Economic characteristics of households of persons of Ukrainian ancestry in Chicago
CONCLUSION
Introduction
In this section we will present information about the composition and structure of Ukrainian households and householders in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, based on data from the 1990 census of population and housing. Topics to be discussed are: household income, tenure status of the housing (owned or rented), value of the house, mortgage status (first and second) and monthly mortgage payments. These variables will be examined by the following characteristics of the householder: age, language spoken at home (Ukrainian or other), U.S.- or foreign-born, and year of immigration to the United States.
Before we present the results, it is important to clarify the concepts of household and householder according to the definitions used by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. A household "includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit, which is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group home or an occupied single room." A householder is (in most cases) the person (or one of the persons) in whose name the home is owned, being bought or rented.
Characteristics of householders and household structure
There were about 18,350 householders of Ukrainian ancestry in Chicago in 1990, with slightly more males than females (Table 7). There were significant variations in the number of males and females among different age groups. For example, there were many more female than male householders age 15-24, 68 percent and 32 percent, respectively. There were also more female than male householders age 65 years or more, but the difference was much smaller compared with the 15-24 age group. In the other two age groups the percentage of male householders was somewhat higher than the percentage of females.
| Numbers | Percentages | |||||
| Age | Males | Females | Total | Males | Females | Total |
| 15 - 24 | 171 | 369 | 540 | 31.7 | 68.3 | 100.0 |
| 25 - 39 | 3,048 | 2,562 | 5,610 | 54.3 | 45.7 | 100.0 |
| 40 - 64 | 3,459 | 3,282 | 6,741 | 51.3 | 48.7 | 100.0 |
| 65 + | 2,571 | 2,892 | 5,463 | 47.1 | 52.9 | 100.0 |
| TOTAL | 9,249 | 9,105 | 18,354 | 50.4 | 49.6 | 100.0 |
| Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||||
Table 8 presents types of households separated by language spoken at
home. Households are classified according to the sex of the householder
and the presence (or absence) of relatives. Two types of households are
distinguished: family households and non-family households. A family household
has a householder living with one or more persons related to him/her by
birth, marriage or adoption. The householder and all persons in the household
related to him/her are family members. A non-family household has a householder
living alone or with non-relatives only.
| Ukrainians by language spoken at home | ||||||
| Numbers | Percentages | |||||
| Type of household | Ukrainian | Other | Total | Ukrainian | Other | Total |
| Family: married couple | 2,958 | 8,004 | 10,962 | 54.6 | 61.9 | 59.7 |
| Family: M householder | 210 | 345 | 555 | 3.9 | 2.7 | 3.0 |
| Family: F householder | 660 | 837 | 1,497 | 12.2 | 6.5 | 8.2 |
| Non-family: M alone | 408 | 969 | 1,377 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Non-family: M not alone | 192 | 477 | 669 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Non-family: F alone | 870 | 2,103 | 2,973 | 16.1 | 16.3 | 16.2 |
| Non-family: F not alone | 120 | 201 | 321 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| TOTAL | 5,418 | 12,936 | 18,354 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||||
Of all the households, almost 60 percent were family households with a married couple. Among family households without a married couple, there were about two and a half as many with female householders than with male householders, 8 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Among non-family households there were also more female householders than males householders, 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively. A significant number of householders were living alone: 1,377, or 7.5 percent, males; and 2,973, or 16 percent, females.
There were some differences in the household structure for householders speaking Ukrainian and those who speak another language at home, but only for family household types; the percent distribution of non-family household types was similar for both language groups. Among family households, the percentage of households with married couples was somewhat lower for householders speaking Ukrainian than for those speaking another language, although in both cases this type made up more than half of all the households.
In both language groups the percent of female householders was significantly higher than the percent of male householders. However, if the householder spoke Ukrainian, the percentage of female householders was much higher than of male householders, 12 percent and 4 percent, respectively; if the householder did not speak Ukrainian at home, the respective percentages were 6.5 percent and 3 percent. The relative sizes of the different categories of non-family households were similar for the two language groups; it did not make a difference if the householder spoke Ukrainian or not.
We can conclude that the great majority of Ukrainian households in Chicago had a married couple, and that in both types of households, family or non-family, the percent of households with a female householder was significantly higher than the percent with male householders. The number of females living alone was more than twice as high as the number of males living alone. Among family households with a Ukrainian householder, there were three times as many females householders as male householders (660 and 210, respectively). If the householder spoke Ukrainian, the percent of family households with a female householder was about twice as high as the percent for non-Ukrainian householders.
