本文追踪了过去三个世纪美国犹太人的经济地位。它依赖于早期的定性材料和1890年以来的定量数据。主要关注的是与非犹太人相比，犹太男性和女性的职业地位，并对收入、自主创业和财富进行了额外的分析。美洲殖民地的犹太人，许多是西班牙裔，不成比例地居住在东海岸海港，从事国际贸易和金融。19世纪中期，德国犹太移民在全国各地定居;他们通常从流动小贩开始，发展到小企业，有些人甚至发展到零售业的不那么小的企业。说意第绪语的东欧和俄罗斯犹太移民主要是在1881年开始的40年里来到美国的，他们是大多数当代美国犹太人的祖先。他们从北部和中西部工业城市的小规模制造业或零售业的操作、工艺和工人工作开始，经历了经济的快速发展。在20世纪的整个过程中，他们的后代在收入和职业地位方面取得了令人印象深刻的改善，明显高于非犹太白人人口的水平。到2000年，53%的犹太男性和20%的非犹太白人男性从事专业职业。 Among working women in 2000, 51 percent of the Jewish women and 28 percent of non-Jewish white women were in professional jobs. Differences by gender were smaller than differences by religion. Other determinants of earnings the same, including schooling, American Jewish men earned about 16 percent more than other white men, an advantage that is about 8 percent when major occupational group is also held constant. American Jews, from the earliest period to the present, have had high rates of self-employment compared to the non-farm white population of the United States. The nature of this self-employment has changed over time, and currently includes many self-employed professionals. The high level of human wealth of contemporary American Jews is not at the expense of non-human wealth. Overall, and even when other variables including schooling are held constant, Jews have higher levels of wealth and higher rates of wealth accumulation than other religious groups. In summary, over the 350 years since the first Jews settled in what is now the United States, American Jews have consistently demonstrated a very high level of economic achievement.