Can you guess which town in CT is the most Irish? Find out here.
It’s probably no surprise Connecticut is not the state with the highest percentage of residents with Irish roots.
Yes, we have many whose ancestors traveled to new shores from the Emerald Isle, but Connecticut boasts residents from across the globe. The Irish tend to get many a mention in March, when many folks celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. There will be events across the state this and next weekend, in fact.
Connecticut, however, is in the top 10 of states with the highest percentage of Irish heritage, according to casino sweepstake comparison site Casinos Sweeps, which analyzed 2022 Census data on the ancestry of residents in each US state, and then compared statewide populations with the number of people with Irish ancestral roots, according to the site. They used that analysis to rank states top to bottom to show which has the highest percentage of Irish heritage.
The conclusion was that Connecticut has the eighth-highest percentage of Irish descendants. “One in every seven residents has Irish ancestral roots, representing 14.37% of the state’s total population,” the analysis found.
Further, Milford is the city with the state’s highest percentage of Irish heritage, with 20.35% of locals of Irish descent, it concluded. (Milford is one of the cities in Connecticut that has an parade that typically draws thousands)
None of this should be a big surprise as, according to the U.S, Census Bureau, 31.5 million or 9.5% of U.S. residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2021. In that same year, 118,539 foreign-born U.S. residents reported Ireland as their birthplace, according to the census bureau.
Find out more about historic Irish migration to the U.S. here.
How to make a beef and Guinness stout pie for St. Patrick’s Day
Connecticut residents also love to travel to Ireland, Aer Lingus, the Irish airline that ushered in a new era of transatlantic service to Bradley International Airport, flies to Dublin.
Just for fun, we’ll also note that the census bureau points out that the “U.S. Congress designated March as Irish American Heritage Month in 1991 and the president issues a proclamation commemorating the occasion each year.”
“Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration of all things Irish,” the bureau notes. “The world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade occurred on March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers who served in the English military. This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948.”
Find out more about us in the U.S. here.
According to the Casinos Sweeps analysis, other US states with the greatest Irish roots include:
- New Hampshire is the US state boasting the highest rate of Irish heritage, with 20.2% of residents having Irish roots.
- Massachusetts claimed second spot on the study, with 18.9% of all residents in the state having some form of Irish heritage.
- Seven of the 10 states with the highest percentage of Irish heritage were in the Northeast, including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maine.
Looking to have St. Patrick’s Day fun? What CT towns have planned for the holiday
Further, according to Casinos Sweeps:
New Hampshire “ranked top as the US state with the highest percentage of Irish descendants in the entire country, with 20.2% of all people in the state having an Irish ancestor. One in every five people in New Hampshire has Irish heritage, more than any other state. Dover is the city with the strongest Irish heritage in the state, with 8,011 people, or 24.39%, of Irish descent.”
Massachusetts “is the state with the second highest rate of residents of Irish descent. Approximately 1,319,826 people, or 18.9%, have Irish heritage in the state, higher than almost every other spot in the country. Weymouth is the city you are most likely to find someone with Irish ancestors, as they comprise 32.95% of the population.”
Rhode Island “has the third-highest rate of residents with Irish heritage in America. Of the 1,094,250 people residing in the state, 182,950, or 16.72%, are of Irish descent. On average, one in every six residents of Rhode Island has Irish heritage. Newport and Warwick are the cities with the highest percentage of residents of Irish descent, averaging 24.75% and 23.84%, respectively.”
Vermont is “home to the fourth-highest rate of Irish descendants in America. The least populated state to feature among the top-performing regions, Vermont has approximately 105,520 residents of Irish descent, 16.39% of the state’s entire population. Burlington ranked top as the Vermont city with the highest rate of Irish heritage, with 20.44% of its population descended from people native to Ireland.”
Maine “rounds out the US states with the highest percentage of residents of Irish descent. Exactly 16.08% of all people residing in Maine have Irish ancestry. The cities with the highest rate of Irish heritage include Hallowell, Saco, and Portland.”
Further west:
Montana “ranks ninth among the US states with the highest rate of people of Irish descent. Of the 1,091,840 people living in the state, 148,897 have Irish heritage, around 13.64% of the state-wide population.”
Iowa “was the tenth and final state to be named in the study of the states with the highest rate of Irish ancestry. The state is home to 405,795 people of Irish descent, equal to 12.73% of the total population.”
Recipe: Make the rustic Irish dish Colcannon for St. Patrick’s Day
See details of U.S. trade with Ireland here.