Household income
The household income data refers to the yearly income of all members of the household for year 1989, as the census was taken on April 1, 1990. Table 9 is the only table that presents data for the total population in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The intent is to place the Ukrainian ancestry population within the context of the total population of Chicago. However, as explained in the note in Table 9, and elaborated in more detail in the note at the end of the article, these data should be interpreted with caution. The total Chicago population refers to the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), while the data for Ukrainians is for the Chicago Metropolitan Area (MA), which is a somewhat smaller area.
| Total Chicago | Ukrainians by language at home | |||
| Household Income | MSA Population* | Total | Ukrainian | Total |
| $10,000 | 12.6 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| $10,000-19,999 | 13.7 | 12.3 | 15.8 | 10.9 |
| $20,000-29,999 | 14.8 | 15.3 | 16.4 | 14.8 |
| $30,000-39,999 | 14.6 | 14.3 | 15.1 | 13.9 |
| $40,000-49,999 | 12.5 | 12.8 | 11.8 | 13.3 |
| $50,000-74,999 | 9.6 | 19.9 | 17.7 | 20.8 |
| $75,000-99,999 | 16.1 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.7 |
| $100,000-149,999 | 3.9 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 6.7 |
| $150,000 + | 2.2 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.5 |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Median Income | $35,918 | $40,600 | $36,751 | $42,175 |
* Important Note: The figures for the Chicago MSA correspond to a larger area than the figures for Ukrainians (see footnote at the end of the article). They are for illustrative purposes only. Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||
The median income of all Ukrainians was about $40,600, compared with a median of $35,918 for the total Chicago population. Households where Ukrainian was not spoken had, on the average, higher median income than households were Ukrainian was spoken, $42,175 and $36,751, respectively. It is important to note that households with a Ukrainian-speaking householder tend to have older members than households with a non-Ukrainian-speaking householder and probably more of them are retired, and this may account at least in part for the higher average income of the non-Ukrainian-speaking households.
Comparing the income distribution of the total Chicago population and all Ukrainians, we see that Ukrainians had a much lower percentage in the under $10,000 category, and had proportionately more households in the higher income brackets. Close to 10 percent of Ukrainian households had yearly income $100,000 or higher, compared with 6 percent of the total Chicago population.
Comparing households where Ukrainian was spoken with those where it was not, Ukrainian speaking households had more members in the lower income categories and fewer members in the higher income categories. In other words, in Ukrainian-speaking households the percentages for lower income categories tended to be higher than for the other group, while for higher income categories the pattern was reversed. Specifically, for households with incomes under $50,000 per year the percentages were higher for Ukrainian speakers than for non-Ukrainian speakers, while for households with incomes of $50,000 or higher, the percentages were higher for the other language group.
Home ownership status, value of home and mortgage
Among all Ukrainians in Chicago, only about 26 percent were renters, and the other 74 percent were homeowners. About 30 percent had their house free and clear, while about 44 percent had a mortgage. If we compare Ukrainian-speaking and other language households, the percent of homeowners was very similar for the two groups, 75 percent and 73 percent, respectively, and the percentages with a mortgage were also similar, 35 percent for Ukrainian speakers and 38 percent for the Other group.
Another way to look at homeowners without mortgages is to take as a base the total number of homeowners, and to calculate the percentages with and without mortgages (Table 10). For all Ukrainians, about 41 percent had their house free and clear; for Ukrainian speakers this percentage was 46 percent and for the other group it was 39 percent.
| Language spoken home | Foreign-born by period of immigration | |||||||
| Tenure status | Total Ukrainians | Ukrainian | Other | U.S.-born | 1987-1990 | 1960-1986 | 1950-1959 | Pre-1959 |
| Homeowners | 73.6 | 75.2 | 73.0 | 73.2 | 56.7 | 72.8 | 72.2 | 82.7 |
| with mortgage | 58.8 | 53.2 | 61.0 | 60.8 | 68.1 | 49.6 | 54.3 | 57.1 |
| owned free and clear | 41.2 | 46.3 | 39.0 | 39.2 | 31.9 | 50.4 | 45.7 | 42.9 |
| Renters | 26.4 | 24.8 | 27.0 | 26.8 | 43.3 | 27.2 | 27.8 | 17.3 |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||||||
Among U.S.-born Ukrainians, 73 percent were homeowners, and 61 percent of them had a mortgage. Foreign-born are designated by period of immigration. Home ownership was lowest among the most recent immigrants with 57 percent, and highest among the pre-World War II immigrants with 83 percent. The percentages for the other two immigration waves were 73 and 72 percent, respectively. As expected, the most recent immigrants had a high percentage of renters (43 percent), and the pre-1950 immigrants had the lowest percent of renters with 17 percent.
