List of Puerto Rican-American communities

This is a list of communities known for possessing a large number of Puerto Rican Americans. Although, over 41 percent of Puerto Rican Americans live in just two states, namely New York (23%) and Florida (18%), large numbers can also be found in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. There are many states with smaller but fast-growing Puerto Rican populations including Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland in the Northeast, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas down south, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin in the Midwest, and California and Hawaii out west.

Lists

Communities with the largest Puerto Rican populations

The top 25 US communities with the highest populations of Puerto Ricans (Source: Census 2010)

New York City, NY - 723,621
Philadelphia, PA - 121,643
Chicago, IL - 102,703
Springfield, MA - 50,798
Hartford, CT - 41,995
Newark, NJ - 35,993
Bridgeport, CT - 31,881
Orlando, FL - 31,201
Boston, MA - 30,506
Allentown, PA - 29,640
Cleveland, OH - 29,286
Reading, PA - 28,160
Rochester, NY - 27,734
Jersey City, NJ - 25,677
Waterbury, CT - 24,947
Milwaukee, WI - 24,672
Tampa, FL - 24,057
Camden, NJ - 23,759
Worcester, MA - 23,074
Buffalo, NY - 22,076
New Britain, CT - 21,914
Jacksonville, FL - 21,128
Paterson, NJ - 21,015
New Haven, CT - 20,505
Yonkers, NY - 19,875

Communities with highest percentages of Puerto Ricans

The top 25 US communities with the highest percentages of Puerto Ricans as a percent of total population (Source: Census 2010)

Holyoke, MA - 44.70%
Buenaventura Lakes, FL - 44.55%
Azalea Park, FL - 36.50%
Poinciana, FL - 35.82%
Meadow Woods, FL - 35.11%
Hartford, CT - 33.66%
Springfield, MA - 33.19%
Kissimmee, FL - 33.06%
Reading, PA - 31.97%
Camden, NJ - 30.72%
New Britain, CT - 29.93%
Lancaster, PA - 29.23%
Vineland, NJ - 26.74%
Union Park, FL - 25.81%
Allentown, PA - 25.11%
Windham, CT - 23.99%
Lebanon, PA - 23.87%
Perth Amboy, NJ - 23.79%
Southbridge, MA - 23.08%
Amsterdam, NY - 22.80%
Harlem Heights, FL - 22.63%
Waterbury, CT - 22.60%
Lawrence, MA - 22.20%
Dunkirk, NY - 22.14%
Bridgeport, CT - 22.10%

Metropolitan areas with largest Puerto Rican populations

The largest populations of Puerto Ricans are situated in the following metropolitan areas (Source: Census 2010):

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA-CT MSA - 1,177,430 (6.2% Puerto Rican)
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA - 269,781 (12.6% Puerto Rican)
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA - 239,866 (4.0% Puerto Rican)
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA - 207,727 (3.7% Puerto Rican)
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA - 188,502 (2.0% Puerto Rican)
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA - 143,886 (5.2% Puerto Rican)
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA - 115,087 (2.5% Puerto Rican)
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT MSA - 102,911 (8.5% Puerto Rican)
Springfield, MA MSA - 87,798 (12.7% Puerto Rican)
New Haven-Milford, CT MSA - 77,578 (9.0% Puerto Rican)
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA - 60,412 (7.4% Puerto Rican)
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH MSA - 59,123 (2.8% Puerto Rican)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA - 55,699 (0.4% Puerto Rican)
Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA - 53,465 (3.3% Puerto Rican)
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA - 50,511 (5.5% Puerto Rican)
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA - 48,168 (0.9% Puerto Rican)
Worcester, MA MSA - 44,392 (5.6% Puerto Rican)
Rochester, NY MSA - 44,383 (4.2% Puerto Rican)
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA - 43,377 (0.8% Puerto Rican)
Reading, PA MSA - 36,333 (8.8% Puerto Rican)
Lakeland–Winter Haven, FL MSA - 34,825 (5.8% Puerto Rican)
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA - 33,247 (0.5% Puerto Rican)
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MSA - 33,127 (2.1% Puerto Rican)
Buffalo–Niagara Falls, NY MSA - 31,663 (2.8% Puerto Rican)
Jacksonville, FL MSA - 30,532 (2.3% Puerto Rican)
Lancaster, PA MSA - 30,403 (5.9% Puerto Rican)
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA - 29,840 (0.6% Puerto Rican)
San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA MSA - 28,093 (0.7% Puerto Rican)
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL MSA - 27,679 (5.6% Puerto Rican)
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA - 27,464 (1.6% Puerto Rican)
Honolulu, HI MSA - 26,821 (2.9% Puerto Rican)
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ MSA - 23,423 (0.6% Puerto Rican)
Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA - 23,164 (0.8% Puerto Rican)
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA - 20,199 (1.0% Puerto Rican)
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI MSA - 19,087 (0.4% Puerto Rican)
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA - 18,942 (2.2% Puerto Rican)
Atlantic City, NJ MSA - 18,160 (6.6% Puerto Rican)
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA - 17,526 (0.9% Puerto Rican)
Trenton-Ewing, NJ MSA - 17,097 (4.7% Puerto Rican)
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC MSA - 16,147 (0.9% Puerto Rican)
Ocala, FL MSA - 15,221 (4.6% Puerto Rican)
Port St. Lucie, FL MSA - 14,125 (3.3% Puerto Rican)
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA MSA - 13,387 (2.4% Puerto Rican)
York-Hanover, PA MSA - 13,493 (3.1% Puerto Rican)
Fayetteville, NC MSA - 12,492 (3.4% Puerto Rican)
Syracuse, NY MSA - 11,908 (1.8% Puerto Rican)
Norwich-New London, CT MSA - 11,611 (4.2% Puerto Rican)
Sarasota, FL MSA - 11,426 (1.6% Puerto Rican)
Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA - 10,644 (0.9% Puerto Rican)
Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA MSA - 10,247 (1.8% Puerto Rican)
Richmond, VA MSA - 10,074 (1.0% Puerto Rican)
Columbus, OH MSA - 9,644 (0.7% Puerto Rican)
Youngstown-Warren, OH-PA MSA - 9,215 (1.6% Puerto Rican)
Dover, DE MSA - 9,199 (3.8% Puerto Rican)
Pittsburgh, PA MSA - 9,023 (0.5% Puerto Rican)

