Survey of Jewish Population in Ten American Cities Published

A survey of the Jewish population in ten American cities conducted by a staff of experienced statisticians and sociologists under the supervision of the Conference on Jewish Relations was published here today under the title “Jewish Population Studies.” The project, directed by Dr. Sophia M. Robison, gives detailed data on the Jewish population in Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, New London, Norwich, Passaic, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Trenton.

Highlights of the survey show that the Jewish population of the cities studied is on the decline. There are relatively fewer children between the ages of five and fourteen than in the population as a whole. There is a marked trend toward smaller families. The largest are those of semi-skilled workers, and the smallest those of professional men. The foreign-born tend to have larger families than the native-born. Two-thirds of the Jews in the smaller communities are native-born, while even in such large cities as Chicago and San Francisco less than half are of foreign birth. Proportionately, more foreign-born Jews become naturalized than non-Jews. Jews tend to concentrate in certain sections of cities. Most of the gainfully employed Jews are engaged in retail trade, but the proportion of Jewish manual workers tends to increase with the greater industrialization of a community.