Top o’ the morning to ya! With anticipation building for St. Patrick’s Day later this week, we’re taking a break from New York sports betting and wondering which American city has the most Irish spirit?
It’s no secret that St. Paddy’s Day is massively popular around the world. In fact, it’s estimated that 13 million pints of Guinness are consumed worldwide every March 17. With the big day falling on Friday of March Madness this year, that number might be even higher!
Nearly 10% of Americans claim some Irish lineage, dating back to the massive influx of Irish immigrants that followed the potato famine of the 1840s. Today’s estimated number of 32 million Americans with Irish descent is four times the combined population of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Of course, it’s not just folks from Irish descent that will be celebrating St. Paddy’s Day. People of all walks of life are drawn to the celebrations — and let’s face it, an excuse to imbibe in some green beer, dance a jig, and blow off some steam.
But which American city is most excited to don their best green attire this year?
To figure that out, we utilized Google Trends to determine the search volume of terms like “St. Patrick’s Day,” “St. Patrick’s Day Events,” etc in each U.S. metropolitan area. Once receiving the results, we averaged out the ranking across the terms. We also used World Population Review’s research on the “Cities With Highest Percentage Of Irish Ancestry” from 2023 to average out the rankings.
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Shocking no one, Boston tops our list as the city with the most St. Patrick’s day spirit. Beantown’s Irish heritage is well known. In the mid-19th century, 1 in 3 residents of Boston were Irish immigrants. Even today, 1 of every 5 Massachusetts residents claim Irish heritage.
Second on our list is Chicago, which, of course, is known for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day by turning the downtown Chicago River green each year. This feat, which requires dumping 50 pounds of dye into the river, began in 1962, and was first proposed by the Chicago Plumbers Union.
While New York City is only be ranked number nine on our list, it’s worth noting that the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parade is held here every year.
On March 17, between two and three million New Yorkers will gather to take in the festivities, with another 150,000 people marching in the parade!
St. Patrick’s Day is not an official holiday in the United States, but it is in Ireland. For over a thousand years the “Feast of St. Patrick” has been celebrated on March 17, the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death, but in 1903, St. Patrick’s Day became an official holiday. Each year, banks, schools, and government offices all take the day off to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland.
But believe it or not, St. Patrick was not actually Irish!
Born in Britain as Maewyn Succat in the late-fourth century, St. Patrick was kidnapped by Irish Raiders and taken to Ireland at the age of 16. He spent six years in captivity, working as a slave for his captors. During this time he turned to Christianity for comfort, and eventually escaped. After retuning to Britain, “Maewyn” changed his name to Patrick and underwent training within the church.
Upon his ordination as a priest, he made it his mission to convert his former captors to Christianity. Although he would succeed in spreading Catholicism across the island, the story about St. Patrick banishing snakes is a tall tale — there were never any snakes to begin with!
But why let the truth get in the way of a good excuse for a pint?
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Author
Jeff Parker is an Entertainment Writer for EmpireStakes.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with an actual Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
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