Irish Heritage Statistics in the USA 2022
Irish Heritage has been a talking point in the US for many years now.
There are so many people, not only in the USA itself, but all over the world who identify as Irish, have Irish history in their family tree or simply just wish they were Irish! And who’s to blame them given Ireland’s rich history and lore?
Here, we delve into the numbers behind the rise of this Irish craze, revealing everything you need to know, and more, about Irish Heritage in 2022.
Irish Heritage: The Quick Version
Our research found that:
- More than a quarter (25.75%) of US residents say they have Irish ancestry.
- People in Massachusetts search online for ‘Irish citizenship’ more than any other US state.
- People in Oregon appear to be most keen to move to Ireland, as residents here search for the term ‘move to Ireland’ more frequently than those in any other state.
How many people in the USA Are Irish?
In May 2021, we conducted a survey using Google Surveys and asked a representative sample of 1,000 US adults ‘How Irish Are you?’, providing them with the following list of options:
- I have no Irish heritage at all
- I know that I have Irish ancestors/relatives
- I don’t know
- I suspect I have Irish ancestors/relatives
- I wish I were Irish – but I’m not at all
Our survey revealed that:
- 1 in 4 US adults have Irish ancestors or relatives. That’s 25.75% of the adult population of the USA, equating to over 52 million people.
- 8.23% of US adults suspect they have Irish heritage, that’s around 1 in every 12 people.
- And another 6.97% are not Irish in any way, but wish they were!
According to the most recent Census data, Cook County in the state of Illinois has the largest Irish population of all the US counties, being home to almost 440,000 Irish-American citizens.
However, when it comes to the states with the largest population of people identifying as being Irish (with single ancestry), New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania top the list. According to the most recent US census, this accounts for approximately 528,000 people.
How Many Americans Want to Move to Ireland?
As we know, there’s a wealth of history between Ireland and America which compelled us to discover how many people in the US are thinking about taking the leap across the pond to Ireland. To do this, we conducted analysis using the tool Keyword Finder.
| State | Average Yearly Searches in Google USA Per Million People For ‘Move to Ireland’ in 2022 |
| Wyoming | 206 |
| Vermont | 193 |
| Alaska | 164 |
| North Dakota | 157 |
| South Dakota | 134 |
| Delaware | 122 |
| Rhode Island | 114 |
| Oregon | 113 |
| Montana | 111 |
| Washington | 109 |
| USA (average) | 65 |
Our analysis found that:
- People in Wyoming conduct more online searches for the term ‘move to Ireland’ than any other US state, as the term is searched here more than three times as much as the national average.
- People in Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota appear to have a keen interest in moving to Ireland, as the term ‘move to Ireland’ is also searched for frequently in these states.
Methodology: To discover the number of searches per million people, we took the average yearly search volume for each state and divided this by each state’s population, before multiplying this by 1000,000. This gave us the average search volume per million people.
Irish Citizenship in the United States
Even amongst those who don’t have Irish Heritage, many Americans appear to be on the lookout for ways to obtain Irish citizenship. Using the same methods as above, our analysis found that:
- Each month in the US, the term ‘Irish passport’ is searched 2,800 times.
- The term ‘Irish citizenship’ is also frequently searched for in the US, averaging at 2,400 searches a month.
- That’s equivalent to 77 times, every single day!
The graph above shows spikes in the number of people searching online for Irish passports in the US at the beginning and end of May 2022. Whilst September and the start of November in 2021 saw the lowest rate of interest in the term. These changes appear to have correlated with news of the new post-Brexit border and immigration system.
How Many Irish People Are There Around The World?
Both Ireland itself and the Irish are hugely popular around the globe. It’s estimated that there are now around 70 million people who claim Irish heritage or ancestry worldwide. Considering the relatively small population of Ireland (4.9 million), this number is incredible.
But which countries outside of Ireland are home to the most Irish people?
To find out, we took a look at the United Nation’s most recent population figures and pulled a list of the top 10 countries worldwide with the highest proportion of people with Irish Heritage:
| Country | Number Of Irish Migrants | Percentage Of Irish Heritage Dispersion |
| United Kingdom | 503,288 | 57.1% |
| United States of America | 132,280 | 15% |
| Australia | 101,032 | 11.5% |
| Canada | 33,530 | 3.8% |
| Spain | 14,651 | 1.7% |
| South Africa | 13,009 | 1.5% |
| Germany | 11,373 | 1.3% |
| France | 9,828 | 1.1% |
| New Zealand | 9,398 | 1.1% |
| Poland | 7,592 | 0.9% |
Although these figures are from 2015, they’re unlikely to have changed drastically since this time. These figures really highlight just how widespread Irish heritage actually is across the globe.
It’s quite clear that the Irish, their culture, history and traditions have had a huge impact on the rest of the world, leaving their mark on the lives of many, both in America and further afield. It’s great to see that more and more people appear to be making attempts to tune into that side of their past and learn more about their ancestors.