As the Russian war against Ukraine unfolds, we wanted to provide some numbers about the Ukrainian American community in Minnesota.
More than 16,000 Ukrainian Americans live in Minnesota
About one million people in the United States report having Ukrainian ancestry (ethnic origin, descent, heritage, or roots). In Minnesota, the estimate stands at around 16,000 people, including more than 4,600 first-generation Ukrainian immigrants. New York, California, and Pennsylvania have the largest number of Ukrainian residents. As a percentage of the population, Pennsylvania and Washington have the highest percentage of residents reporting Ukrainian ancestry, although the share is still less than 1% of each state’s population.
On many measures, Ukrainian Americans in Minnesota look similar to Minnesotans overall
On most quality-of-life indicators that we track on Minnesota Compass, Ukrainian Americans fare similarly to the state overall, with similar age demographics, household composition, and employment rates. By some metrics, Minnesotans of Ukrainian ancestry fare better than Minnesotans as a whole. 50% of Ukrainian Minnesotans have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 36% of Minnesotans overall. Median household income for Ukrainian-American-led households is also higher than the state average, at $80,000 compared to $67,700.
More than one in four Ukrainian Minnesotans is an immigrant
28% of Minnesotans with Ukrainian ancestry were born outside the U.S. About 18% of Ukrainian immigrants in Minnesota report speaking English not at all or not well, and this language barrier can present challenges to accessing services and engaging in the broader community.
A refugee is defined as a person who has experienced persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. The U.S. has admitted about 20,000 Ukrainian refugees since 2010, mostly in the years since Ukraine’s political revolution and the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Minnesota has not historically been home to a large number of Ukrainian refugees. Only about 370 Ukrainian refugees have settled in Minnesota in the past decade, with most settling in Washington and California. With more than half a million Ukrainians fleeing their country in the first few days of the 2022 war, those numbers are likely to rise, as state and national policy determines how many Ukrainians are able to make a new home in Minnesota.
More about Minnesota’s Ukrainian community
Numbers can give only a small part of the story of any community, and we encourage Compass readers to connect with other news outlets reporting on the developing news from Ukraine, and on the personal stories of Ukrainian Minnesotans.
Here is a sample of stories from some Minnesota new agencies:
Many national news outlets are providing ongoing coverage of the war in Ukraine and the history that had led up to it:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukraine-russia/
https://www.nytimes.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-europe.html
The Ukrainian American Community Center has information about ways to support Ukraine: https://uaccmn.org/