People reporting German ancestry
1,275,95820.4% of Missouri’s population
Estimate margin of error: ±22,258 people. A person may report more than one ancestry.
History in numbers
How deep are Missouri’s German roots?
About one in five Missourians reports German ancestry. Tens of thousands still speak German or a related West Germanic language at home. The numbers sit beside a longer story of families, churches, towns, trades, newspapers, farms, and traditions built across the state.
2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates · Research checked September 11, 2026
German or other West Germanic languages at home
34,8180.59% of Missourians age 5 and older
Estimate margin of error: ±5,899 people. The current Census category groups German with other West Germanic languages, so this is not a German-only count.
Ancestry
A large share of the state reports German roots
Of Missouri’s estimated 6,245,466 residents, 1,275,958 reported German ancestry. Ancestry is self-reported and people can name more than one origin, so ancestry groups should not be added together to calculate the state population.
German ancestry
20.4%
All others
79.6%
Language at home
A smaller living language community
The ACS estimates that 34,818 Missourians age 5 and older speak German or another West Germanic language at home. Among that group, the survey estimates how well people speak English.
25,3019,517
Speaks English “very well” · 72.7%Speaks English less than “very well” · 27.3%
A Missouri German timeline
From migration to living heritage
A book points toward Missouri
Gottfried Duden published an idealized account of the years he spent near the Missouri River. The book circulated widely in Germany and encouraged many readers to make the journey west.
Hermann is planned
The German Settlement Society of Philadelphia bought land in Gasconade County and laid out Hermann as a self-supporting German community in the Missouri River valley.
Saxon Lutherans settle Perry County
About 700 Saxon Lutheran immigrants established communities around Altenburg and Perry County. Churches, schools, farms, and family traditions still mark that migration.
Political refugees join the migration
After failed revolutions in the German states, refugees known as Forty-Eighters came to Missouri. They joined earlier farmers and craftspeople and became active in newspapers, civic life, and politics.
German Missourians defend the Union
Many German Missourians opposed slavery and volunteered for Union service. Their actions became an important part of the struggle over Missouri’s place in the nation.
Language and institutions retreat
Anti-German pressure led some communities to ban German, burn textbooks, and shift churches and schools to English. Newspapers and clubs closed or went quiet.
The inheritance remains visible
Historic towns, churches, museums, vineyards, food traditions, family names, festivals, and preservation groups carry Missouri German history into the present.
Sources & method
Where the figures and history come from
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 ACS table B04006. Missouri population and people reporting German ancestry.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 ACS table C16001. Language spoken at home and English-speaking ability for people age 5 and older.
- U.S. Census Bureau ancestry guidance. Explains self-reported ancestry and multiple responses.
- Missouri State Parks: Deutschheim historic site history. Migration, Hermann, settlement life, buildings, trades, and institutions.
- Library of Congress: Germans in America chronology. Duden and the founding of Hermann.
- Perry County: 1839 Saxon Lutheran immigration. Altenburg and the Perry County settlements.
- State Historical Society of Missouri: German American experience. Civil War participation, community life, World War I suppression, and later preservation.
Percentages are calculated from the published ACS estimates and rounded to one decimal place for ancestry and two decimal places for language. Survey estimates are not exact head counts.