Jewish Population in U.S. 4,228,029, Statistical Survey of American Jewish Committee Shows

The United States of America has 4,228,029 Jews.

The common notion that Jews are largely big-city folk, concentrated in the large industrial and commercial centers, has no foundation in fact; Jews live in a total of 9,712 cities, towns, villages and rural districts, and about one-sixth of the Jews in the United States reside in rural districts and in small urban centers.

There are only eleven cities in the United States in which the number of Jews is 50,000 or more.

The rise of the percentage of the Jewish population in the country in relation to the total population, which was observable during the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century, is on the decline.

These figures and findings were among the important results of a comprehensive study of the Jewish population of the United States made by Dr. H. S. Linfield, Director of the Statistical Department of the American Jewish Committee. This survey will be published in the forthcoming volume of the American Jewish Year Book, a publication prepared by the American Jewish Committee and issued by the Jewish Publication Society of America. In connection with his survey of the Jewish congregations in the United States, as special agent of the United States Bureau of the Census, Dr. Linfield, at the same time, made for the American Jewish Committee this study of the number of Jews in the country. The figures given in connection with the census of congregations, recently published by the United States Bureau of the Census, referred only to such cities as had Jewish populations large enough to maintain congregations. The present population study refers to all places throughout the country in which Jews live, whether congregations exist in them or not. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is in a position to make public advance information of the survey, which is the fifth decennial study of its kind made since 1877.

In the present survey of 1927 a determined effort was made to find out the number of Jews not only in the country as a whole but also their distribution among the large cities, the medium-sized cities and the villages and rural districts of the country. The nationwide canvas, a sort of voluntary census, was carried out in cooperation with rabbis, communal leaders and Jewish organizations in over 3,150 cities, towns, villages, and rural areas; and the entire undertaking was financed by the American Jewish Committee and it is under its auspices that the results are published. The nation-wide canvas brought returns from over 3,100 places, giving the actual number of Jews in each place based on a local count or estimate, Every estimate was checked by information available for the respective community, and in the case of the largest cities the number of Jews was determined chiefly on the basis of the number of children who remained away from the public schools on the Day of Atonement. As for the small towns and rural areas which were not canvassed or from which no adequate reply was received, estimates were made on the basis known as “sampling.”

Persons of Jewish extraction who had intermarried or who were not of the Jewish faith were excluded.

The tendency of the Jews to disperse and to move to the small towns and to the rural areas has made considerable headway, the study shows. By the end of 1927, Jews lived as permanent residents in 6,420 cities, towns and villages, and in 3,292 rural unincorporated districts, technically known as minor civil divisions. In every city of 25,000 or over, Jewish residents were to be found, but even in the small rural villages of 2,500 population or less, Jews were found to live in thirty out of every 100 villages in the country. Particularly interesting is the figure of 109,600 Jews who live in rural territory, the vast majority of whom are undoubtedly engaged in agricultural pursuits. This figure, however, cannot be regarded as the total of Jews so occupied, as there are doubtless a considerable additional number in small towns of 2,500 or more, who engage in agriculture or in pursuits connected with it.

The Jews in the United States are not evenly distributed over the country, the figures show. The Northern States lead the South, and the South, the West, in the number of both general and Jewish population. The Northern States have a Jewish population of 3,821,045; the South 225,940; and the West, 181,044. From the point of view of density, the North again leads, the Jews constituting 5.25 per cent of the general population of that region; next comes the West, where the Jews are 1.66 per cent of the total; the South comes last, the Jews in that division comprising only 0.65 per cent of the general total.

The percentage of Jews in relation to the total population is now 3.58 per cent as against 3.27 per cent ten years ago, and 0.52 per cent in 1877; but Dr. Linfield declares, in presenting the data on the growth of the Jews in the country, that the figures cannot serve as a basis for determining the rate of growth of the Jewish population of the country. “The only conclusion that we may draw from the data is that during 1877-1927 there has been a continuous rise in the percentage of Jews to the total population of the country, i.e., the Jews have been growing a little faster than the total population and that his growth is slowing down,” he declares.

Jewish communities of every size ranging from one family up to the largest Jewish community in the world, that in New York City, are to be found in the United States. Zap, N. D., belongs to a class of towns having a Jewish population of eleven. Out of the 3,150 places in which local counts or estimates of the number of Jews were made, 1,090 reported ten Jews or less.

The total number of Jews in the country is divided as follows: 109,600 live in rural areas and in villages of 2,500 population or less, 185,967 live in towns of 2,500-25,000 population, and 3,932,462 live in cities of 25,000 population or over. The last figure includes the Jewish population of New York City which is 1,765,000.

The leading Jewish communities in the United States, that is those with a Jewish population of over 50,000 are New York City with 1,765,000 Jews; Chicago, 325,000; Philadelphia, 270,000; Boston, 90,000; Cleveland, 85,000; Detroit, 75,000; Baltimore, 68,000; Los Angeles, 65,000; Newark, 65,000; Pittsburgh, 53,000; and St. Louis, 50,000.

The number of Jews by states is as follows: Alabama, 12,891; Arkansas, 8.850; Arizona, 1,455; California, 123,284; Colorado, 20,321; Connecticut, 91,538; Delaware, 5,310; District of Columbia, 16,000; Florida, 13,402; Georgia, 23,179; Idaho, 1,141; Illinois, 345,980; Indiana, 27,244; Iowa, 16,404; Kansas, 7,792; Kentucky, 19,533; Louisiana, 16.432; Maine, 8,840; Maryland, 70,871; Massachusetts, 225,634; Michigan, 89,462; Minnesota, 43,197; Mississippi, 6,420; Missouri, 80,687; Montana, 1.578; Nebraska, 14,209; Nevada, 264; New Hampshire, 2,779; New Jersey, 225,306; New Mexico, 1,052; New York, 1,903.890; North Carolina, 8,252; North Dakota, 2,749; Ohio, 173,976; Oklahoma, 7,823; Oregon, 13,075; Pennsylvania, 404,979; Rhode Island, 25,003; South Carolina, 6,851; South Dakota, 1,584; Tennessee, 22,532; Texas, 46,648; Utah, 2,857; Vermont, 2,036; Virginia 25,656; Washington 14,698; West Virginia, 7,471; Wisconsin, 35,935; Wyoming, 1,319.

AMERICAN LEADERS RETURN FROM EUROPE

Louis Lipsky, president of the Zionist Organization of America, is arriving tomorrow on the steamer Homeric.

Mr. Lipsky, who left for Europe immediately after the close of the Pittsburgh convention, attended the sessions of the Zionist General Council in Berlin, where the report of the Joint Palestine Survey Commission was accepted.

The New York Zionist Region, a newly created body of Zionist groups and districts announced that it will tender a dinner on September 9 in honor of Mr. Lipcky’s return.

Gedalia Bublick, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America and Rabbi Wolf Gold, vice-president, arrived yesterday from Danzig, where they attended the Mizrachi World Conterence.

The Mizrachi Organization is arrangnig a reception in their honor to be held Thursday evening, September 6, at the Pennsylvania Hotel. Mr Bublick also visited Palestine.