A reference for family historians and readers
Italian Immigration to America Statistics
Key figures from the long journey from Italy to the United States, with sources for readers who want to follow the history back to the record.
Last updated November 2, 2026
A history in motion
The scale behind so many family stories.
Migration statistics cannot tell an individual family’s whole story. They can, however, help place a remembered village, a name on a passenger list, or a first arrival in a wider historical frame.
For Piccolo Santino, the journey from Calabria to New York belongs to a later chapter of that continuing story. These figures are gathered here as a clear starting point for readers, writers, and families tracing the Italian American past.
Explore the memoir →At a glance
The numbers
Italian immigrants arrived between 1820 and 1870.
Most came from northern Italy, before the far larger movement that followed later in the century.
Library of Congress, Early Arrivals, Library of Congress teaching resource, accessed 2026 ↗Italian immigrants came to the United States in the 1880s.
That decade marks the beginning of a dramatic acceleration in migration from the Italian peninsula.
Library of Congress, The Great Arrival, Library of Congress teaching resource, accessed 2026 ↗Italian immigrants came to the United States in the 1890s.
The total was twice the figure reported for the preceding decade.
Library of Congress, The Great Arrival, Library of Congress teaching resource, accessed 2026 ↗Italian immigrants arrived in the decade after 1900.
It was the largest single decade in the Library of Congress summary of the great arrival.
Library of Congress, The Great Arrival, Library of Congress teaching resource, accessed 2026 ↗Italians had come to the United States by 1920.
At that point, Italians represented more than 10% of the nation’s foreign-born population.
Library of Congress, The Great Arrival, Library of Congress teaching resource, accessed 2026 ↗Passenger records are held for arrivals from 1855 through 1900.
About 99% in this National Archives data series identify an origin or nationality in Italy or an Italian region.
National Archives, Italian immigration data files, National Archives page reviewed June 2024 ↗People reported Italian ancestry in the United States in 2022.
The Census Bureau listed Italian among the five most-reported ancestries in the country.
U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 American Community Survey, 2022 ↗Reading the record
A few useful guardrails.
These figures describe movements and records, not a single, uniform experience. “Italian” could stand alongside regional identities such as Calabrian, Sicilian, Neapolitan, or Piedmontese, and passengers arrived for different reasons and under different circumstances.
The National Archives figure refers to a defined historical data series, rather than every Italian arrival. The ancestry figure is a modern survey estimate, not a count of people born in Italy. Each source is linked so that a reader can see its scope directly.
Common questions
Start with the larger picture.
How many Italians immigrated to America?
More than 4 million Italians had come to the United States by 1920, according to the Library of Congress. That total reflects a long movement that grew sharply in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
When did most Italian immigrants come to the United States?
The largest wave came in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Library of Congress reports more than 2 million Italian arrivals in the decade after 1900, its largest single decade in this summary.
Where can I start looking for Italian immigration records?
Begin with the people and dates your family knows, then compare those details with passenger arrivals, census records, naturalization papers, and local history. The National Archives holds an Italian immigration data series for arrivals from 1855 through 1900.
Method and sources
Built to be checked and cited.
This page uses public material from the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Each number above links to the source that supports it. The page will be reviewed regularly so its sources and dates remain useful.
- Library of Congress, Early Arrivals, accessed 2026.
- Library of Congress, The Great Arrival, accessed 2026.
- National Archives, Italian immigration data files, page reviewed June 2024.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 American Community Survey, 2022.
Cite this page
Piccolo Santino. “Italian Immigration to America Statistics.” Accessed November 2, 2026.
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