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Have a look at the 1930 census. More people born in Northern Ireland in PA and Philadelphia than anywhere in the States. And then while in New England virtually all the colonial stock Yankees were of English origin, a significant number of Scots-Irish existed in PA. Boston Irish are probably 95% Irish Catholic, Philadelphia are probably 2/3 to 3/4 Catholic. Keep in mind the US as a whole only about half of Irish ancestry are Catholics.
But given that Irish Catholics are still retain an ethnic identity to some degree, virtually all people who strongly identify as Irish would be Catholic.
A possible reason for the difference for the seemingly greater visibility of the Italians in Philadelphia may have to do with suburbanization patterns after WWII. Did Italians in Philly stay in their "old neighborhoods" longer and were slower to suburbanize than in Boston?
Boston and Philadelphia have a similar proportion of Italian Americans. Boston is proportionately a lot more Irish, a bit more Jewish and Asian, and has West Indian and Portuguese/Brazilian communities that Philadelphia lacks. Philadelphia is far more African American and has far more of German descent. The two areas probably have a similar number of WASPs.
Philadelphia has a much bigger population of Jews than Boston. In fact Philadelphia ranks 4th in the nation in Jewish community after NYC, LA, and Miami. I believe Boston is #6 after Chicago. The Philly Jewish community is very influential in the national Jewish community because it is the home of the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere (Rodeph Shalom), the birthplace of Reconstructionist Judaism, the home of The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, and The National Museum of American Jewish History.
Long Island, Westchester and Northern New Jersey dominate this list, with the Chicago area coming in second. It looks like the New York and Chicago metro areas were more impacted by post-1950 immigration from Italy than other communities. However I see more Boston suburbs on this list (Revere, Medford).
Italian -American presence : boston vs philadelphia
The irony of the discussion lies in the following statistical factoids: South Philly is at most 22% Italo-American with the greatest concentrations South of Snyder Avenue between S. 10th Street and S 25th Street. African-Americans, Asian-Americans( Chinese,Vietnamese,Cambodians,etc) Mexican-Americans, Irish-Americans(13%) and a diverse group of new gentrifying residents compose the balance of a very diverse set of communities that make up South Philly. Note- Bishop Neumann High/Mother Mariia Goretti High used to have 7500 students attending between the two of them - now the schools have a combined enrollment of 622!
I have only been to Boston once but I understand that matters have changed so that Irish -American politicians from Southie needed to campaign in Chinatown to assure their election to what used to be a Southie (Irish American)dominated seat!
A possible reason for the difference for the seemingly greater visibility of the Italians in Philadelphia may have to do with suburbanization patterns after WWII. Did Italians in Philly stay in their "old neighborhoods" longer and were slower to suburbanize than in Boston?
The western suburbs of PA are way more Irish than Italian (Jersey is a different story). True story, my mom's cousin growing up in the '50s was asked to do some errands by some Italian mob guys. They were trying to set up some gambling operations in Havertown and areas like that (barbershops, etc.), but Italian guys were noticeable in those areas back then. The way he says it, there were very few Italians on the other side of City Line Ave. (My cousin didn't do it because he didn't want to become a fall guy). Fast forward to when I'm growing up and the area is still very Irish, but a lot less so and some more Italians moving in.
On my dad's side, my great-grandparents came straight off the boat in Boston and made a beeline to some textile plants near Framingham. There were a lot of Italians going right to the surrounding area and bypassing the city itself. I'm not sure if these anecdotes can provide any supporting evidence to help flesh out the statistics.
Well, I was clearly fooled for a number of years. The North End is very yuppie and touristy. It's about as Italian as Mulberry Street, imo.
But yes, Rhode Island is very Italian.
Well yes, but it still feels pretty old-world, not as gentrified as it probably is. At the restaurant I ate at the owner seemed to have been a recent arrival from Italy.
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Italian -American presence : boston vs philadelphia
