Demographics of Massachusetts - Race, Ancestry, and Language

Race, Ancestry, and Language

The largest ancestry groups are:

• 23.8% Irish
• 14.2% Italian
• 11.8% English
• 8.7% French
• 7.0% United States or American
• 6.7% German
• 4.9% Portuguese
• 4.2% French Canadian
• 3.9% Polish
• 3.4% Scottish
• 2.0% Scotch Irish
• 1.9% Indian subcontinent
• 1.9% Swedish
• 1.9% Russian
• 1.9% Subsaharan African.
• 1.6% West Indian
• 1.3% Greek
• 1.0% Arab

The five largest reported ancestries in Massachusetts are: Irish (23.8%), Italian (14.2%), French/French Canadian (or Franco-American) (12.9%), English (11.8%), and German (6.7%).

Massachusetts is the most Irish state in the country in terms of percentage of total population. Massachusetts also has large communities of people of Finnish and Swedish descent; Armenian, Lebanese descent; and Italian descent. Other influential ethnicities are Greek Americans, Lithuanian Americans and Polish Americans. Massachusetts "Yankees," of colonial English ancestry, still have a strong presence. French Americans are the largest group in parts of western and central Massachusetts. Boston's largest immigrant group is the Haitians. Fall River and New Bedford on the south coast have large populations of Portuguese, Brazilian, and Cape Verdean heritage, all of which are also prevalent in the Brockton area. There is a growing Brazilian population in the Boston area (especially in Framingham) and also an abundant population of Brazilians thrive in Cape Cod especially in Barnstable, Falmouth, and Yarmouth. Lowell, in the northeast of the state, is home to a large Cambodian (Khmer) community, second in the country to the concentration of Cambodians in Long Beach, California. Although many of the Native Americans have intermarried with other ethnic groups (or died in King Philip's War of 1675), the Wampanoag tribe maintains reservations at Aquinnah, at Grafton, on Martha's Vineyard, and at Mashpee on Cape Cod. The Nipmuck maintain two state-recognized reservations in the central part of the state. Many Wampanoags and other native people live outside of reservations.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 6.21% of the population aged five and over speak Spanish at home, while 2.68% speak Portuguese, 1.44% French, and 1.00% Italian.