The Irish and America

Many posts have dealt with ethnicity in the United States. On St. Patrick's Day, it is appropriate to consider some data from the Census:

34.5 million Number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2011. This number was more than seven times the population of Ireland itself (4.68 million). Irish was the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.
Source: 2011 American Community SurveyIreland Central Statistics Office

150,990 Number of Irish-born naturalized U.S. residents in 2011.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

39.3 years old Median age of U.S. residents who claim Irish ancestry is higher than the U.S. residents median age as a whole (37.3 years).
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

12.9% Percent of New York state residents who were of Irish ancestry in 2011. This compares with a rate of 11.1 percent for the nation as a whole.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

33.3% Percentage of people of Irish ancestry, 25 or older, who had a bachelor's degree or higher. In addition, 92.9 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 28.5 percent and 85.9 percent, respectively.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

$57,319 Median income for households headed by an Irish-American, higher than the $50,502 for all households. In addition, 7.3 percent of families of Irish ancestry were in poverty, lower than the rate of 11.7 percent for all Americans families.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

At The Huffington Post, Jed Kolko writes:

Irish-Americans are strongly concentrated in the Northeast. The percentage of people with primary Irish ancestry tops out at 20% in the Boston metro area, followed by Middlesex County, MA (west of Boston) and Peabody, MA (north of Boston). The top six metros are all in Massachusetts or upstate New York:

America's Most Irish Metros
# U.S. Metro % Irish ancestry
1 Boston, MA 20.4%
2 Middlesex County, MA 16.9%
3 Peabody, MA 15.8%
4 Albany, NY 15.6%
5 Syracuse, NY 15.0%
6 Worcester, MA 14.8%
7 Camden, NJ 14.8%
8 Philadelphia, PA 14.2%
9 Long Island, NY 13.1%
10 Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ 13.0%

Among 100 largest metros. Primary Irish ancestry only.

Last fall, the Irish Times polled the island about the US presidential race:

THE VAST majority of Irish voters want Barack Obama to win the US presidential election in less than three weeks time, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll. It shows a tiny level of support among the electorate for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

When asked who they would support if they had a vote in the US election, 79 per cent of respondents said Obama while just 5 per cent opted for Romney and 16 per cent had no opinion.