The Most Italian Town in Greater Boston: Stoneham Wins the Ancestry Crown with 27.5%

Stoneham has the highest Italian ancestry in Greater Boston at 27.5% — more than two percentage points ahead of Wakefield (25.6%). The top ten is dominated by inner-ring suburbs built in the early-to-mid 20th century, not affluent towns or fishing ports.

Buyers and renters exploring neighborhoods with strong cultural roots, researchers studying ethnic settlement patterns in New England, and anyone curious how ancestry data maps onto the metro's older suburbs.

• •Stoneham Italian ancestry 27.5% — #1 of 49 full-coverage municipalities
• •Wakefield is #2 at 25.6%; the cluster includes Winthrop (24.2%), Reading (23.9%), Franklin (23.3%)
• •Italian ancestry concentrates in North Shore and inner-ring suburbs, not in wealthy towns like Wellesley or Marblehead