Among homeowners, the highest percentage having the house free and clear (50 percent) was found among immigrants arriving between 1960 and 1986. The lowest percentage, as expected, was found among the most recent immigrants with 32 percent. In general, among all homeowners half or more of all Ukrainians, U.S.-born or foreign-born, had mortgages on their homes.
The median value of a home was $137,500 for all Ukrainians, and this figure was the same for all three age groups (Table 11). Very few houses had a value of under $50,000, and about one-third were in the $100,000-$149,000 range. For all Ukrainians only 3 percent of the houses had a value of $400,000 or more, and this percentage was about 4-5 percent for the younger and older age groups, and 1.4 percent for the middle age group.
Age groups |
Immigration period* | |||||||
| Value in 1,000s | Total | 15-39 | 40-64 | 65+ | U.S.- born | 1960-1986 | 1950-1959 | Pre-1950 |
| 10-49 | 4.2 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 5.8 | 6.9 | 4.2 | 5.4 |
| 50-74 | 14.2 | 10.0 | 14.8 | 24.0 | 14.1 | 24.9 | 14.2 | 25.6 |
| 75-99 | 14.2 | 15.1 | 15.6 | 18.5 | 15.1 | 10.6 | 14.2 | 27.6 |
| 100-149 | 36.8 | 34.2 | 30.5 | 28.0 | 31.7 | 33.3 | 36.8 | 19.8 |
| 150-199 | 12.8 | 15.4 | 18.9 | 9.9 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.8 | 11.5 |
| 200-399 | 14.9 | 14.3 | 13.0 | 10.8 | 13.1 | 9.7 | 14.9 | 7.0 |
| 400 + | 2.9 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 3.1 | |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Median value | $137,500 | $137,500 | $137,500 | $137,500 | $112,500 | $112,500 | $137,500 | $95,500 |
*The latest immigration wave, 1987-1990, was excluded because there were too few cases in the sample. Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||||||
The value of homes among immigrants varied significantly. It was highest for the DPs with a median value of $137,500, and lowest for the pre-World War II immigrants with a median value of $95,000. The percent distribution of home values was similar for the 1960-1986 and 1950-1959 immigration waves. Both had small percentages of low-value homes, and more than one-third had homes in the $100,000 to $149,999 range. For the pre-World War II immigrants the home values were tilted towards the lower end; more than half were in the $50,000 to 99,000 range. However, about 3 percent had homes valued at $400,000 or more.
Median monthly mortgage payments were in the neighborhood of $660, and did not vary much by age and language spoken at home status (Table 12). The lowest median value, $650 per month, was for younger householders (age 15 to 39), and for householders speaking Ukrainian at home. The highest value, $677 per moth, was for householders not speaking Ukrainian at home.
Age groups |
Language spoken at home | |||||
| Mortgage (monthly) | Total | 15-39 | 40-64 | 65+ | Ukrainian | Other |
| $100-299 | 9.6 | 6.3 | 11.3 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 9.0 |
| $300-399 | 7.8 | 9.8 | 7.8 | 5.4 | 7.4 | 8.0 |
| $400-499 | 12.4 | 12.4 | 10.6 | 14.8 | 9.2 | 13.5 |
| $500-599 | 10.6 | 12.1 | 9.5 | 10.3 | 12.8 | 9.7 |
| $600-699 | 11.6 | 9.4 | 14.3 | 10.1 | 14.8 | 10.4 |
| $700-799 | 8.4 | 11.9 | 5.6 | 8.6 | 5.2 | 9.6 |
| $800-899 | 9.3 | 8.4 | 11.2 | 7.8 | 7.2 | 10.1 |
| $900-999 | 9.7 | 9.9 | 9.9 | 9.2 | 8.5 | 10.2 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 11.3 | 11.0 | 11.8 | 11.2 | 14.0 | 10.4 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 5.5 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 6.9 | 4.2 | 6.0 |
| $2,000-2,500 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 3.1 |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Median value | $663 | $650 | $663 | $660 | $650 | $677 |
| Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||||
For all Ukrainians monthly mortgage payments were fairly evenly distributed among the different value ranges, with about 8 to 12 percent for payments between $100 and $1,499. About 9 percent had mortgages of $1,500 or more per month. The variation of mortgage payments by age was, in general, relatively small. At the lower end, $100 to $299 per month, the percentages varied between 6 and 11 percent, while at the higher end, $2,000 to $2,500 per month, the percentages varied between 2 and 5 percent. For mortgage payments in the other ranges the percentages were on the average around 10 for each value range. Differences by language spoken at home status were also relatively small for the different payment categories.
