Data Literacy for Social Studies, Occupations of Passengers Arriving in the United States from Foreign Countries, 1820-1860

We created this tree map using a table from the 1860 U.S. Census to illustrate the various stated occupations of immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1860. The spreadsheets found here compile the data from the historical census table into the graph. The data indicate that the most common occupation stated by immigrants at the time was "laborer," followed by farmer, mechanic, and merchant. Female passengers comprised the majority of those classified as “servants” and "seamstresses and milliners."  Not included in the tree map is the category listed in the table as "not stated," which numbered 2,978,599 of all passengers and was made up mainly of women--"five-sevenths of that division" (p. xxi), according to the report.