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

[Docere]

English/American ancestry

New Canaan CT 29.2%
Larchmont NY 28.4%
Darien CT 20.9%
Rye NY 20.4%
Bronxville NY 19.4%
Greenwich CT 16.9%

[Crawford]

So it's possibly New Canaan. That's the town in the films "The Ice Storm," "Stepford Wives" and "Revolutionary Road."

Larchmont is very popular with Western European expats working in finance, and there are some private schools serving that population, so I suspect its numbers are somewhat boosted by UK nationals.

[Docere]

Ancestry for New Canaan:

English 22.6%
German 18.9%
Irish 18.4%
Italian 15.9%
American 6.6%
Polish 5%
Scottish 4.7%
French 3.4%
Swedish 2.3%
Norwegian 2%
Russian 1.7%
Swiss 1.5%
British 1%

Italian is the fourth most common ancestry, behind German and Irish, and there seems to be very few Jews.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Docere

English/American ancestry

New Canaan CT 29.2%
Larchmont NY 28.4%
Darien CT 20.9%
Rye NY 20.4%
Bronxville NY 19.4%
Greenwich CT 16.9%

22.8% of Kiryas Joel residents identify as "American," 13.5% in Monsey, 11.4% in Woodmere, 10.3% in Lawrence. I think it's fair to say that we can stop automatically equating "American" with descendants of British colonial-era Puritans, indentured servants, and other settlers, for it seems a good amount of Jews fall under that group as well. I could understand Jews whose families fled pogroms having little desire to associate themselves with the very same Europeans that persecuted them.

In the Southern US, it's a different story.

[Docere]

Seems to be a quirk in Orthodox communities. It's not particularly high in Scarsdale for example.

And Orthodox Jews are more often descended from more recent immigration (i.e. post-WWII), i.e. Holocaust survivors rather than Ellis Island era immigration.

[Quixote]

Here's the ancestry profile for Rockland County, NY (31.4% Jewish):

https://statisticalatlas.com/county/...ounty/Ancestry

How do you get 31.4%?

Polish -- 4.7%
European -- 4.3%
Hungarian -- 3.6%
Russian -- 3.6%
Eastern European -- 1%
Austrian -- 0.8%
Israeli -- 0.7%
Ukrainian -- 0.7%

Total ancestry: 19.4%

And that's counting some heads more than once AND assuming that there aren't any Catholics among those Poles, Hungarians, etc.

[Docere]

Some don't report an ancestry at all and any response that says "Jewish" (a religious response) is not tallied. But yes it's clear many are writing "American."

If one writes "Eastern European Jew" or "American Jew" the American or the Eastern European is tallied and the "Jewish" is ignored. American is only tallied if nothing else is included and religion responses are never included.

[Quixote]

I don't have nuanced knowledge to the degree that I know which communities are more Orthodox than others, but it sounds like Scarsdale is less Orthodox. Yet it still reports 5.9% (not an insignificant percentage) "American" ancestry, which is more than "English" itself. Suppose Scarsdale "Americans" are of English descendant, then the total BIP ancestry is 11.7%. Adjust for multiple head-counts, and Scarsdale is about as WASPy as it is Italian. I don't know how WASPy Scarsdale actually is or feels in relation to other groups, nor do I know how Jewish it is. Just making an observation that "Americans" and "Germans" probably account for the remainder of Jewish Americans once you account for the specified and unspecified Eastern European/European reported ancestries. I mean, New York County (Manhattan) is more German than it is Italian. There can only be one logical explanation for that (Ashkenazi Jews).

[Quixote]

I did a quick examination of some of the major streets in Pacific Palisades, taking a look at the surnames of the listed property owners. Pacific Palisades is definitely not majority WASP. The white population seems to be evenly split among those with Ashkenazi Jewish/Hebrew, Persian and Arab (mostly Persian), and your typical Western European surnames. I don't think it's majority Jewish, but probably in the 33-40% range assuming most of the Persians are Jews.

https://blockshopper.com/ca/los-ange...ific-palisades

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Quixote

I don't have nuanced knowledge to the degree that I know which communities are more Orthodox than others, but it sounds like Scarsdale is less Orthodox. Y

Scarsdale should have basically no Orthodox. Its Jewish population will be mostly Conservative. Reform Jews are proportionally less in the NY area as opposed to other U.S. metros. The entire community, on average, is more traditionally observant.

