Several Westchester Communities Among New York's 'Most Irish'

Written by Lanning Taliaferro (Patch Staff)

Just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day, a new study from consumer advocacy site NerdWallet identifies the most Irish places in New York—and out of 190 communities Pearl River ranked first.

It turns out the most Irish place in New York is Pearl River in Rockland County.

A full 52% of residents in this suburban hamlet north of New York City claim Irish ancestry based on U.S. Census Bureau data. The Irish influence can be felt everywhere here, from a consistently crowded St. Patrick’s Day Parade to multiple schools for Irish dance and music in a community of only 15,840 residents.

NerdWallet used data from the U.S. Census Bureau to rank cities and towns across New York state by their percentage of residents who claim Irish heritage. Though the story of the Irish immigrant experience in New York is centered on NYC, understandably, things change.

Now, overall Long Island dominates, NerdWallet reported. Nine of the top 10 most Irish places are on Long Island, and many other Long Island communities are on the list.

The big surprise? The Hasidic enclave of Kiryas Joel in Orange County comes in at the tail end, at No. 190, with a reported 0.1 percent of residents reporting Irish descent.

Long Island communities coming in Nos. 2-10: Sayville, Garden City, Rockville Centre, East Islip, Massapequa Park, Babylon, Floral Park, Miller Place, and West Islip.

In Rockland and Westchester counties, these places also made the list, with Irish ancestry accounting for from 23.6 percent (Jefferson Valley in Yorktown) to 0.1 percent (in Kiryas Joel):

Yorktown, Nanuet, New City, Rye, Eastchester, Tarrytown, Suffern, Dobbs Ferry, Mount Kisco, Peekskill, Mamaroneck, Harrison, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Ossining, White Plains, Scarsdale, Haverstraw, Port Chester, Spring Valley, Kiryas Joel.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians’ 53rd annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Pearl River is this weekend.