St. Patrick's Day Fun Facts, March 17, 2014

St. Patrick’s Day fun facts
Chicago River (CNN/WLS)

By (U.S. CENSUS BUREAU)Updated: Monday, March 17, 2014, 10:06 amPublished: Monday, March 17, 2014, 8:30 am

AUSTIN (U.S. CENSUS BUREAU) — Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish.

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

This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948.

100,003

·         Population of South Bend, Ind., home to the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. About 10.4 percent of South Bend’s population claims Irish ancestry.

24.1%

·         Percentage of the Boston metropolitan area population that claims Irish ancestry, one of the highest percentages for the top 50 metro areas by population. Boston is home of the Celtics of the National Basketball Association.

78,390 and 16,167

Population of New Rochelle, N.Y., and Moraga, Calif., home to the Gaels of Iona University and St. Mary’s College of California, respectively. During college basketball’s March Madness, you will typically see these universities compete on the court, no doubt rooted on by some of the 8.4 percent of the New Rochelle population and 15.5 percent of the Moraga population that claim Irish ancestry.

34.1 million

·         Number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2012. This number was more than seven times the population of Ireland itself, 4.6 million. Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.

22.6%

·         Percentage of the population in Massachusetts that claims Irish ancestry, which is among the highest in the nation. New York has 2.5 million people claiming Irish ancestry, which is among the most of any state.

153,248

·         Number of people with Irish ancestry who were naturalized citizens in 2012.

39.2 years old

·         Median age of those who claim Irish ancestry, which is higher than U.S. residents as a whole at 37.4 years.

34.2%

·         Percentage of people of Irish ancestry, 25 or older, who had a bachelor’s degree or higher. In addition, 93.4 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 29.1 percent and 86.4 percent, respectively.

$59,220

·         Median income for households headed by an Irish-American, higher than the $51,371 for all households. In addition, 7.4 percent of family households of Irish ancestry were in poverty, lower than the rate of 11.8 percent for all Americans.

41.1%

·         Percentage of employed civilian Irish-Americans 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations. Additionally, 25.9 percent worked in sales and office occupations; 15.9 percent in service occupations; 9.3 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations; and 7.7 percent in natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations.

68.9%

·         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 63.9 percent.

16

·         Number of places in the United States that share the name of Ireland’s capital, Dublin. They include Dublin, Texas, home of the famous cane sugar Dr. Pepper.

·         If you’re still not into the spirit of St. Paddy’s Day, then you might consider paying a visit to Emerald Isle, N.C., with 3,669 residents.

·         Other appropriate places in which to spend the day: the township of Irishtown, Ill., several places or townships named Clover (in South Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) or one of the seven places that are named Shamrock, including Shamrock, Texas.

25.9 billion

·         U.S. beef production in pounds in 2012. Corned beef is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish.

$21.5 million

·         Value of potted florist chrysanthemum sales at wholesale in 2012 for operations with $100,000 or more sales. Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Chicago River goes green

·         Turning the Chicago River green has been unique to Chicago for more than 40 years, according to a website dedicated to the event.

·         Most people do not know that this is a privately funded operation, which gets more expensive each year.

·         Check out the site for more of the story behind the magic that makes the green river happen.

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