“The German immigrant story is a long one—a story of early beginnings, continual growth and steadily spreading influence. Germans were among the first Europeans to make their homes in the New World, and are among the United States' most recent arrivals. They were aboard the first boats that came ashore at Jamestown, and they built the rockets that took men to the moon. In the years in between, they moved into nearly every corner of the U.S., tried their hand at nearly every trade and pursuit, and helped shape the fundamental institutions of American life.

“Though they endured their share of hardship, they escaped much of the tragedy and harsh treatment that plagued many immigrant groups. Today, more than 40 million Americans claim German ancestry.”

Key Stats

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database (demographic data) and USA Trade Online (trade data); Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (country reference maps).

World Population Clock: Germany

Note: Click on the image above for the full webpage on Germany, the 18th most populous country in the world.

More Stats

Source: 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates.

Table B04006, People Reporting Ancestry, Universe: Total population (find German)

Table B05006, Place of Birth for the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea (find Germany under Western Europe)

Table B16001, Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (find German)

Table C04006, People Reporting Ancestry, find German in table below

Table S0201, Selected Population Profile in the United States, German (ancestry)

Table S0201, Selected Population Profile in the United States, Germany (foreign-born population born in Germany)

PEOPLE REPORTING ANCESTRY

Note: The Table C04006 image above was downloaded from Census.gov into Excel and modified to sort the "Estimate" column numbers from 333,287,562 down to 4,176,875 for Subsaharan Africa, the 10th most-reported ancestry. "German" is the most reported ancestry in the U.S.

From Business and Economy > International Trade Data:

FT900: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, July 2023 (search “German” for 34 mentions) [1.3 MB]

Top Trading Partners - July 2023 (find Germany)

Trade in Goods with Germany, 1985-2023

USA Trade Online, The Official Source of Trade Statistics

Note: After you create an account, select options for “State Export Data (Origin of Movement)” or “State Import Data (State of Destination)” by “Harmonized System (HS)” or “NAICS.” Select “State,” “Measures,” “Commodity,” “Country” (select "Germany”) or “Time” for data. More information can be found in the Quick Start Guide. USA Trade Online does not provide direct links to the data.

From International Programs Center > International Database (IDB).