The 2010 U.S. census counted 1,785,547 persons of Cuban ancestry, making Cuban Americans the fifth-largest Latino community in the United States, after Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Salvadorans. The Cuban American population is growing rapidly, exhibiting a 44 percent increase in size since 2000. Although the majority of Cuban Americans live in southern Florida (particularly in and around Miami-Dade County), Cuban communities also exist in New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as other states.

Small numbers of Cuban immigrants entered the United States throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, settling in locales such as New York City, Tampa, and New Orleans, where many found employment in cigar-producing factories. However, the vast majority of Cuban Americans are either immigrants or the descendants of ...