Puerto Ricans around the country

The Northeast

The Northeast is home to 2.5 million Puerto Ricans, comprising 53% of the Puerto Rican population nationwide. New York City has the largest population of Puerto Ricans in the country, followed by Philadelphia. New York City has more Puerto Ricans than 48 states, only Florida has more (excluding New York the state NYC is in). In New York, Puerto Rican populations are significant in New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley, especially Yonkers and other areas throughout Westchester County, Binghamton, and the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area as well. There are also large Puerto Rican populations in the cities of Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo in Western New York. In Pennsylvania, one-third of Puerto Ricans reside in Philadelphia. However, Puerto Ricans are more concentrated in South Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley. This area, extending from Harrisburg to the New Jersey border is home to almost half of Puerto Ricans statewide. Cities along this stretch include York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, Reading, Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. There is also a smaller Puerto Rican presence in towns such as Chester, Coatesville, Pottstown, and Norristown, as well as other areas in the Philadelphia Metro Area, especially Montgomery County and Delaware County. Though, the bulk of Pennsylvania's Puerto Rican population is in the southeastern section of the state, Hazleton and the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area in northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as the Pittsburgh area and Erie in western PA also have small Puerto Rican populations present. In New Jersey, a slight majority of Puerto Ricans are located in North Jersey. Cities with significant populations include Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Passaic, Perth Amboy, and Elizabeth. The remaining portion is in South Jersey, including cities like Trenton, Camden, Pennsauken, Vineland, Millville, Pleasantville, and Atlantic City. In Delaware, the majority of the Puerto Rican population lives in New Castle County, especially Wilmington and Elsmere among other cities, where there is a large Puerto Rican population, the area is often considered apart of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Kent County also has a significant Puerto Rican population, especially in Dover. In Maryland, there is a small Puerto Rican population in Baltimore, as well as in many smaller cities throughout Central Maryland. In fact, about 85 percent of Maryland's Puerto Rican population lives in Central Maryland, a region of the state comprising the city of Baltimore, and the Baltimore and DC suburbs, split evenly between the Baltimore area and the Maryland portion of the DC area. Though, growing, Baltimore and Washington, DC have the smallest Puerto Rican populations of all the major cities in the Northeast megalopolis (an area including the metro areas of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington), and is often overshadowed by a larger Central American presence. Though, Baltimore's Puerto Rican population is larger and more concentrated than that of Washington's. More Puerto Ricans in the Washington metro area live scattered among the surrounding suburbs, than the actual city itself.

Lower New England has a high concentration of Puerto Ricans. Connecticut has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans of any state and has large Puerto Rican populations throughout the state, with the largest in Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Meriden, New Britain, New London, and Willimantic. Though, half of the Puerto Rican population in the New England area is situated along the Interstate-91 corridor, extending from New Haven in Connecticut to Holyoke in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, the largest Puerto Rican populations are in Holyoke, Springfield, Fitchburg, Lowell, Worcester, Lawrence, Lynn, Boston, and Chelsea. The highest percentage of Puerto Ricans in the US can be found in Holyoke. Large portions of the state's Puerto Rican population is in the Boston area. Puerto Ricans continue to dominate in the central part of the state. In Rhode Island, the vast majority of Puerto Ricans live in Providence County, especially the cities of Providence and Pawtucket.

