There are now many more people of Puerto Rican origin in the States than in Puerto Rico. Millions have moved for the better life and greater opportunities available in a State than in a territory.
Where are those who move settling?
The Pew Research Center found that, as of 2012, about half live in the Northeast. Among those born in the States, 10% live in the West and an equal number in the Midwest, with 27% living in the South. Those who were born in Puerto Rico are more likely to end up in the South.
As the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York reports, there is an overall trend toward the South. From 2006 to 2011, New York’s Puerto Rican population grew by 2% while Florida’s grew by 75%.
The top destination states for people moving from Puerto Rico to the mainland between 2006 and 2011, from the same source:
- Florida
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Massachusetts
- Texas
The majority of these States are in the Northeast, but the report also finds that Puerto Rican communities in the States are spreading out and becoming less concentrated.
New York City has the largest Puerto Rican community in the United States. Holyoke, Massachusetts, has the largest percentage of people from Puerto Rico.
Centro Voices, a publication of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, published an article recently which suggested that, particularly in the South, Puerto Rican communities tend to cluster around military bases.
Ranker offers a list of the mainland cities with the largest Puerto Rican communities:
U.S. Cities with the Largest Puerto Rican Population
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