# Polish Americans

Polish Americans (Polish: Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, according to the 2021 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The first eight Polish immigrants to British America came to the Jamestown colony in 1608, twelve years before the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. Two Polish volunteers, Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, aided the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Casimir Pulaski created and led the Pulaski Legion of cavalry. Tadeusz Kosciuszko designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. Both are remembered as American heroes. Overall, around 2.2 million Poles and Polish subjects immigrated into the United States between 1820 and 1914, chiefly after national insurgencies and famine. They included former Polish citizens of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other minority descent.
Exact immigration figures are unknown owing to several complicating factors. Many immigrants were classified as "Russian", "German" or "Austrian" by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as many former territories of Poland were under German, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian occupation between the 1790s and the 1910s. Complicating the U.S. Census figures further is the high proportion of Polish Americans who married people of other national descent. In 1940, about 50 percent married other American ethnics and a study in 1988 found that 54% of Polish Americans were of mixed ancestry from three generations or longer. The Polish American Cultural Center places a figure of Americans who have some Polish ancestry at 19–20 million.
In 2000, 667,414 Americans over five years old reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of the census groups who speak a language other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.

## History

Polish speakers in the United States :
| Year | Speakers |
| 1910 | 943,781 |
| 1920 | 1,077,392 |
| 1930 | 965,899 |
| 1940 | 801,680 |
| 1960 | 581,936 |
| 1970 | 419,912 |
| 1980 | 820,647 |
| 1990 | 723,483 |
| 2000 | 667,414 |
| 2011 | 607,531 |
The history of Polish immigration to the United States can be divided into three stages, beginning with the first stage in the colonial era down to 1870, small numbers of Poles and Polish subjects came to America as individuals or in small family groups, and they quickly assimilated and did not form separate communities, with the exception of Panna Maria, Texas founded in the 1850s. For instance, Polish settlers came to the Virginia Colony as skilled craftsmen as early as 1608. Some Jews from Poland even assimilated into cities which were Polish (and also other Slavic and sometimes additionally Jewish) bastions to conceal their Jewish identities.
In the second stage from 1870 to 1914, Poles and Polish subjects formed a significant part of the wave of immigration from Germany, Imperial Russia, and Austria Hungary. The Poles, particularly Polish Jews, came in family groups, settled in and/or blended into largely Polish neighborhoods and other Slavic bastions, and aspired to earn wages that were higher than what they could earn back in Europe and so many took the ample job opportunities for unskilled manual labor in industry and mining. The main Ethnically-Polish-American organizations were founded because of high Polish interest in the Catholic church, parochial schools, and local community affairs. Relatively few were politically active.
During the third stage from 1914 to present, the United States has seen mass emigration from Poland, and the coming of age of several generations of fully assimilated Polish Americans. Immigration from Poland has continued into the early 2000s and began to decline after Poland had joined the European Union in 2004. The income levels have gone up from well below average, to above average. Poles became active members of the liberal New Deal Coalition from the 1930s to the 1960s, but since then, many have moved to the suburbs, and have become more conservative and vote less often Democratic.

