http://www.foinse.ie/leighSceal.asp?sId=2442

quote:

25,870 duine i Meiriceá in ann an Ghaeilge a labhairt
í sa 66ú háit i measc an 322 teanga is mó a labhartar

There are more people speaking Irish in the U.S. than most people know. First let me give you some figures from my area.

The following numbers of Irish speakers in New England (northeast U.S.) are based on the 2000 U.S. Census:

Massachusetts - 3,280 (.055% of population)
Connecticut - 615 (.019% of population)
Rhode Island - 165 (.017% of population)
Maine - 165 (.014% of population)
New Hampshire - 50 (.004% of population)
Vermont - 45 (.008% of population)

Massachusetts was #1 in the U.S. in percentage of population speaking Irish. New York was #1 in actual numbers (4,780).

You can see these stats and those of other U.S. areas in this document:
http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/research/lia/languages/irish_gaelic.pdf

As impressive as that all looks, we know that this data is spectacularly incomplete, as I’ve personally had more students in a single 12-week semester of Irish in New Hampshire than the entirety of what’s being reported here for that state. (I taught there from 1994 to 2005) And although this is data from the 2000 census (and my best semester was autumn 2003 at 74 students), I had taught Irish in NH to approximately 300 students in the pre-census period. I guess it indicates that students aren’t claiming it on the census -- probably because they feel they haven't "mastered" it enough.

quote:

I guess it indicates that students aren’t claiming it on the census -- probably because they feel they haven't "mastered" it enough.

There is a disclaimer here:

http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/research/lia/disclaimer.pdf

It says:

The figures in this report refer solely to the language stated as being spoken at home by the residents of the
United States. They make no effort to determine whether this language is a first language or a second language,
whether this language is spoken at home 51 percent of the time or 100 percent of the time, or whether the individual
is fluent in this or any other language. It is quite likely that a portion of those who report speaking a language other
than English at home are fluent in English, as it is also quite likely that a portion of those who speak English at home
are fluent in a language other than English.

It seems to me that these numbers are very low.