Westchester Jews mostly originated from the huge Bronx Jewish population of mid-century, which was mostly German, and then increasingly Eastern European.

Rockland will have a profile like Brooklyn. Mostly Orthodox, and heavily Hasidic. Eastern European roots. Almost no Sephardic in Westchester and Rockland; they're in NYC and Jersey.

And Scarsdale will have a decent amount of WASPs and Catholics. The main attraction of the community is outstanding schools, and especially popular with law and finance types. The business districts aren't empty on the Sabbath, like in Great Neck or Five Towns. Adjacent towns like Eastchester and Tuckahoe are loaded with white Catholics.

[Docere]

Scarsdale was apparently 50% Jewish in 1980, 24% white Protestant, 21% white Catholic. The Jewish population has probably levelled off a bit since then, given intermarriage, the attraction of other communities etc. The NY Jewish survey estimated that south-central Westchester was 36% Jewish, but it includes northern New Rochelle and White Plains as well.

In 1960, New Rochelle and Scarsdale were the main "Jewish suburbs" of Westchester. Today pretty much every affluent Westchester community has a decent Jewish community I think, Bronxville being a notable exception for some reason.

[Quixote]

Regarding unreported ancestry:

Yes, it looks like more "legacy Jewish" Americans may fall under "Unclassified" than the "American" category. Scarsdale reports 13.1% Unclassified, Beverly Hills 11.3%, West Hollywood 9.1%, and Calabasas 13.3%. So, Scarsdale "Americans" might actually be of English descendant after all since historically it was once WASP-dominated and reported English ancestry itself is very small (3.3%).

"German" probably accounts for a large portion of the remainder of the NY Jewish population too, as NYC is hardly a "German" metro. Manhattan being 6.4% German is almost proof positive of that, unless there are really that many transplants from other parts of the country. "Polish" might also be another "misleading" ancestry since there's probably a sizable Catholic contingent. And perhaps "Russian" too? Doesn't Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, which is famous for its Christmas lights and has not a single chabad or synagogue (at least it doesn't show up on Google Maps), have a large Russian population?

[Docere]

Wilmette

German 22.2%
Irish 16%
English/American 14.8%
Russian/Eastern European 8.2%
Polish 8.2%
Italian 6%
French 3.3%
Swedish 2.5%
Scottish 1.8%
Norwegian 1.7%
Greek 1.7%
Ukrainian 1.4%
European 1.4%
Welsh 1.2%
Hungarian 1%
Dutch 1%

Kenilworth

Irish 22.7%
German 22.1%
English/American 14.7%
Italian 6.5%
Scottish 5.2%
Polish 5.1%
European 4%
Dutch 2.8%
Greek 2.4%
Norwegian 2.2%
Arab 2%
Swiss 1.9%
Swedish 1.8%
French 1.7%
British 1.3%
Austrian 1.3%

Winnetka

German 26.3%
Irish 21.1%
English/American 18.4%
Italian 6.3%
Polish 6%
Russian/Eastern European 4.6%
Scottish 4.4%
European 4%
French 3.9%
Swedish 3.7%
Norwegian 1.9%
Greek 1.7%
Welsh 1.7%
Lithuanian 1.4%
Dutch 1.3%
Hungarian 1.1%

Glencoe

Russian/Eastern European 15.1%
German 14.9%
English/American 13%
Irish 10.9%
Polish 10.2%
Italian 6.7%
European 4%
Norwegian 3.2%
British 2.6%
Swedish 2.6%
French 2.5%
Finnish 2.3%
Lithuanian 2%
Ukrainian 1.6%
Hungarian 1.5%
Romanian 1.4%

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Quixote

RDoesn't Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, which is famous for its Christmas lights and has not a single chabad or synagogue (at least it doesn't show up on Google Maps), have a large Russian population?

