Few days on the American calendar blend heritage, spectacle, and revelry quite like St. Patrick’s Day. From packed parades and live Irish bands to themed parties and nights out that stretch well past midnight, March 17 has evolved far beyond its origins.
But where is the celebration really intensifying and where is it losing momentum?
To find out, BetMGM analyzed three years of most recent Google search data across multiple St. Patrick’s Day-related categories, comparing state-by-state interest levels against Irish ancestry population data. The result is a Celebration Intensity ranking that reveals where the holiday is gaining cultural traction — and where it’s quietly cooling off.
What was found suggests something bigger than green beer and shamrocks: across the U.S., celebration patterns are shifting geographically and culturally.
Which State Is Celebrating St Patrick’s Day Harder Than Before?
States such as New Jersey, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, and Illinois have climbed 8–10+ percentile points nationally in 2025, indicating meaningful gains in celebration intensity in comparison to other states.
| 1 | New Jersey |
| 2 | Indiana |
| 3 | Iowa |
| 4 | Georgia |
| 5 | Illinois |
An interesting pattern in the analysis suggests that celebration intensity is broadening geographically, with strong acceleration across Midwestern and Southeastern markets, while states with large Irish populations remain stable or strengthening.
Which State Is Celebrating St Patrick’s Less Than Before?
Two states saw significant declines in relative celebration intensity in 2025.
Kentucky and Oregon declined by more than 8 percentile points nationally in 2025, indicating a meaningful loss in relative celebration standing compared to other states.
Colorado, Maryland, and Alabama show moderate declines of 4–7 percentile points, suggesting a relative softening in celebration in recent years.
| 1 | Kentucky |
| 2 | Oregon |
| 3 | Colorado |
| 4 | Maryland |
| 5 | Alabama |
What Aspects of St Patrick’s Day Celebrations Are Gaining the Most Traction?
There’s one clear winner, and that’s Irish music, since 82% of states increased in percentile in 2025 compared to previous years, covering traditional and folk Irish music and playlists.
This suggests St Patrick’s Day interest may be shifting away from purely commercial or consumption-driven elements toward more cultural engagement.
- Alcohol and drinkware: Alcohol- and drinkware-related celebration interest is losing relative prominence nationally.
- Green clothing: Commercial visual celebration elements may be plateauing or declining.
- Costumes: Costumes appear to be concentrating rather than broadly expanding.
- Party supplies: Selective growth, not national traction.
- Irish music: Irish music is gaining broad national traction. This is a genuine cultural expansion signal.
- Irish artists: Artist-specific searches aren’t broadly strengthening and appear unstable.
Methodology
To understand how St Patrick’s Day celebration varies across the U.S., BetMGM analyzed Google Trends search data across multiple celebration-related categories (alcohol & drinkware, green clothing, costumes, party supplies, Irish artists, Irish music, and miscellaneous) over the past three years.
For each year, relative search interest by state was measured and converted into a concentration share, allowing fair comparison across states of different sizes.
We then compared each state’s search concentration to its share of the U.S. Irish ancestry population to calculate an Over-Index score. A score above 1 indicates a state shows disproportionately high interest relative to its Irish population.
Finally, states were ranked within each category and converted rankings into percentiles to create an overall Celebration Intensity score for each state, enabling us to track how celebration intensity evolves over time. The year-on-year comparison was from 2023 to 2025.
Sources
- Google Trends (state-level search interest data)
- U.S. Census Bureau – American Community Survey (ACS) 2023–2024 Irish Ancestry Population Estimates
Disclaimer
As 2025 U.S. ancestry population data had not yet been released by the U.S. Census Bureau at the time of analysis, the most recent available dataset (2024) was used as a proxy for 2025 figures.
In cases where state-level Irish ancestry data was unavailable or did not meet reporting thresholds (including, but not limited to, Alaska, Arkansas, and Hawaii), those states were excluded from the final analysis to maintain data consistency and reliability.
This index is based on web search behavior as a proxy for celebration intent. It assumes that search patterns for St. Patrick’s Day-related terms remain directionally consistent over time, allowing year-on-year comparisons of relative interest. While search data does not measure real-world participation directly, it provides a standardized and comparable indicator of consumer intent and cultural engagement across states. As with all search-based analyses, results reflect online interest rather than confirmed event attendance or spending behavior.
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