Polish American

Polish-American refers to American citizens of Polish descent. The most notable of the Polish-American communities are in Chicago, Illinois and its surrounding suburbs. The Almanac of American Politics 2004 states that "Even today, in Archer Heights [a neighborhood of Chicago], you can scarcely go a block without hearing someone speaking Polish". Those who claim "Polish" on the census include both Catholics and Jews.

Polish Americans by state totals

According to the United States 2000 Census, American states with the largest numbers of Poles and Americans of Polish ancestry are:

• 01 New York (986,141)
• 02 Illinois (932,996)
• 03 Michigan (854,844)
• 04 Pennsylvania (824,146)
• 05 New Jersey (576,473)
• 06 Wisconsin (497,726)
• 07 California (491,325)
• 08 Ohio (433,016)
• 09 Florida (429,691)
• 10 Massachusetts (323,210)
• 11 Connecticut (284,272)
• 12 Minnesota (240,405)
• 13 Texas (228,309)
• 14 Maryland (184,364)
• 15 Indiana (183,989)
• 16 Arizona (126,665)
• 17 Virginia (124,647)
• 18 Colorado (101,190)
• 19 Missouri (90,448)
• 20 Georgia (82,765)

...

• 49 Hawaii (10,770)
• 50 Wyoming (9,929)
• 51 District of Columbia (7,910)

Polish Americans by percentage of the total population

• 01 Wisconsin 9.3 %
• 02 Michigan 8.6 %
• 03 Connecticut 8.3 %
• 04 Illinois 7.5 %
• 05 Pennsylvania 6.7 %

...

• 49 Alabama 0.5 %
• 50 Mississippi 0.4 %
• 51 Louisiana 0.4 %

Polish communities as part of Urban America

The city with the highest number of Poles is Chicago (nearly a million people are of Polish descent). Thus, it is sometimes said that Chicago is the second largest "Polish" city in the world, as Warsaw, the Polish capital, is the only city with more Polish residents. Chicago has three major Polish neigborhoods. The New York Metropolitan area (which includes New York state, part of New Jersey, and Connecticut) is second with over 300,000 Polish American in its metropolitan area. Detroit is third, with traditional concentration near Hamtramck.

Other cities with major Polish communities include Buffalo, a city that once had a vibrant Polish neighborhood which is now completely integrated, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Columbus, Boston, Baltimore, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Despite the lack of new Polish immigration, some cities are emerging with strong Polish American communities. Milwaukee (which already had a major Polish population) and Denver (where richer Polish-Americans tend to move from Chicago) had major increases in their Polish populations in the last 10 years. There is also a tendency to move to Florida among Poles from Chicago and New York.

Famous Polish-Americans

See: List of Polish Americans

See also

• National Polish-American Hall of Fame
• List of Polish Americans
• Polish American Arts Association
• Polish American Congress
• Casimir Pulaski Day
• Pulaski Day Parade in New York
• Sons of Poland
• Polish Roman Catholic Union of America
• List of U.S. cities with large Polish American populations