## Demographics

Helena Lopata (1976) argues that Poles differed from most other ethnic groups in America in several ways. They did not plan to remain permanently and become "Americanized." Instead, they came temporarily to earn money, invest, and wait for the right opportunity to return. Their intention was to ensure a desirable social status in the old world for themselves. However, many of the temporary migrants decided to become permanent Americans.
Many found manual labor jobs in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the heavy industries (steel mills, iron foundries, slaughterhouses, oil and sugar refineries), of the Great Lakes cities of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Toledo.
The U.S. Census asked Polish immigrants to specify Polish as their native language beginning in Chicago in 1900, allowing the government to enumerate them as an individual nationality when there was no Polish nation-state. No distinction is made in the American census between ethnically Polish Americans and descendants of non-ethnic Poles, such as Jews or Ukrainians, who were born in the territory of Poland and considered themselves Polish nationals. Therefore, some say, of the 10 million Polish Americans, only a certain portion are of Polish ethnic descent. On the other hand, many ethnic Poles when entering the US from 1795 to 1917, when Poland did not exist, did not identify themselves as ethnic Poles and instead identified themselves as either German, Austrian or Russian (this pertained to the nations occupying Poland from 1795 to 1917). Therefore, the actual number of Americans of at least partial Polish ancestry, could be well over 10 million. In the 2011 United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates, there are between 9,365,239 and 9,530,571 Americans of Polish descent, with over 500,000 being foreign-born.
Historically, Polish-Americans have assimilated very quickly to American society. Between 1940 and 1960, only 20 percent of the children of Polish-American ethnic leaders spoke Polish regularly, compared to 50 percent for Ukrainians. In the early 1960s, 3,000 of Detroit's 300,000 Polish-Americans changed their names each year. Language proficiency in Polish is rare in Polish-Americans, as 91.3% speak "English only." In 1979, the 8 million respondents of Polish ancestry reported that only 41.5 percent had single ancestry, whereas 57.3% of Greeks, 52% of Italians and Sicilians, and 44% of Ukrainians had done so (clarification needed). Polish-Americans tended to marry exogamously in the postwar era in high numbers, and tended to marry within the Catholic population, often to persons of German (17%), Italian (10%), East European (8%), Irish (5%), French (4%), Spanish-speaking (2%), Lithuanian (2%), and English (1%) ancestry.

### Polish-born population

Polish-born population in the U.S. since 2010:
| Year | Number |
| 2010 | 475,503 |
| 2011 | 461,618 |
| 2012 | 440,312 |
| 2013 | 432,601 |
| 2014 | 424,460 |
| 2015 | 419,332 |
| 2016 | 424,928 |
| 2017 | 418,775 |

## Communities

The vast majority of Polish immigrants settled in metropolitan areas, attracted by jobs in industry. The minority, by some estimates, only ten percent, settled in rural areas.
Historian John Bukowczyk noted that Polish immigrants in America were highly mobile, and 40 to 60 percent were likely to move from any given urban neighborhood within 10 years. The reasons for this are very individualistic; Bukowczyk's theory is that many immigrants with agricultural backgrounds were eager to migrate because they were finally freed from the local plots of land they had owned in Poland. Others ventured into business and entrepreneurship, and the majority of them opened small retail shops such as bakeries, butcher shops, saloons, and print shops.
Polish American Heritage Month is an event in October by Polish American communities, first celebrated in 1981.

### Chicago

One of the most notable in size of the urban Polish American communities is in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Chicago is a city sprawling with Polish culture, billing itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland, with approximately 185,000 Polish speakers, making Polish the third most spoken language in Chicago. The influence of Chicago's Polish community is demonstrated by the numerous Polish-American organizations: the Polish Museum of America, Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (the oldest Polish American fraternal organization in the United States), Polish American Association, Polish American Congress, Polish National Alliance, Polish Falcons, Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America, and the Polish Genealogical Society of America. In addition, Illinois has more than one million people that are of Polish descent, the third largest ethnic group after the German and Irish Americans. The Chicago area has many Polish delis, restaurants, and churches.
Chicago's Polish community was concentrated along the city's Northwest and Southwest Sides, along Milwaukee and Archer Avenues, respectively. Chicago's Taste of Polonia festival is celebrated at the Copernicus Foundation, in Jefferson Park, every Labor Day weekend. Nearly 3 million people of Polish descent live in the area between Chicago and Detroit, including Northern Indiana, a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The community has played a role as a staunch supporter of the Democratic machine, and has been rewarded with several congressional seats. The leading representative has been Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, one of the most powerful members of Congress (1959 to 1995), especially on issues of taxation, before he went to prison.

