Jed Kolko breaks down the latest data from the Census's American Community Survey to rank America's most Irish cities and neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, "Irish-Americans are strongly concentrated in the Northeast. The percentage of people with primary Irish ancestry tops out at 20% in the Boston metro area, followed by Middlesex County, MA (west of Boston) and Peabody, MA (north of Boston). The top six metros are all in Massachusetts or upstate New York."
The neighborhood with the highest concentration of people of Irish descent isn't in Boston, however, it's in New York. Breezy Point/Rockaway Point in Queens tops the list, with 54.3% reporting Irish ancestry.
Kolko points out that the most Irish neighborhoods tend to be in the suburbs, with 8 of the top 10 most Irish zip codes located outside of cities. "The most Irish neighborhoods have something else in common," he notes, "five out of 10 are right on the water. Breezy Point/Rockaway Point and Point Lookout are both on the Atlantic Ocean, as are North Weymouth and Marshfield on Boston's South Shore. And Crum Lynne, west of Philadelphia, is right on the Delaware River."
