Seasonal & Holidays
St. Patrick's Day: How Irish Is Connecticut?
Connecticut is one of the most Irish states in the country. Some areas of the state are a little more Irish than others.
CONNECTICUT — There’s a saying that everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but for the other 364 days of the year, about 1 out of 6 Connecticut residents are still at least a bit Irish.
The most Irish states are concentrated in New England. Connecticut comes in 7th overall with about 15.2 percent of residents claiming Irish ancestry, according to the 2015-2019 U.S. Census American Community Survey.
Nationally, more than 31.5 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry, which puts it second behind German. Italian ancestry is the most common in Connecticut, at around 16.7 percent, according to the ACS survey; Irish comes in second.
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Connecticut's county estimates are all relatively close when it comes to the percentage of people who list Irish ancestry.
It’s hard to say which county is the most Irish due to the margin of error within the survey, but Middlesex, Litchfield, New London and Tolland have a higher percentage of Irish ancestry than Windham, New Haven, Fairfield and Hartford.
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| Location | Percent | Margin of Error +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Middlesex | 19.2% | 1.0% |
| Litchfield | 18.4% | 0.8% |
| New London | 18.4% | 0.7% |
| Tolland | 18.3% | 0.9% |
| Connecticut | 15.2% | 0.2% |
| Windham | 14.9% | 1.0% |
| New Haven | 14.9% | 0.4% |
| Fairfield | 14.3% | 0.3% |
| Hartford | 13.8% | 0.3% |
The top 5 U.S. counties with the highest concentration of Irish ancestry are:
- Cape May, NJ: 30.2 percent
- Plymouth, Mass: 30.1 percent
- Silver Bow, Montana: 28.4 percent
- Barnstable Mass: 26.5 percent
- Gloucester, NJ: 26.4 percent
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