom Rep 12.69 Mexico 23.49
Philippines 4.49 Philippines 7.95 Mexico 4.89 Philippines 10.52
Cuba 3.59 El Salvador 4.56 Jamaica 4.73 **Russia 9.29 **
China 3.21 Vietnam 4.38 Russia 4.49 Canada 8.50
Vietnam 3.17 China 4.21 China 4.37 Laos 4.78
India 2.95 Korea 2.76 Italy 3.99 Vietnam 4.08
El Salvador 2.89 Guatemala 2.69 Guyana 3.69 **Ukraine 3.72 **
Dom Rep 2.59 India 2.19 Ecuador 3.58 England 3.47
Korea 2.29 Iran 1.80 Colombia 3.53 Korea 2.64
WHICH GROUPS DISPROPORTIONATELY
CONCENTRATE IN SELECT STATES?
CONCENTRATION RATIO = %STATEINPOPULATIONUS / %STATEINGROUPIMMIGRANT
FOR GROUPS WITH ONE OR MORE PERCENT OF THE US IMMIGRANT
POPULATION, 1999
CA RATIO FL RATIO NY RATIO WA RATIO
Guatemala 4.32 Cuba 13.78 Dom Rep 9.47 **Russia 4.11 **
Philippines 4.31 Haiti 8.66 Jamaica 6.31 Canada 2.87
El Salvador 3.83 Jamaica 5.20 Russia 5.22 Taiwan 1.78
Mexico 3.69 Colombia 5.04 Italy 5.05 Philippines 1.72
Taiwan 3.56 England 1.88 Poland 4.17 England 1.43
NOTE: OF THE TOP TEN GROUPS IN WASHINGTON, MEXICANS, KOREANS, AND
VIETNAMESE ARE UNDERREPRESENTED. LAOTIANS AND UKRAINIANS ARE
OVERREPRESENTED IN WA BUT THEIR SHARE OF US IMMIGRANT POPULATION
IS LESS THAN ONE PERCENT.
I can understand them immigrating to L.A. or New York, but I wonder what attracts them to here?
I don’t have a cite at the moment, but I believe that back in the 60’s or 70’s, there was a Russian group of Evangelical Christians that settled in the NW. That led to more, particularly Pentecostals. Also, I have met a number of Russian software engineers in the area, drawn by MS and the other companies around here. Most were Jewish immigrants from Russia and the republics.
Also, as we all know, there are close ties between Alaska and Seattle and I hear that you can see Russia from there…
Wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft and related halo companies is a reason for this. Back in the 90s I had a summer job working for a software contracting office in Chicago and one of my jobs was to input their paper resume files into a database and was surprised by the number of Russian immigrants that I came across. And quite a number of them were fantastically overqualified for software drone jobs (physics/chemistry Ph.D.'s, etc.) that the company was looking to fill.
I also had a post-college job interview that required me to fly to Seattle. While I was waiting for my bag I noticed the carousel next to me was unloading bags for an Aeroflot Moscow-Vladivostok-Seattle flight. So I guess Seattle is surprisingly easy to get to from Russia, at least.
It’s no surprise to me since there are established Russian communities throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. There are small towns in Washington where 25% of the population speaks Russian, for instance. There have been Russian settlers on the northwest coast for 200 years, initially fur traders and later Mennonites and other religious groups fleeing persecution.
Wasn’t there Russian Orthodox missionary activity on the West Coast at one point? I know that there were Russians in Alaska (as it was Russian territory at one time), and that they had a missionary campaign that supposedly went down the coast.
The Russians never set up settlements much bigger than trading posts in North Americas. The total population of Russian America from Alaska to California was never more than 1000 and almost all went home after the Alaska purchase. The Russian Mennonite immigrants (and large numbers of other Russian immigrants) didn’t come until the early 20th century and settled the land as Americans.
One group that settled in Oregon in the 1960s were Old Believers. A sect that split from Russian Orthodox centuries ago. They made their way to the US via a variety of routes thru Turkey, Brazil and even China. Kennedy was big on encouraging them to immigrate.
One of the largest communities was in Woodburn, OR. (The above article even has pics from the Oregon communities.)
Once an ethnic group gets established in an area, others tend to move nearby even if they don’t belong to the same sect. This might have lead to the founding/expansion of communities throughout the PNW.