State rankings
Gypsies (Romani) by State
California has the highest Estimated Romani Population (200,000), followed by Texas (20,000) and Illinois (10,000). South Dakota has the lowest (99).
CulturePopulation19 states · 2 metricsUpdated May 23, 2025Original page
14 sources
- Romani Americans - Wiki
- Romani - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
- Roma minority has special sensitivities, health-related beliefs, professor, doctors say - Oregon Live
- Encyclopedia of Cleveland History - Case Western Reserve University
- Fortune teller case shines light on little-known group - Sun Sentiel
- Romani in Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania Heritage
- Gypsies - New Hartford Historical Society
- Romani History is American History – Ann Ostendorf
- The Gypsy Queen of Baltimore - Maryland Center for History and Culture.
- Gypsies - Wessels Living History Farm
- The Hidden Minority: New Jersey's Thousands of Gypsies - The New York Times
- Fear and Stereotypes of Gypsies in N.D., 1933 - Prairie Public NewsRoom
- Traveling Gypsies Brought an Exotic Lifestyle to Rural Utah - Utah.gov
- Appalachian Roma: The Handprint of the Gypsy - Appalachian Studies Association
Estimated Romani PopulationBetter directionWhether a higher or a lower value is better. A green arrow means higher is better, a red arrow means lower is better, and no arrow means neither.More in the glossary →
19 of 51 statesEstimated Romani Population
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 19 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one state; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
99
Middle half 99 – 2K
Average
12,541
19 states
Highest
200,000
California
Lowest
99
South Dakota
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
19 states · # = rank by Estimated Romani Population
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  California | 200,000 | Around 50,000 of Roamnies from California lives in Los Angeles. |
| 2 |  Texas | 20,000 | In Texas, the two main Roma populations are Vlax and Romanichal. Romani Americans are concentrated in Houston and Fort Worth. |
| 3 |  Illinois | 10,000 | The Roma first came to Chicago during the large waves of Southern and Eastern European immigration to the United States starting in the 1880s and lasting until World War I. Around 5,000 to 10,000 Roma reside in the Chicago area. |
| 4 |  Florida | 3,000 | — |
| 4 |  Oregon | 3,000 | Romanies have resided in Oregon since the early twentieth century. There is a Romani community in Portland. |
| 6 |  Ohio | 1,000 | The Roma began began settling on Cleveland's near west side in the 1880s. |
| 7 |  New York | 99 | Many Romanies moved to New York City from other parts of the United States after relief programs were put into effect in the 1930s. Romanies from Hungary went to New York after the revolution in 1956. |
| 7 |  Pennsylvania | 99 | The Romani have been present in Pennsylvania since the mid-1800s, most arriving from Europe. |
| 7 |  Michigan | 99 | There is a Hungarian-Slovak Romani community in Michigan. |
| 7 |  New Jersey | 99 | In New Jersey, Roma people are concentrated in the northeastern part of the state, especially in and around Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth. |
| 7 |  Virginia | 99 | In first half of the 20th century the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia provided a home for traveling enclaves of Roma. |
| 7 |  Maryland | 99 | Habersham is only the most famous of Maryland's sizable Gypsy population. During the 20th century, the highest concentration of Gypsies was in Baltimore, but encampments were reported across Maryland. |
| 7 |  Louisiana | 99 | One of the most well-documented colonial North American migrations involved dozens of Bohemians (the eighteenth-century word for French Romani) who helped build the colony of Louisiana. They settled throughout the region, from Biloxi to New Orleans, and Natchez to Natchitoches. |
| 7 |  Connecticut | 99 | The Winsted Citizen from 1947 reported that in the late 1800's gypsies did visit the region on a routine basis. There was a large horse market in Hartford that was operated by the gypsy 'King'. |
| 7 |  Utah | 99 | Most of the Romani were of Balkan, Eastern, and Central European descent and had come to Deseret, Elsinore, Oak City, Kanab, and other remote communities ub the early 1900s. |
| 7 |  Arkansas | 99 | There is a Romanichal community in Arkansas. They trace their lineage to England and Ireland. |
| 7 |  Nebraska | 99 | During the 1930s, Romanis moved through rural Nebraska. They were known as shrewd horse traders. |
| 7 |  West Virginia | 99 | A group of Roma settled in Stumpy Bottom in Princeton. |
| 7 |  South Dakota | 99 | Romani caravans journeyed through Dakota’s territory beginning in the 1880s and continuing annually until the 1940s |
What correlates with Estimated Romani Population?
Pearson r against 2,135 other state metrics sharing at least 12 states, 4 near-identical series hidden. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Estimated Romani Population tend to score higher on these
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Estimated Romani Population tend to score lower on these
Quick answers
- Which state has the highest Estimated Romani Population?
- California has the highest Estimated Romani Population, at 200,000, followed by Texas (20,000) and Illinois (10,000).
- Which state has the lowest Estimated Romani Population?
- South Dakota has the lowest Estimated Romani Population, at 99.
- What is the median Estimated Romani Population across US states?
- The median is 99 across the 19 US states with data.
- Where does this gypsies (romani) by state data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Romani Americans - Wiki; Romani - Encyclopedia of Arkansas; Roma minority has special sensitivities, health-related beliefs, professor, doctors say - Oregon Live; Encyclopedia of Cleveland History - Case Western Reserve University.