New Haven - Milford Has Nation's Highest Concentration of Italian Heritage

The New Haven-Milford metropolitan area has the highest concentration of individuals of Italian heritage in the nation. In an analysis that ranked ancestries on the estimated percentage of U.S. population and then identified the three metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of each ancestry or origin, Bloomberg Businessweek determined that the concentration of individuals of Italian heritage made up just under 24 percent of the population in the New Haven – Milford area. The next highest concentration was in Kingston, New York, and Poughkeepsie – Newburg – Middletown, New York, each with just over 20 percent of their population of Italian heritage. Overall, the largest ethnic populations across the country are German (15.6% of the population), Irish (11%), Mexican (10%), English (8%), Italian (5%), Polish (3%) French (2%) Scottish (1% and Puerto Rican (1%).

The Census Bureau defines ancestry as a person’s ethnic origin, heritage, descent or “roots,” which may reflect their place of birth, place of birth of parents or ancestors and ethnic identities that have evolved within the United States. Data for European, Middle Eastern, Arab and Sub-Saharan African ancestries were directly captured by ancestry questions in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The largest concentration of individuals of German descent was in Bismark, ND (60%) and the largest population of Irish was in Ocean City, New Jersey (30%) – followed by Barnstable, MA at 27 percent and Boston-Cambridge-Quincy at 24 percent.

Bangor, Maine had the highest concentration of individuals of Scottish ancestry, at 6 percent and the largest Puerto Rican population by percentage was in Vineland, Millville-Bridgetown, New Jersey at 14 percent and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, at 12 percent.

In the data, South American ancestries were calculated using data from the "Hispanic or Latino origin by specific origins" tables, while Asian ancestries were calculated from "Asian race & ethnicity" tables. American Indians and Alaskan Native ancestries were counted only if individuals identified with specific tribes. Spaniards only included people who specifically identified their ancestry as Spaniard.