They trace their ancestry to the territories with a large Albanian population in the Balkans and southern Europe, including Albania, Italy, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

In 2024, there were 224,000 counted people of Albanian descent living in the United States,[2] mostly in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region.

West of the Mississippi River, there are smaller ethnic Albanian communities in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego areas.

To avoid service in the Turkish War during the late 19th century, due to Albania being under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Albanians would arrive in the U.S., namely to Chicago, Boston, and New York.

Workers settled in New York in the early 20th century, many of whom would find work in shoe, glass, and textile factories.

[12] A second wave of Albanians arrived after World War II, and many of them were refugees from the Communist regime of Enver Hoxha.

[14] The early settlers originated from southern Albania, but they were recorded as being from Greece, Turkey, or from the country in which they boarded their boats to the United States.

[15] The majority of this first wave of emigrants, approximately 10,000, did not intend to permanently settle in the U.S., and went back to Albania after World War I.

[11] Following the Expulsion of Cham Albanians from Greece in the aftermath of World War II, many of them migrated to the United States, asserting that the Communist government in Albania discriminated against and persecuted them.

Allowing for the families that had abandoned their mother tongue, it is estimated that around 70,000 US citizens with an Albanian background lived in the US in 1980.

[19] In the 1990s, many Albanians from Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and the Republic of North Macedonia emigrated to the United States as refugees of war.

Another Albanian American (Kosovan-Americans) community in the Riverside/San Bernardino area of California includes Kosovars who entered the United States at the March Joint Air Reserve Base in Riverside.

Some Catholic ethnic Albanians from Montenegro entered the United States from Mexico and settled in Detroit.

Nevertheless, Arbëreshë have a strong sense of identity, and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh, which does not have any Ottoman influence.

There are few Albanian communities elsewhere, with a small population in California and a slightly higher proportion in Texas, especially Dallas.

[27][28] Nearby St. Petersburg has 500 Albanians, Spring Hill has 400, Gainesville has 400, Egypt Lake-Leto has 350, and Palm Harbor has 300.

30 miles from Miami is Oakland Park, which has 800 Albanians, two percent of the city's population, and 350 live in Pompano Beach.

[35][36] A small yet sizable Albanian community can be found in Washington state, including Mercer Island and within the Seattle area.