Parma is home to Ohio's largest Ukrainian community; several Cleveland suburbs rank high
Parma is home to Ohio's largest Ukrainian community and several southwestern suburbs of Cleveland rank high statewide as well, the latest estimates from the Census Bureau show.
An estimated 4,407 Parma residents claim Ukrainian ancestry, more than double that of any other city in Ohio. That amounts to just over 5 percent of Parma's population.
Among the 25 cities with the largest Ukrainian populations in Ohio, 18 are in Greater Cleveland. They include Cleveland (2,028), Parma Heights (1,294), North Royalton (1,258), Broadview Heights (645) and Strongsville (613).
There are an estimated 45,781 Ohio residents who claim Ukrainian ancestry among the 960,924 in the United States.
The first large groups of Ukrainians arrived in the Cleveland area in the mid-1880s, often settling in the Tremont area, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
The local Ukrainian community added population both between the World Wars, and after World War II. Others moved to Greater Cleveland after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The encyclopedia has a lengthy article about the history of the local Ukrainian community.
The census estimates are derived from self-reporting of ancestry on surveys from 2008 through 2012. Respondents were allowed to identify more than one ancestry.
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