What is the least "WASP" city in the United States?

[Docere]

Baltimore

British/American 11.4%
German 10.6%
Irish 8%
Italian 4.8%

Buffalo

German 16.1%
Italian 13.6%
Polish 12.6%
Irish 9.9%
British/American 9.4%

Cleveland

German 13.2%
British/American 10.3%
Irish 9%
Italian 8.1%
Polish 5.6%

Detroit

British/American 11.4%
German 10.4%
Polish 7.4%
Irish 6%
Italian 4.9%

Los Angeles

British/American 6.3%
German 3.7%
Irish 2.8%

Miami

British/American 7.7%
Italian 4.2%
German 3.2%
Irish 3.2%

Minneapolis-St. Paul

German 23.2%
Scandinavian 14.9%
British/American 7.1%
Irish 6.1%

Pittsburgh

German 18.8%
Italian 13.1%
British/American 11.8%
Irish 9.9%
Polish 5.9%

Providence

Portuguese 12.4%
Italian 12.2%
Irish 11.9%
French/French Canadian 10.8%
British/American 10%

San Francisco

British/American 7.7%
German 5.3%
Irish 4.9%

Seattle

British/American 13.2%
German 11%
Scandinavian 6.9%
Irish 6.3%

Washington

British/American 11.1%
German 6.6%
Irish 6.1%

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I guess that depends on if you consider Poland to be Central or Eastern European .

Russians/Greeks/Serbs/Romanians/Moldovans/Ukrainians/Belorussians are all majority Orthodox. Croats/Slovaks/Slovenes/Hungarians/Lithuanians are majority-Catholic.

Of course Poles dominate all these groups.

It was pretty much all Poland at one point

I was thinking more about eastern European immigrant groups that have been here for a long time... Polish, Slovaks, Lituanians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, etc.... mainly Catholic in the US.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Eh, Eastern Europeans wouldn't fall under a WASP label either, I don't think. Unless by catholic you mean non-protestant.

If they are mixed and are 2nd generation American or higher, sure. I'm Italian, Polish, Irish and English but not catholic and I suspect I would still fall under the WASP label.

[Docere]

Cincinnati

German 23.3%
British/American 17%
Irish 7.6%

Milwaukee

German 27%
Polish 7.4%
British/American 5.3%
Irish 5.1%

St. Louis

German 22.4%
British/American 14%
Irish 7.4%

[Steely Dan]

^ damn, the german triangle indeed!

i take it those are MSA numbers and not city proper, right?

and now i want some sauerbraten with spatzle and rotkohl.

[chris08876]

As per my research via Nicki Minaj, the biggest WAP city is Miami.

The least WAP city? Probably some bible study town in Kansas.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by pj3000

The Northeast US is certainly very Catholic, but it is also the very epicenter of WASP culture.

Old money, Ivy League, country clubs, Wall Street, "society", elite private boarding schools, and dudes with first names like Whitaker or Goodman...etc. etc.

.

This.

The NE US is not even close to being majority WASP, as they're only a small percentage of the population at this point, but the whole regional culture (at least for white people of all origins) is very WASP-normative as you say. People of all origins going along with it, or at least its contemporary incarnation. (Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's Plymouth Mass. in 1642.)

For someone from a place where lapsed Latin Catholicism exists in a purer form and is fairly dominant, it's fascinating to see the WASP-influenced (relative) conservatism of, say, Italian-Americans in NE on social matters like booze, dress, etc.

Multiply that by 100 when you compare it to a place like present-day Italy.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ damn, the german triangle indeed!

i take it those are MSA numbers and not city proper, right?

and now i want some sauerbraten with spatzle and rotkohl.

Yes they are - all MSAs.

[Docere]

But interesting to note the difference between the upper German Triangle (Milwaukee) from the lower.

British Isles ancestry is quite rare in Wisconsin and Minnesota but pretty common in the lower Midwest.

Also, note that high German ancestry is one thing that all the Midwest has in common. Whether it's in the river cities, Great Lakes cities, the corn belt or the Great Plains. The Midwest (and Pennsylvania) stand out.

[Docere]

Italian Americans, even though they're pretty much "made it" in America, are quite under-represented in the "establishmentarian" circles of the Northeast, given their numbers there. Certainly less so than Jews and Irish Americans (and increasingly Asians).

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Docere

Also, note that high German ancestry is one thing that all the Midwest has in common. Whether it's in the river cities, Great Lakes cities, the corn belt or the Great Plains. The Midwest (and Pennsylvania) stand out.

New York, too

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This.