Of all the homeowners with a mortgage, about 18.5 percent had a second mortgage, and this percentage was about 20 percent for householders under age 64 years of age, and 14.5 percent for householders aged 65 or older. The median monthly payment of the second mortgage was $305. It was $350 for householders age 25-39, $336 for the 40-64 age group and $275 for homeowners age 65 years or more.
Monthly payments varied between $50 and $1,171 (see Table 13 on page 10). For all Ukrainians about 44 percent had monthly payments of under $300, and about one-fourth paid $300-$399 per month. Only 3.4 percent paid more than $1,000 a month for their second mortgage. Among the different age groups, most of the payments for householders aged 65 or more were under $300 a month. For the other two age groups only 20 percent paid under $100 a month, and for householders aged 25-34, about 32 percent had monthly payments of $500 or more.
| Age groups | ||||
| Second mortgage (monthly) | Total | 25-39 | 40-64 | 65+ |
| $50-199 | 23.3 | 20.4 | 20.4 | 34.9 |
| $200-299 | 20.7 | 15.1 | 20.4 | 31.3 |
| $300-399 | 24.0 | 16.4 | 38.1 | 7.2 |
| $400-499 | 14.9 | 15.8 | 16.7 | 9.7 |
| $500-999 | 13.7 | 28.3 | 16.9 | |
| $1,000+ | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.4 | |
| TOTAL | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Median | $305 | $350 | $336 | $275 |
| Source: 1990 U.S. Census 5 Percent Public Use Sample Tape. | ||||
Summary and conclusions
We have presented here a brief overview of some economic characteristics of Ukrainian households in Chicago. We documented the number and types of these households, and their economic potential in terms of income, house ownership and value of the house. This analysis was refined by language spoken at home status and by U.S. and foreign status (further desegregated by year of immigration). A fairly detailed analysis of mortgages held by the homeowners also was presented. The analysis shows an economically vibrant community, with significant differences among specific market segments.
Besides a more detailed elaboration of some of the topics discussed here, census data also provides information on other topics like: monthly rent, number of bedrooms, year structure built, house insurance cost, plumbing and kitchen facilities, yearly cost of water and electricity, family composition by type of relatives, family composition by ages of members, etc. This information has not yet been analyzed.
A more systematic and in-depth analysis of this data could be useful for our financial institutions, both at the national and at regional levels. This type of information is used regularly by businesses to quantify their markets and develop marketing strategies, but data focused on an ethnic group like the Ukrainians is usually not available.
The year 2000 census will provide the opportunity for updating this information, and will give us for the first time a nationwide picture of the recent immigrants from Ukraine. Detailed data on Ukrainians will be available about three years after the census is taken (April 1, 2000).
In the meantime, a comprehensive analysis of the 1990 data would provide a useful benchmark for estimating trends and changes in the last decade.
NOTE: The definitions of the Metropolitan Areas (MAs) used in this paper are the Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSAs), as defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for 1990. These are somewhat smaller areas than the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) encompassing larger urban areas that often cross state lines. The five MAs discussed here are defined by urban areas in the following counties:
Oleh Wolowyna is owner and president of the counsulting firm Informed Decisions Inc., in Chapel Hill, N.C. He has worked as a consultant in the international development field (population and health) for more than 20 years. He has also done extensive demographic and sociological analysis of Ukrainians in the United States and Canada, as well as demographic analysis of the situation in Ukraine.
CONCLUSION
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 16, 2000, No. 3, Vol. LXVIII
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