### New York metropolitan area

The New York metropolitan area, including Brooklyn in New York City, and North Jersey, is home to the second-largest community of Polish Americans in the nation, and is now closely behind the Chicago metropolitan area's Polish population. Greenpoint, New York in Brooklyn is home to the Little Poland of New York City, while Williamsburg, Maspeth and Ridgewood also contain vibrant Polish communities. In 2014, the New York metropolitan area surpassed Chicago as the metropolitan area attracting the most new legal immigrants to the United States from Poland.

#### Linden, Elizabeth, and Newark, New Jersey

Linden, New Jersey in Union County, near Newark Liberty International Airport, has become heavily first-generation Polish in recent years. 15.6% of the residents five years old and above in the city of Linden primarily speak Polish at home and a variety of Polish-speaking establishments may be found by the Linden station, which is a direct line to Manhattan. St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church offers masses in Polish.
In the early part of the 20th century, up to and immediately following the second World War, Newark, New Jersey and Elizabeth, New Jersey were the primary, historic centers of 'Polonia' as Polish-Americans of that era thought of themselves. Castle Garden and Ellis Island generation immigrants and those that followed them found employment in the industries of these two cities as well as Linden which housed oil refineries and auto manufacturing. Initial settlements were in Newark, primarily the "Ironbound" section, where St. Stanislaw Roman Catholic Church, followed by Casimir's Parish were the first parish churches founded and built by the communities there. In Elizabeth, the first parish serving the Polish community is St. Adalbert's Roman Catholic Church. All these parishes are over 100 years old, dating from the late 1800s, with churches constructed in the early 20th century. Post-war prosperity allowed many Polish Americans to disperse from the original core in New Jersey's industrial areas to the surrounding suburban communities. Documentation of their early history may be found on individual parish websites. Other significant centers of Polish settlement in New Jersey included Garfield, New Jersey, Manville in Somerset County, Trenton, New Jersey, and Camden, New Jersey.

#### Other areas

In Hudson County, New Jersey, Bayonne houses New Jersey's largest Polish American community, while Wallington in Bergen County contains the state's highest percentage of Polish Americans and one of the highest percentages in the United States, at over 40%. However, within New Jersey, Polish populations are additionally increasing rapidly in Clifton, Passaic County as well as in Garfield, Bergen County.
Riverhead, New York, located on eastern Long Island, contains a neighborhood known as Polish Town, where many Polish immigrants have continued to settle since the World War II era; the town has Polish architecture, stores, and St. Isidore's R.C. Church, and Polish Town hosts an annual summer Polish Fair. LOT Polish Airlines provides non-stop flight service between JFK International Airport in the Queens borough of New York City, Newark and Warsaw.
The Kosciuszko Foundation is based in New York.

### Wisconsin and Minnesota

Milwaukee's Polish population has always been overshadowed by the city's more numerous German American inhabitants. Nevertheless, the city's once numerous Polish community built a number of Polish Cathedrals, among them the magnificent Basilica of St. Josaphat and St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. Many Polish residents and businesses are still located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood. The city is also home to Polish Fest, the largest Polish festival in the United States, where Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, come to celebrate Polish Culture, through music, food and entertainment. Polonia in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul is centered on Holy Cross Church in the Northeast Neighborhood of Minneapolis, where a vibrant Polish ministry continues to care for the Polish Roman Catholic Faithful.
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska represent a different type of settlement with significant Polish communities having been established in rural areas. Historian John Radzilowski estimates that up to a third of Poles in Minnesota settled in rural areas, where they established 40 communities, that were often centered around a Catholic church. Most of these settlers came from the Polish lands that had been taken by Prussia during the Partitions, with a sub-group coming from Silesia. The Kaszub minority, from Poland's Baltic coast, was also strongly represented among Polish immigrants to Minnesota, most notably in Winona. Despite relative isolation from Poland and larger urban Polonian communities, due to strong community integration these communities continued speaking Polish into the 1970s in some cases and continue to have a strong Polish identity.