The NE US is not even close to being majority WASP, as they're only a small percentage of the population at this point, but the whole regional culture (at least for white people of all origins) is very WASP-normative as you say. People of all origins going along with it, or at least its contemporary incarnation. (Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's Plymouth Mass. in 1642.)

For someone from a place where lapsed Latin Catholicism exists in a purer form and is fairly dominant, it's fascinating to see the WASP-influenced (relative) conservatism of, say, Italian-Americans in NE on social matters like booze, dress, etc.

Multiply that by 100 when you compare it to a place like present-day Italy.

This is pretty spot-on. The New England Catholic Irish in particular essentially supplanted the English as the region's WASP elite by the 1890s. We may all be Catholic/catholic/Cathnostic, but preppy New England (white) culture is as WASP-y as it gets - at least on the coast. Inland is a bit different. Vermont isn't fully "New England" in this regard.

Utah has far more English Protestants than Mass or CT do, but Coastal New England is still way more WASP-y.

As for the least WASP-y metro in the country, it's gotta be Honolulu or San Juan, no?

[SFBruin]

In the continental US, I would guess that it would be either Los Angeles or Miami. Both have very large non-white populations and have been settled more recently than some of the older cities.

In the US as a whole, I would guess that it would be Honolulu, though I have never been.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Shawn

This is pretty spot-on. The New England Catholic Irish in particular essentially supplanted the English as the region's WASP elite by the 1890s. We may all be Catholic/catholic/Cathnostic, but preppy New England (white) culture is as WASP-y as it gets - at least on the coast. Inland is a bit different. Vermont isn't fully "New England" in this regard.

White Catholics:

Boston 24%
Chicago 22%
Philadelphia 22%
New York 19%

https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

Given how much whiter Boston is - and its white ethnic composition - you'd expect it to be well ahead of the others in terms of the % of white Catholics.

People with no religion (34%) actually outnumber Catholics (29%) in metro Boston, and it looks more "West Coast" like now in terms of irreligiosity than the other big northern cities.

That's quite the sea change. Boston was probably the most Catholic city in America at one time.

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Never liked this acronym

Seems pejorative, for such a high achieving , inventive , socially and culturally fundamental group of Americans

Anyhow ,

Boston
Stamford
New haven
Greenwich / Fairfield county


Philadelphia is Quaker
New York is Jewish
Baltimore is catholic
Dc is episcopal

there is no way you can still say Philadelphia is Quaker. It was true over 300 years ago, but now there are fewer than 10,000 in a city of over 1.5 million. they were instrumental in forming the city's early identity, but you couldn't say the city has stayed with that identity.

[pj3000]

Miami is probably the least WASPy city that I've experienced.

Most white people in Miami are Hispanic and thus, clearly not Anglo-Saxon... and the majority are Catholic, though there are sizeable numbers of Protestant Hispanics as well. Most other white people seem to be Jews, Europeans, or tourists. The preppy white crowd doesn't really fit in.

Miami has WASPy beginnings, and long served as a wintering retreat for a WASPy crowd from the north, but that hasn't been prevalent since the white glory days of the 1950s.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

there is no way you can still say Philadelphia is Quaker. It was true over 300 years ago, but now there are fewer than 10,000 in a city of over 1.5 million. they were instrumental in forming the city's early identity, but you couldn't say the city has stayed with that identity.

That "Pennsylvania Quaker Conservatism" still runs deep throughout the state though, originating in, and emanating from Philadelphia to this day.

Sure, things have certainly changed over the centuries, but there is a social equality identity (at least in theory, if not in full practice) that originated in Philly. The focus on diversity within the collective, the common good, the lack of ostentation, the value placed on labor and trades... there's a reason organized labor has its origins in Pennsylvania dating to the early 1700s.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Never liked this acronym

Seems pejorative, for such a high achieving , inventive , socially and culturally fundamental group of Americans

Fuck this bullshit. They had the money from the jump -- that's why they have been so "high achieving , inventive , socially and culturally fundamental"

[Steely Dan]

Does anyone know how close we are to the inflection point when latino catholics outnumber non-latino catholics in the US?

Chicago has a long and strong european-immigrant catholic heritage (irish, poles, italians, and a large percentage of the germans as well), but the huge influx of mexican catholic immigrants over the past handful of decades has kept many chicago parishes alive that would've otherwise closed.

I'm sure that phenomenon is not unique among the big catholic cities.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Docere

White Catholics:

Boston 24%
Chicago 22%
Philadelphia 22%
New York 19%

% of NHWs that are Catholic:

Chicago 41%
New York 40%
Philadelphia 35%
Boston 33%