Italian-American Towns in New Jersey

[nybbler]

I think East Hanover is probably at least 25% my wife's family :-)

[chuck172]

Lodi historically has been Italian, while Wallington was Polish. Surprised to here Lodi is more mixed nowadays.

[JerseyGirl415]

Originally Posted by chuck172

Lodi historically has been Italian, while Wallington was Polish. Surprised to here Lodi is more mixed nowadays.

Why? Everywhere is getting to be more mixed nowadays.

[snj90]

Originally Posted by snj90

Cool & interesting stats. I'm questioning exactly how it's calculated, however. For example, to me there's a difference between "Italian-American" & "American of Italian heritage."

I would fall under the category of the latter, since a minority of my ancestry is Italian, but I wouldn't call myself the former. Rather, I'd just consider my ethnicity Ukrainian; it's my predominant ancestry and what I identify with ethnically, for a variety of reasons. Italian-Americans, on the other hand, would be predominately, mostly, or solely Italian by ancestry, and would identify that (first) as their ethnicity.

So I'm left wondering about the fact that these statistics likely don't account for people like me. But if it were possible to expand the category to include all NJ residents who have at least some traceable Italian ancestry, I wonder how much more "Italian" the state would be...

I have not really been able to fully clarify this matter. To my knowledge, most ethnicity figures that are commonly cited on C-D (e.g., quantifying how German, Irish, Italian, etc., a place is) are projections originating from the long-form census of 2000 that some people randomly received. The 2010 census, in contrast, did not ask about ethnicity (except the whole Latino/Hispanic question). I have taken a look at that form, and it seems to me that one would have had the ability to identify only one ethnicity on the form. Is my understanding correct? If so, it is likely that if one wants to know what percentage of the total population in a given jurisdiction has at least some Italian ancestry, then the figures cited below would be low estimates, since it is likely than an additional & non-negligible portion of the population can claim some Italian ancestry.

I seem to have stumbled upon the answer to my own question, which is no. For the ancestries reported, I have looked at the census data sheets and the percentages add up to over 100%, and it states on the document that ancestries can be single or multiple.

[G1..]

Millburn /Short Hills use to have a large Italian American population , now I don't know.Add in Verona and Madison also.
I also notice on a few of the list there are no Shore towns ,definitely mistakes on the lists.

[snj90]

Originally Posted by snj90

I seem to have stumbled upon the answer to my own question, which is no. For the ancestries reported, I have looked at the census data sheets and the percentages add up to over 100%, and it states on the document that ancestries can be single or multiple.

I found even further clarification! It's 2 ancestries maximum:

The Census Bureau currently collects ancestry data through the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS question on ancestry is "What is your ancestry or ethnic origin?" The text after the question provides examples of particular ethnic groups. The response area for the question consists of two write-in lines in which respondents can report ancestry or ancestries with which they identify. We code up to two ancestries per person. If a person reports more than two ancestries, we generally take the first two. For example, if a person reports German, Italian, and Scottish, we would code German and Italian.

About

I don't know why finding information about ancestry from the US Census Bureau has to be so difficult. A week or so ago, I was looking as tables of reported ancestries for various counties. Now I can't seem to get back to that page... whatever search terms I use.

Anyway, addressing my original question of how much Italian ancestry there may be that's underreported. it's hard to know. If someone, say, 50% x, 25% y, and 25% Italian, that may not be recorded in the census data because it exceeds the maximum number of reportable ancestries (if Italian is reported third or in any subsequent order).

[gabagolemafia]

Originally Posted by promis1

U R a racist pig and a troll.

let's be honest with the likes of Guliani Christie and Arpaio, we have a lot to worry about. Racist high tax entitled government servants.