As we approach St. Patrick's Day, it is interesting to note the U.S. Census Bureau's statistics on Irish descendants in America:
- 34 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (3.9 million). Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.
- 24% of Massachusetts' residents are of Irish ancestry, about double the national percentage.
- There are 3 states in which Irish is the leading ancestry group: Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Irish is among the top five ancestries in every state but two (Hawaii and New Mexico).
- There are 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group. 44 of these counties are in the Northeast, with 14 in New York, 11 in Massachusetts and 5 in New Jersey.
- 348,978 residents of Middlesex County, Massachusetts are of Irish ancestry. Among the 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group, Middlesex had the highest population of Irish-Americans, with Norfolk County, Mass., second, with 203,285.
- 31% of the population of Plymouth County, Mass., and Norfolk County, Mass., are of Irish ancestry. Among the 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group, these two counties had the highest rate.
- There are 148,000 U.S. residents who were born in Ireland.
- There are 4.8 million immigrants from Ireland admitted for lawful permanent residence since fiscal year 1820, the earliest year for which official immigration records exist. By fiscal year 1870, about half of these immigrants were admitted for lawful permanent residence. Only Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Mexico have had more immigrants admitted for permanent residence to the United States than Ireland.
- There are 1,010 immigrants from Ireland admitted for lawful permanent residence to the United States in the 2003 fiscal year.
- There were $23.0 billion worth of imports from the Republic of Ireland during a recent 10-month period (January-October 2004). Meanwhile, the United States exported $6.6 billion worth of goods to Ireland.
- There are 4 places in the United States named Shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland. Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va., and Shamrock, Texas, were the most populous, with 2,623 and 1,828 residents, respectively. Shamrock Lakes, Ind., had 164 residents and Shamrock, Okla., 126. (Figure for Mount Gay-Shamrock is a Census 2000 count; the other figures in this paragraph are 2003 estimates.)
- There are 9 places in the United States that share the name of Ireland's capital, Dublin. Since Census 2000, Dublin, Calif., has surpassed Dublin, Ohio, as the most populous of these places (35,581 compared with 33,606 as of July 1, 2003).