### Michigan

Michigan's Polish population of more than 850,000 is the third-largest among U.S. states, behind that of New York and Illinois. Polish Americans make up 8.6% of Michigan's total population. The city of Detroit has a very large Polish community, which historically settled in Poletown and Hamtramck on the east side of Detroit, the neighborhoods along Michigan Avenue from 23rd street into east Dearborn, the west side of Delray, parts of Warrendale and several sections of Wyandotte downriver. The northern part of Poletown was cleared of residents, to make way for the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. Today it contains some of the most opulent Polish churches in America like St. Stanislaus, Sweetest Heart of Mary, St. Albertus, St. Josephat and St. Hyacinthe. Michigan as a state has Polish populations throughout. In addition to metropolitan Detroit, Grand Rapids, Bay City, Alpena and the surrounding area, the thumb of Michigan, Manistee, and numerous places in northern lower Michigan and south-central Michigan also have sizable Polish populations.
The Polish influence is still felt throughout the entire metropolitan Detroit area, especially the suburb of Wyandotte, which is slowly emerging as the major center of Polish American activities in the state. An increase in new immigration from Poland is helping to bolster the parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a host of Polish American civic organizations, located within the city of Wyandotte. Also, the Detroit suburb of Troy is home to the American Polish Cultural Center, where the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame has over 200 artifacts on display from over 100 inductees, including Stan Musial and Mike Krzyzewski. St. Mary's Preparatory, a high school in Orchard Lake with historically Polish roots, sponsors a popular annual Polish County Fair that bills itself as "America's Largest High School Fair."
Outside of Metro Detroit, Polish Americans retain a strong presence in Northern Michigan. The town of Cedar in Leelanau County retains a large Polish presence, and is home to a Polish Art Center, as well as an annual polka festival. The counties of Alpena, Presque Isle, and Huron also have a large percentage and population of families of Polish immigrants.

### Ohio

Ohio is home to more than 440,000 people of Polish descent, their presence felt most strongly in the Greater Cleveland area, where half of Ohio's Polish population resides. The city of Cleveland, Ohio has a large Polish community, especially in historic Slavic Village, as part of its Warszawa Section. Poles from this part of Cleveland migrated to the suburbs, such as Garfield Heights, Parma and Seven Hills. Parma has even recently been designated a Polish Village commercial district. Farther out, other members of Cleveland's Polish community live in Brecksville, Independence and Broadview Heights. Many of these Poles return to their Polish roots by attending masses at St. Stanislaus Church, on East 65th Street and Baxter Avenue.
Cleveland's other Polish section is in Tremont, located on Cleveland's west side. The home parishes are St. John Cantius and St. John Kanty.
Other Polish language churches in Cleveland city include St. Casimir, St. Barbara, and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Outside of annual church festivals, other major city celebrations include Dyngus Day and the Slavic Village Harvest Festival, celebrating with Polish food, customer, and Polka music. Cleveland is home to the Polka Hall of Fame.
Poles in Cleveland were instrumental in forming the Third Federal Savings and Loan in 1938. After seeing fellow Poles discriminated against by Cleveland's banks, Ben Stefanski formed Third Federal. Today the Stefanski family still controls the bank. Unlike Cleveland's KeyBank and National City Corp., which have their headquarters in Downtown Cleveland, Third Federal is on Broadway Avenue in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Third Federal Savings and Loan is in the top 25 saving and loan institutions in the United States. In 2003, they acquired a Florida banking company and have branches in Florida and Ohio.

### Texas

Panna Maria, Texas, was founded by Upper Silesian settlers on Christmas Eve in 1854. Some people still speak Texas Silesian. Silesian is regarded as either a dialect of Polish, or a distinct language. Cestohowa, Kosciusko, Falls City, Polonia, New Waverly, Brenham, Marlin, Bremond, Anderson, Bryan, and Chappell Hill were either founded or populated by the Poles.

