Puerto Rican Americans

Migration to the United States

Puerto Ricans have been coming to the United States since the late 19th century, especially following the U.S. colonization of Puerto Rico in 1898. Puerto [Page 1083]Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917, and this greatly facilitated their ability to migrate to the country. However, the greatest migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States took place during the 1950s and 1960s. The governments of both the United States and Puerto Rico encouraged Puerto Ricans to come to the United States to ease unemployment on the island. To encourage and manage the emigration of Puerto Ricans to the United States, in 1947 the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments founded the Migration Division (or the Commonwealth Office), which eventually had offices in 115 U.S. cities and towns. By 1970, 1.5 million Puerto Ricans lived in the United States. Between 1990 and 2000, the Puerto Rican population in the United States grew by 24.9%—from 3.2 million to 3.6 million.

At first, most Puerto Ricans migrated to New York City or elsewhere on the East Coast. Now, Puerto Ricans are found across the nation. Once home to 80% of all stateside Puerto Ricans, New York City was home to only 23% of stateside Puerto Ricans by 2000. The states with the largest Puerto Rican populations in 2000 were New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. During the past 30 years, there has also been significant population growth in Connecticut, Illinois, California, Ohio, and Texas as well as in areas of the Midwest. Puerto Ricans are now found in most states, and a large community has migrated to Florida, where the population rose by 57.7% from 1990 to 2000. Although the cities that house the majority of Puerto Ricans continue to be located on the East Coast and in the Midwest (e.g., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, Hartford), the cities experiencing the fastest growth among Puerto Ricans from 1990 to 2000 were Orlando, Florida (142%); Allentown, Pennsylvania (83%); Tampa, Florida (78%); Reading, Pennsylvania (64%); and New Britain, Connecticut (52%).

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