Impress your friends and co-workers: Some little-known facts about Irish-American Heritage

The U.S. Census Bureau has compiled some mind-bending facts related to the upcoming celebration of Irish-American Heritage Month (March) and St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. They could prove useful at your next get-together – or if you happen to land a spot on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or Jeopardy.

Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish.

The world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held on March 17, 1762 in New York City and featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military.

President Truman attended the parade in 1948.

Congress proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995, and the President issues a proclamation each year.

More Irish here than in Ireland

36.5 million: the number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2007… more than 8 times the population of Ireland itself (which is about 4 million). Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German. [Sources: 2007 American Community Survey and Ireland Central Statistical Office ]

24 percent: Percentage of Massachusetts residents of Irish ancestry reported in 2007… compared with a rate of 12 percent for the nation as a whole. [Source: 2007 American Community Survey ]

Education, income, labor force

32 percent: Percentage of people of Irish ancestry, 25 or older, who had earned a bachelor’s degree or more education (92 percent of Irish-Americans in this age group had at least a high school diploma). For the nation as a whole, the corresponding rates were 28 percent and 85 percent. [Source: 2007 American Community Survey]

$56,966 : the median income for households headed by an Irish-American, higher than the $50,740 median income for all households in the U.S. (And, 8 percent of people of Irish ancestry were in poverty, which is a lower rate than 13 percent for all Americans.) [Source: 2007 American Community Survey]

39 percent: Percentage of employed civilian Irish-Americans 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations. 27 percent worked in sales and office occupations; 15 percent in service occupations; 10 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations; and 9 percent in construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations. [Source: 2007 American Community Survey]

72 percent: Percentage of householders of Irish ancestry who owned the home in which they live, with the remainder renting. For the nation as a whole, the homeownership rate was 67 percent. [Source: 2007 American Community Survey]

U.S. trade with the ‘Old Sod’

$26.2 billion: The value of U.S. imports from Ireland for January to October 2008. Meanwhile, the United States exported $7.4 billion worth of goods to Ireland. [Source: Foreign Trade Statistics ]

Where to hang out on St. Patrick’s Day

Four: Number of places in the United States named Shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland. Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va., and Shamrock, Texas were the most populous, with 2,623 and 1,830 residents, respectively. Shamrock Lakes, Ind. had 154 residents and Shamrock, Okla. 123. (Statistic for MountGay-Shamrock is from Census 2000; the other statistics are 2007 estimates.) [Sources: American FactFinder and Population Estimates ]

Nine: Number of places in the United States that share the name of Ireland’s capital, Dublin. Since Census 2000, Dublin, Calif. has surpassed Dublin, Ohio as the most populous of these places (43,960 compared with 37,954 respectively, as of July 1, 2007).

You might also consider paying a visit to Emerald Isle, N.C. with 3,651 residents. Other appropriate places in which to spend St. Patrick’s Day – the township of Irishtown, Ill., several places or townships named “Clover” (in South Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota and Pennsylvania) and the township of Cloverleaf, Minn. [Sources: American FactFinder and Population Estimates ]

And what to eat

41.5 billion and 2.6 billion: U.S. beef and cabbage production, respectively, in pounds, in 2007. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish. The corned beef that celebrants dined on in 2007 may very well have originated in Texas – which produced 6.8 billion pounds of beef, while the cabbage most likely came from California – which produced 581 million pounds, or New York – which produced 580 million pounds. [Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service ]

Don’t forget those green flowers

$40 million: Value of potted florist chrysanthemum sales at wholesale in 2007 for operations with $100,000 or more in sales. Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. [Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service ]

Posted Feb. 28, 2009

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Disclaimer: Comments posted by readers do not represent the opinions of HTNP.com. They may be edited for content (i.e. abusive language, obscenity) or length, at the Editor’s discretion. While your comments are an important part of this publication, we ask that you please make your comments relevant to the story, keep them civil — and refrain from name-calling or profanity, either of which may result in your comment being deleted. Thank you – The Editor

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Mayor on Monday, March 02, 2009

Thanks for mentioning Emerald Isle, NC as a place to spend St Patrick’s Day. We have a festival that is the start to our summer season. This year it is March 14. We are a beach town, if you didn’t already know. How did you learn about our St. Pat’s Festival?

Art Schools

Emerald Isle Mayor

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N. Cosgrove on Monday, March 02, 2009

How about these facts, which are a bit more “relevant” than how many pounds of corn beef are eaten:

12 Signers of the Declaration of Independence were Irish Americans.

The same Declaration was transcribed (Congressional secretary Charles Thomson), published (John Dunlop) and for the first time read in public (Colonel John Nixon) by Irish Americans

25% of Washington’s Army and Twenty of his Generals were Irish Americans.

The first woman to command the space shuttle, walk in space and the first Teacher in space (and sadly to die in space) were all Irish Americans.

The White House was designed by Irish American James Hoban

The first recorded instance of a person speaking out unequivocally against slavery was St. Patrick.

The first Flag Officer of the United States Navy was Commodore John Barry.

The most decorated soldier of World War II was Audie Murphy

etc etc. How about some real facts about the very real contributions of Irish Americans rather than trivializing their contribution to just the number of dyed chrysanthemum

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Brenda Sullivan on Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Hi — while corned beef and cabbage and flowers are trivia-bits, the majority of the statistics — which are supplied by the US Census Bureau — that are quoted in this story are highly complimentary to Irish Americans in terms of their level of education, income, home-ownership, and professions… Your additional facts also are complimentary. Thank you for sharing them – Brenda Sullivan