Northeast states lead in Irish ancestry % of population who say they are of Irish ancestry
Irish and Scotch-Irish Americans are most highly concentrated in a few areas of the country, reflecting their historical migration patterns. The poor Irish immigrants who fled their famine-stricken homeland in the 1840s and 1850s generally settled in or close to the Northeastern port cities where they first arrived. New England states continue to have the highest share of residents claiming Irish ancestry: Massachusetts (21.6%), New Hampshire (21.0%), Rhode Island (18.3%), Vermont (17.9%) and Maine (17.6%).
The Scotch-Irish, who arrived earlier than the Irish in the early 1700s, moved to the more mountainous interior of what were then Britain’s American colonies. To this day, the states with the highest share of residents claiming Scotch-Irish ancestry are North Carolina (2.6%), South Carolina (2.4%), Tennessee (2.2%) and West Virginia (2.0%).
Northeast states lead  | in Irish ancestry  | % of population who say they  | are of Irish ancestry  | Massachusetts  | 21 66  | New Hampshire  | 21.0  | Rhode Island  | 18.3  | Vermont  | 17.9  | Maine  | 17.6  | Delaware  | 16.7  | Pennsylvania  | 16.7  | Connecticut  | 15.8  | West Virginia  | 14.6  | New Jersey  | 14. 3  | Note: The top 10 states for Irish  | ancestry are shown.  | Source: Census Bureau, 2011 2015  | 5-year estimates  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 