There are localized concentrations of Italian Americans in many metropolitan areas of the United States, especially in the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, as well as certain cities in California. Today, the state of New York has the largest population of Italian-Americans, while Rhode Island and Connecticut have the highest overall percentages in relation to their respective populations. In contrast, most of the rest of the country (exceptions being South Florida and New Orleans) have fewer Italian-American concentrations. According to a recent United Census Bureau estimate, 17.8 million Americans are of Italian descent. Communities of Italian Americans were established in many major industrial cities of the early 20th century, such as Baltimore (particularly Little Italy, Baltimore), Boston (particularly in the North End and East Boston) along with numerous nearby cities and towns, Philadelphia proper (particularly South Philadelphia) and the Philadelphia metro area (particularly neighborhoods in Delco, Atlantic City, Little Italy, Wilmington; and Vineland), Pittsburgh (particularly Bloomfield), Northeastern Pennsylvania cities, Lehigh Valley cities, Detroit, Providence (particularly Federal Hill), St. Louis (particularly The Hill), Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Youngstown, Erie, Cleveland, Buffalo, Newark, and New York City, which boasts the largest Italian-American population, which live in several concentrated communities in the New York metropolitan area, including the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester County, Fairfield County and North Jersey. New Orleans, Louisiana was the first site of immigration of Italians into America in the 19th century, before Italy was a unified nation-state. This was before New York Harbor and Baltimore became the preferred destinations for Italian immigrants.

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Northern California

Southern California

Colorado

Connecticut

19.3% of Connecticut's population claims Italian ancestry, making it the second most Italian state in the U.S. after Rhode Island.

Delaware

Florida

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Jersey municipalities with over 25% of the population identifying themselves as of Italian ancestry (in those municipalities where at least 1,000 residents identified their ancestry): Paterson used to have the largest Italian percentage of any NJ city.

New York

The state of New York has the largest population of Italian Americans, at 3.1 million people. The majority of Italian Americans in New York City originated from southern parts of Italy.

New York City

New York City is home to the largest Italian-American population in North America and third largest Italian population outside of Italy, according to the 2000 census. See also Italians in New York City for more info.

Long Island

Long Island has a large Italian-American population.

Westchester County

Yorktown in Westchester County has the annual feast of San Gennaro.

Rockland County

Upstate New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

19% of Rhode Island residents are Italian American, the greatest percentage of any state. 199,180 of Rhode Island's population of 1,048,319 claim Italian ancestry.

Texas

Utah

Washington

West Virginia

Approximately 11% of the combined population of "Mountaineer Country", collectively the north central West Virginia cities of Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgantown, claim Italian ancestry, mostly from Italian immigrants recruited to work in mining and glass manufacturing.

Wisconsin