The South

The South is home to 1.3 million Puerto Ricans, comprising 29% of the Puerto Rican population nationwide. Florida is home to two-thirds of the Puerto Rican population in the South. Florida is currently home to the fastest-growing Puerto Rican population of any state. Cubans and Puerto Ricans are Florida's largest Hispanic groups, though unlike the Cuban community which is nearly entirely located in the South Florida and Tampa Bay areas, the Puerto Rican population is far more spread-out and is present in large numbers in Central Florida, South Florida, and North Florida, having large populations in the metro areas of Orlando, Tampa, Miami, and Jacksonville, among other cities. South Florida has a large Puerto Rican population centered around the Miami metro area, yet are largely overlooked by Cuban dominance and the overall diversity of the Miami area, with large numbers in Miami, Hollywood, West Palm Beach, Homestead, North Miami, Boynton Beach, Coconut Creek, and Port St. Lucie. The westcoast of Florida has significant Puerto Rican populations present in scattered areas, in cities such as, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Lakeland, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, and Fort Myers. Central Florida has the largest Puerto Rican population of any region in the state and the fastest-growing Puerto Rican population in the country. The Orlando metropolitan area is the center of the Puerto Rican population in Central Florida and there is large populations of Puerto Ricans throughout the region, with the largest populations in Orlando, Kissimmee, Poinciana, Buenaventura Lakes, Azalea Park, Meadow Woods, Pine Hills, Deltona, St. Cloud, Sanford, Apopka, Alafaya, Oak Ridge, Oviedo, Daytona Beach, and Palm Bay. Osceola County is the only county in the country where Puerto Ricans are the largest ancestral group. Puerto Ricans are also the vast majority of Hispanics in Volusia County. The I-4 corridor, extending from Daytona Beach to Tampa, is home to 500,000 Puerto Ricans. The I-4 corridor is politically considered the swing section of the state, yet Puerto Rican growth has created a Democratic registration advantage. Puerto Rican growth in Central Florida has also had a direct impact on the uninterrupted influence Cubans once had. In North Florida, there are significant Puerto Rican populations in Jacksonville, Orange Park, Ocala, Tallahassee, and Gainesville. Though, the most notable growth in North Florida has been in Clay County and the Jacksonville area. Though, the Puerto Rican population may not be as large as other parts of Florida, especially Central Florida, Puerto Ricans often make up the majority of Hispanics in many North Florida cities, due to lower percentages of Hispanics in North Florida.

In Virginia, over half of the Puerto Rican population is in the many independent cities of the Hampton Roads area, including Newport News, Hampton, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Williamsburg. In fact, outside Florida, the region stretching from the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Southeastern Virginia up to the Tri-cities portion of the Richmond metro area has the highest percentage of Puerto Ricans of any metropolitan area or urban region in the Southern United States. A large chunk of the remainder is mainly in the Richmond-Tri Cities area (especially south of the James River) and the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. In North Carolina, there are significant and growing Puerto Rican populations in Fayetteville, and the metro areas of Raleigh/Durham and Charlotte. In Georgia, over two-thirds of the state's Puerto Rican population is located in the Atlanta metropolitan area, with the remainder in other areas throughout the state, including the Jacksonville, FL-Savannah, GA region. In Texas, the vast majority of the state's Puerto Rican population is present in the Texas Triangle mega-region, especially in and around the cities of Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Killeen.

The Midwest

The Midwest is home to 435,000 Puerto Ricans, comprising 9% of the Puerto Rican population nationwide. A little less than two-thirds of the population can be found in three Metropolitan Statistical Areas: Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Only in Cleveland are Puerto Ricans the largest Hispanic group. In Illinois, 56% of the Puerto Rican population is located in the city of Chicago, with the remaining portion of the state's Puerto Rican population concentrated in Chicago's suburbs, including Waukegan, Aurora, Cicero, and Elgin. The Humboldt Park neighborhood is home to the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Midwest. In Ohio, almost two-thirds of Puerto Ricans can be found in the Cleveland Metro. Cleveland has the largest population of Puerto Ricans in the state. There are many other Ohio cities with significant Puerto Rican populations, particularly in Northeast Ohio, where the vast majority of the state's Puerto Rican population lives, including places like Lorain, Elyria, Youngstown, Campbell, Akron, Ashtabula, and Newburgh Heights. Northeast Ohio has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Midwest and any state outside the eastcoast. Lorain has the highest percentage of Puerto Ricans of any city west of the Appalachian mountains. Columbus and Toledo also have significant and growing Puerto Rican populations. In Wisconsin, 53% of the Puerto Rican population resides in the city of Milwaukee, the remaining portion is mostly in southeastern Wisconsin, in areas near Milwaukee and Chicago.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, in Indiana, Northwest Indiana has many Puerto Ricans in cities such as Hammond and East Chicago. The city of Indianapolis also has a small population. The majority of Indiana's Puerto Rican population is in Northwest Indiana, with most of the remaining portion in the Indianapolis area. In Michigan, the Puerto Rican population is relatively small, yet present in Detroit and Pontiac.

The West

The West is home to 372,000 Puerto Ricans, comprising 8% of the Puerto Rican population nationwide. In California, Puerto Rican populations are largely present in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, and many other cities in Southern California and the Inland Empire region, as well as the Bay Area, especially San Francisco. There are also small Puerto Rican populations present in Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as the Honolulu metropolitan area in Hawaii.