### Others

Other industrial cities with major Polish communities include Buffalo, New York; Boston; Baltimore; New Britain, Connecticut; Dallas, Houston, Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Columbus, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Syracuse, New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; Pittsburgh; South Bend, Indiana; central/western Massachusetts; and Duluth, Minnesota. There is a relatively large Polish population in Kansas City and Saint Louis, Missouri in addition to the area's many German-Americans.
Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is the only county in the United States where a plurality of residents state their ancestry as Polish. (See: Maps of American ancestries) This includes the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, and Nanticoke. Many of the immigrants were drawn to this area, because of the mining of Anthracite coal in the region. Polish influences are still common today, in the form of church bazaars, polka music, and Polish cuisine. It is widely believed that Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, has one of the fastest growing Polish communities in the United States.
In 2007, at the urging of Attorney Adrian Baron and the local Polonia Business Association, New Britain, Connecticut officially designated its Broad Street neighborhood as Little Poland, where an estimated 30,000 residents claim Polish heritage. Visitors can do an entire day's business completely in Polish including banking, shopping, dining, legal consultations, and even dance lessons. The area has retained its Polish character since 1890. There is also a Polish community in Las Vegas.

### By state totals

As of the 2021 American Community Survey, the distribution of Polish Americans across the 50 states and DC is as presented in the following table:
Estimated Polish American population by state :
| State | Number | Percentage |
| Alabama | 28,557 | 0.57% |
| Alaska | 13,693 | 1.86% |
| Arizona | 153,023 | 2.16% |
| Arkansas | 22,785 | 0.76% |
| California | 452,019 | 1.15% |
| Colorado | 133,378 | 2.33% |
| Connecticut | 240,390 | 6.67% |
| Delaware | 39,254 | 4.00% |
| District of Columbia | 15,330 | 2.24% |
| Florida | 478,483 | 2.24% |
| Georgia | 108,837 | 1.02% |
| Hawaii | 12,894 | 0.89% |
| Idaho | 21,739 | 1.20% |
| Illinois | 825,037 | 6.43% |
| Indiana | 197,807 | 2.93% |
| Iowa | 38,951 | 1.23% |
| Kansas | 37,188 | 1.27% |
| Kentucky | 40,899 | 0.91% |
| Louisiana | 20,842 | 0.45% |
| Maine | 30,038 | 2.21% |
| Maryland | 172,300 | 2.80% |
| Massachusetts | 283,050 | 4.05% |
| Michigan | 784,200 | 7.79% |
| Minnesota | 236,895 | 4.18% |
| Mississippi | 11,882 | 0.40% |
| Missouri | 97,813 | 1.59% |
| Montana | 18,912 | 1.75% |
| Nebraska | 61,910 | 3.17% |
| Nevada | 52,563 | 1.72% |
| New Hampshire | 53,939 | 3.93% |
| New Jersey | 470,082 | 5.09% |
| New Mexico | 20,065 | 0.95% |
| New York | 866,242 | 4.31% |
| North Carolina | 148,987 | 1.44% |
| North Dakota | 16,032 | 2.07% |
| Ohio | 414,587 | 3.52% |
| Oklahoma | 29,735 | 0.75% |
| Oregon | 68,963 | 1.64% |
| Pennsylvania | 757,627 | 5.84% |
| Rhode Island | 36,411 | 3.33% |
| South Carolina | 74,893 | 1.47% |
| South Dakota | 13,600 | 1.54% |
| Tennessee | 74,289 | 1.08% |
| Texas | 287,928 | 1.00% |
| Utah | 25,477 | 0.79% |
| Vermont | 23,234 | 3.62% |
| Virginia | 151,996 | 1.77% |
| Washington | 126,400 | 1.66% |
| West Virginia | 28,241 | 1.57% |
| Wisconsin | 481,126 | 8.19% |
| Wyoming | 9,752 | 1.69% |
| United States | 8,810,275 | 2.67% |

## Religion

Christianity and Judaism are the most common religions among Polish Americans. However, a small group of Lipka Tatars, originating from the Białystok region, founded the Powers Street Mosque in Brooklyn in 1907.