Dyker Heights is probably the most Italian Brooklyn neighborhood. Basically no Jewish population. Those Christmas lights are in a very Italian-Greek enclave. Almost no former Soviets, either. The northern end of Dyker is fast becoming Chinese, though (overflow from Sunset Park).

Far SW Brooklyn has basically no Jews outside of some professional newcomers and/or former Soviets, both in neighboring Bay Ridge. Head a bit east and it's almost entirely Jewish (Borough Park).

[Crawford]

Glencoe appears to be the most Jewish of Chicago's Gold Coast suburbs.

In Westchester, Pelham/Pelham Manor also have reps like adjacent Bronxville, in that they're affluent but very WASP/Catholic. But there's a Pelham Jewish Center, and it's been around forever, so there must be a decent community. There are other southern Westchester towns with small Jewish populations but they're either more middle class (Eastchester) or heavily immigrant/nonwhite (Mount Vernon).

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Glencoe appears to be the most Jewish of Chicago's Gold Coast suburbs.

Two things:

1. In the context of chicagoland, the name "gold coast" refers specifically and exclusively to the very wealthy neighborhood along the lake north of oak street on the near northside of the city. It is never applied to the northshore suburbs which collectively go by the name "the northshore".

2. Of the northshore burbs, highland park might be even more jewish than glencoe, but I don't have data on that. Outside of the northshore, nearby Skokie & Lincolnwood are also home to many jews and might still have the highest percentages in chicagoland.

[Docere]

Yes, Glencoe is likely Jewish-plurality. A fair number in Wilmette, some in Winnetka, basically no Jews in Kenilworth.

I agree there are not really "WASP" suburbs anymore, most will have a fair number of Catholics too. They're really wealthy "nonethnic" suburbs, there's no reason why people of Irish ancestry wouldn't live there. White ethnics like Italians and Poles less likely to live in them, but some do. Your average WASP elite outside the South has more of an issue with Southern Baptists than with Catholics.

In the NE Italian Americans are underrepresented in the "establishmentarian" circles, and the wealth may still be from less traditional sources (i.e. construction business rather than law firm partner).

As for Jews, even secular Jews do tend to want to have at least some Jewish neighbors. and there's plenty of very desirable communities with a sizeable Jewish presence to choose from. So they tend to bypass places like Kenilworth or Bronxville or the Grosse Pointes.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Docere

Yes, Glencoe is likely Jewish-plurality. A fair number in Wilmette, some in Winnetka, basically no Jews in Kenilworth.

kenilworth had restrictive housing covenants that barred jews (and other "undesirable" groups, of course) from buying homes there, so a base was never established.

when jews from west ridge, skokie, linclonwood and elsewhere made it to the big time and were ready to move on up to the northshore proper, they went to communities that were a little less asshole-ish about their presence, namely glencoe, highland park, and wilmette.


i was born and raised in wilmette back in the '70s/'80s, and of my circle of childhood friends that i still stay in touch with, 3 were jews, 4 were catholics, and 3 were protestants. it wasn't waspy or catholic-y or jewish in any predominate sense, but rather a generic amalgam of successful white families of various religious traditions with a very light sprinkling of wealthy asians here and there for good measure. not unusually, all but one of us are extremely casual about our religion these days.

[Docere]

In Toronto, the traditional favored quarter is centered along Yonge St. running north of the city center, is still very WASP but now has a fair number of Jews (and obviously Catholics too). Avenue Rd. is sort of the boundary between WASPy and Jewish parts. Jewish Toronto is centered along Bathurst, Forest Hill is the Jewish elite neighborhood. The wealthy suburban Bayview-York Mills area is a secondary Jewish concentration, but is increasingly Asian.

Two secondary wealth concentrations exist to the west, are very white with basically no Jews. There are some wealthy neighborhoods in Etobicoke that are WASP-Catholic. Oakville the western lakefront suburb that attracts a lot of executives is still very WASP.

[Docere]

In the 1990s, Winnetka and Wilmette were estimated to be in the 10-25% range for Jewish population, while Glencoe was as high as 50%.