Distribution of Puerto Ricans on Manhattan Island

Abstract

R ESIDENTS of the island of Puerto Rico can move freely between their homeland and the continental United States. The result has been a great influx of these people to the mainland. In 1950 there were in the continental United States 301,375 persons of Puerto Rican birth or parentage,' a number equivalent to more than 10 per cent of the total population of Puerto Rico itself. Puerto Rican immigrants have largely settled in New York City (Table I): in the census of 1950 about 83 per cent of the persons of Puerto Rican birth in the continental United States were enumerated there. Concentration increased progressively from 1910, when about 37 per cent of all Puerto Ricans in the continental United States lived in New York City, to 1940, when the percentage was about 88. The slight drop in 1950 may indicate a reversal of the trend. The total number in New York City, however, has continued to increase rapidly. From 554 in December, 1910, the number rose to 245,880 in April, 1950, and 275,200 by the end of that year (Table II). According to the best estimates available, there were in New York City at the end of 1954 some 514,200 Puerto Ricans.' Puerto Ricans have settled in all five boroughs of New York (Table III), but by far the greatest concentration is in Manhattan Borough, where a total of 138,507 Puerto Ricans lived in 1950, 56 per cent of the number in the entire city.