### Christianity

The Central Archives of American Polonia is a research center at the Orchard Lake Schools. The archives compiles data about the history of Christianity among Polish Americans. Its General List of Polish Parishes counts 1.036 Roman Catholic parishes of a Polish character that were established over the history of the United States. A portion of these parishes are no longer active. The first parish, Immaculate Conception, was established in Panna Maria, Texas in 1854. The dioceses with the largest concentration are the Archdiocese of Chicago at 64, the Diocese of Buffalo at 50, the Diocese of Scranton at 49, and the Archdiocese of Detroit at 40. The Polish Roman Catholic Union of America was instrumental in establishing many churches in the dioceses of Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo. The monumental scale of some of these urban churches led to the creation of a new genre of architecture known as Polish cathedral style. Parishes were established in rural areas such as farming communities and mining towns as well. The General List of Polish Parishes indicates that 177 parishes were established in Pennsylvania, 122 in New York, 118 in Michigan, 112 in Wisconsin, and 99 in Illinois.
The General List of Polish Parishes shows that the most common names for the parishes established were Polish saints such as St. Stanislaus, St. Casimir, St. Stanislaus Kostka, and St. Adalbert. Also common were Sacred Heart and St. Joseph. However, the most popular was St. Mary including as Our Lady of Czestochowa. Devotion to this form of St. Mary was confirmed by the opening of The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in 1955. This shrine in Pennsylvania proved so popular that a larger facility was built in 1966. Several statesmen and bishops have visited including Pope John Paul II.
In Michigan the Orchard Lake Schools were established in 1885. One of the schools was the SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary which trained foreign-born priests for ministry to Polish-speaking Catholics in the United States. The seminary operated from 1885 to 2022. The Archdiocese of Chicago offers Polish language services through its Polonia ministry. As of 2025 there are 37 parishes in the diocese which offer masses in the Polish language and 38 schools which offer religious education in Polish.
Customs around the liturgical year remain common among Polish Americans. Wigilia is practiced at Christmas Eve while swieconka is performed at churches on Holy Saturday.
Though the majority of Polish Americans remain loyal to the Catholic Church, a breakaway church called the Polish National Catholic Church was founded in 1897. At that time Polish parishioners in Scranton believed that church leadership, then dominated by Irish bishops and priests, was lacking in Polish representation. At the beginning of 2025 the church consisted of 108 parishes of which 27 are in Pennsylvania and 13 are in New York.

### Judaism

World Agudath Israel was formed in Poland in 1912 by Jews who disagreed with the secular orientation of Zionism. Agudath Israel of America, also known as Agudas Yisroel or Agudah, was established in 1922. This organization advocates for Orthodox Jews at all levels of government in the United States. It also provides social, educational, and youth services.

## Social status

In 1969, the median family income was $8,849 for Polish Americans. The median family income for all families in the United States in 1968 was $7,900. Leonard F. Chrobot summarizes the Census data for 1969:
   The typical Polish American male was born in the United States, spoke Polish in his home when he was a child, but speaks English now, is 38.7 years old (female: 40.9), and is married to a Polish wife. If he is between 25 and 34 years of age, he completed 12.7 years of school, and if he is over 35, he completed 10.9 years. His median family income is $8,849. The male works as a craftsman, foreman, or kindred occupation, and his wife is employed as a clerical worker.
In 2017, by educational attainment, the U.S. Census estimates that 42.5% have bachelor's degrees or higher, whereas the American population as a whole is 32.0%. However, among other Slavic-American groups, most notably Russian (60.4%) and Ukrainian (52.2%), Americans of Polish descent fall short in educational attainment. The median household income for Americans of Polish descent is estimated by the U.S. Census as $73,452, with no statistically significant differences from other Slavic-American groups, Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. The median household income for those of Russian ancestry has been reported as higher on the U.S. Census, at $80,554.
Socioeconomic indicators: 2017 :
| Ethnicity | Household Income | College degrees (%) |
| Russian | $80,554 | 60.4 |
| Polish | $73,452 | 42.5 |
| Czech | $71,663 | 45.4 |
| Serbian | $79,135 | 46.0 |
| Slovak | $73,093 | 44.8 |
| Ukrainian | $75,674 | 52.2 |
| White non-Hispanic | $65,845 | 35.8 |
| Total U.S. Population | $60,336 | 32.0 |

## Government

When drafting the Constitution of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was inspired by the religious tolerance of the Warsaw Confederation.
The Congressional Poland Caucus is a congressional membership organization. The caucus advocates for stronger U.S.-Poland relations around shared values and economic ties.
Polish-Americans founded the Polish American Congress (PAC) in 1944 to support a free and sovereign Poland at the end of World War II. In 1948 it successfully lobbied the U.S. government to admit 140,000 Polish displaced persons, war victims, and veterans to the United States. During the communist era the congress organized humanitarian efforts to Poland. PAC encouraged the passage of the Support East European Democracy Act of 1989 which committed $800 million to Poland. The congress urged the admission of Poland into NATO which happened in 1999. The federation comprises six national membership organizations as of 2025: Polish Daily News, American Council for Polish Culture, Polish Army Veterans Association of America, Polish Falcons of America, Polish National Alliance, and Polish Roman Catholic Union of America.

## Military

Two Polish volunteers, Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Casimir Pulaski created and led the Pulaski's Legion of cavalry. He was mortally wounded at the Siege of Savannah. Fort Pulaski is named in his honor. Tadeusz Kosciuszko designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point. The National Monument Audit is an inventory of public monuments in the United States. It counts 51 monuments of Pulaski and 22 of Kosciuszko.
During the American Civil War the 58th New York Infantry Regiment was known as the Polish Legion.
Polish Americans who served in the United States Armed Forces during World War I created three different veterans associations after the war. These associations merged in 1931 to form the Polish Legion of American Veterans. Polish Americans who served in the Blue Army during World War I created the Polish Army Veterans Association of America in 1921.
After the end of the Cold War, the National Guard created the State Partnership Program. The Illinois National Guard has been partnered with the Polish Armed Forces since 1993.
In 2023 the United States Army established its eighth garrison in Europe and first in Poland. U.S. Army Garrison Poland is headquartered at Camp Kosciuszko.

## Culture

The cultural contributions of Polish Americans span a broad spectrum, including in media, in the publishing industry, in religion, art, food, museums, and festivals.

### Media

Among the most notable Polish American media groups are Hippocrene Books (founded by Polish American George Blagowidow); TVP Polonia; Polsat 2 International; TVN International; Polvision; TV4U New York; WEUR Radio Chicago; Polish Radio External Service (formerly Radio Polonia); Polonia Today and the Warsaw Voice. There are also Polish American newspapers and magazines, such as the Dziennik Związkowy, PL magazine, Polish Weekly Chicago, the Super Express USA and Nowy Dziennik in New York and Tygodnik Polski and The Polish Times in Detroit, not to mention the Ohio University Press Series in Polish American Studies, Przeglad Polski Online, Polish American Journal, the Polish News Online,Am-Pol Eagle Newspaper, and Progress for Poland, among others.
Among the many Polish American writers are a number of poets, such as Hedwig Gorski, John Guzlowski, Cecilia Woloch, and Mark Pawlak (poet and editor), along with novelists Leslie Pietrzyk, Suzanne Strempek Shea and others.

### Cuisine

Kiełbasa is commonly marketed in the United States as Polish sausage. It comes in fresh and smoked varieties. In Chicago the sausage is the meat in the sandwich known as Maxwell Street Polish. Likewise, in Cleveland there is the Polish Boy.
Polish Jews brought the bagel to the United States. Christians eat pączki doughnuts before Lent. Other baked goods include babka, rugelach, bialy, and placek.
Pierogi are stuffed dumplings that are shared with other Eastern European cuisines. Kluski are another type of dumplings.
Gołąbki and bigos are available sometimes in Polish American communities.

### Sports

The U.S. Open Cup is the national championship for soccer. It was started in 1914. Two Polish American teams have won the championship: Chicago Falcons in 1953 and A.A.C. Eagles in 1990.
The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 to recognize competitors in the field of sports. The majority of the inductees have been in baseball and American football.

### Architecture

In Milwaukee raised cottages are called Polish flats.
Polish cathedral style refers to large churches built by Polish Americans that were equivalent in size to cathedrals but not necessarily cathedrals. These religious buildings were built according to architectural styles from different periods in Poland's history. This method of architecture is known as historicism. The largest number of examples of these churches are found in Chicago and Detroit.
Polish settlers in Texas built houses with high-pitched roofs. The shaded veranda that was created by these roofs was a popular living space for the settlers. According to oral histories recorded from descendants, the verandas were used for "almost all daily activities from preparing meals to dressing animal hides." The first house built by a Pole in Texas is the John Gawlik House which was constructed in 1858. The house is located in the central historic district of Panna Maria.

### Museums

Among the best known Polish American museums are the Polish Museum of America in Chicago's old Polish Downtown; founded in 1935, the largest ethnic museum in the U.S. sponsored by the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. The Museum Library ranks as one of the best outside of Poland. Equally ambitious is the Polish American Museum located in Port Washington, New York, founded in 1977. It features displays of folk art, costumes, historical artifacts and paintings, as well as bilingual research library with particular focus on achievements of the people of Polish heritage in America. There is also the Polish Cultural Institute and Museum of Winona, Minnesota, known informally as "The Polish Museum of Winona." Formally established in 1979 by Father Paul Breza, the Polish Museum of Winona features exhibits pertaining to Winona's Kashubian Polish culture and hosts a wide range of events celebrating America's Polish-American heritage in general.

### Festivals

There are a number of unique festivals, street parties and parades held by the Polish American community. Polish Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is a popular annual festival, takes place at Henry Maier Festival Park. It is also the largest Polish festival in the United States. It attracts Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, who come to celebrate Polish culture through music, food and entertainment. New York City is home to the New York Polish Film Festival, an annual film festival showcasing current and past films of Polish cinema. NYPFF is the only annual presentation of Polish films in New York City and the largest festival promoting and presenting Polish films on the East Coast.
The Polish Festival in Syracuse's Clinton Square has become the largest cultural event in the history of the Polish community in Central New York. There's also the Taste of Polonia festival held in Chicago every Labor Day weekend since 1979 at the Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in the Jefferson Park area. The Polish Festival in Portland, Oregon is reported to be the largest in the Western United States. One of the newest and most ambitious festivals is the Seattle Polish Film Festival organized in conjunction with the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, Poland. Kansas City, Kansas is home to a large Polish population and for the last 31 years, All Saints Parish has hosted Polski Day . And last, but not least, there's the Pierogi Fest in Whiting, Indiana with many more attractions other than Polish pierogi, and the Wisconsin Dells Polish Fest.

### Holidays

* Kosciuszko Day February 4
* Casimir Pulaski Day March (Illinois regional)
* Feast of the Annunciation March 25
* Pączki Day (Fat Tuesday)
* Constitution Day May 3
* Dyngus Day (Easter Monday)
* Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa August 26
* Dozhinki September
* General Pulaski Memorial Day October 11
* Feast of the Immaculate Conception December 8
* Wigilia December 24
Polish Americans carried on celebrations of Constitution Day throughout their time in the United States without political suppression. In Poland, from 1940 to 1989, the holiday was banned by Nazi and Soviet occupiers.