Colombian Americans

George Zamka	Paula Garcés	Rodolfo Llinás	Travis Pastrana	Lou Castro
Moises Arias	Greg Giraldo	Alexa Vega	John Leguizamo	Jorge Muñoz
Sofía Vergara	Mo Rocca	Juan Agudelo	Soraya	Alejandro Bedoya

Total population

(3,221,900^[1]
1.04% of the U.S. population (2012)^[1]

)

Regions with significant populations

Florida, New York City Metropolitan Area, New Jersey, California, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut

Languages

Spanish, American English

Religion

Predominately Roman Catholicism
Protestantism, Evangelicalism, Baptism
Some Judaism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Others

Related ethnic groups

Spaniards, African Colombian, Mestizo, Demographics of Colombia

Colombian Americans (Spanish: colombo-americanos, norteamericanos de origen colombiano or estadounidenses de origen colombiano) are Americans who trace their full or partial nationality or heritage to the South American nation of Colombia. They are the largest South American ethnic group in the United States, and the fourth largest Hispanic group, after Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans and Cuban Americans.

History

The first Colombians immigrants who settled in the United States likely arrived in the 1800s. However, the Colombian presence in United States would not be known with certainty since the federal census did not specify the country of origin for South Americans until 1960. These immigrants did not maintain any relation with their native countries, just until a few generations after, they identify themselves only as Americans.

The first Colombian community formed after World War I, through the arrival of several hundred professionals (nurses, accountants, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, and bilingual secretaries) that established themselves in New York City; later on, more people were added to the community when Colombian students decided to stay in the US after earning their degrees. Most immigrants settled in Jackson Heights, a middle-class neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, that has good housing, schools and churches. The growth of the Colombian American population was slow until 1940, when there was an increase in Colombian immigration to New York.

Post World War II

Most Colombians who arrived after the mid-1960s wanted to stay in the United States temporarily. Therefore, the number of Colombian undocumented immigrants increased: from 250,000 to 350,000 people in the mid 1970s. Despite a succession of immigration laws, the Colombian population in the United States continued to grow. New York remained the most popular destination. Smaller communities formed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. and in the 1970s, North Side, Chicago.^[2]

Since the 1980s, many Colombians have settled in Miami (especially in its suburbs, such as Doral, Kendall, and Hialeah, and the Weston suburb of Fort Lauderdale). Initially they settled in Little Havana, the largest Cuban neighborhood, many of them engaged in the business of trade between Miami and Latin America. The area also attracted wealthy Colombians, who settled there to get medical care, send their children to school, and escape from social, economic, and political turmoil in Colombia.^[2]

By 1987, Colombian Americans were one of the fastest growing Hispanic groups in Miami. By the early 1990s, many Colombian Americans left the metropolitan centers for the suburbs due to crime and the high cost of urban living. This trend was probably started for the first time in the coastal towns of Connecticut and New York. Colombian communities grew significantly in places such as Stamford, Connecticut, Bergenline and Englewood, New Jersey, Jacksonville, Florida (which attracted a growing number of people from Miami), and Skokie, Evanston, Arlington Heights and Park Ridge, Illinois. Despite the migration to other areas, the largest communities remained in New York City, Miami, and their environs.^[2]

In 1990 and 1991, 43,891 Colombians were admitted to the United States, more than from any other South American country. They were for the first time the most populous group of undocumented immigrants in the US from South America. Between 1992 and 1997, guerilla activity in Colombia increased, so nearly 75,000 Colombians immigrated to the United States in this period, many of them going to California.^[2]

Causes of migration

Flag of Colombia

Flag of the United States

Economic problems and violence have led to an emigration of Colombians to the United States, particularly South Florida (especially in the suburbs of Miami, Florida such as Doral, Kendall, and Hialeah, and the Weston suburb of Fort Lauderdale), Central Florida, New Jersey (North Jersey), Queens County in New York City, Philadelphia, the Washington DC metro area, eastern Long Island, and an expanding community in California, Texas and Georgia, mainly in the Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta areas.^[2]

After of World War I, many Colombians immigrated to United States in order to complete their education there, studying in the universities of this country. Most of them settled in New York. After the civil war in 1948 and increased poverty in Colombia many Colombians also emigrated to United States during the 1950s. In the 1960s, the economic crisis prompted the emigration of many Colombians to the United States, obtaining U.S. citizenship Between 1960 and 1977.^[2]

Since the 1980s, many Colombians American fled their urban cities to migrate to suburban areas in states like New Jersey and Connecticut, as their socioeconomic status improved. The increase of the guerrillas in Colombia between 1992 and 1997 also boosted the Colombian emigration during this period. As was discussed earlier, about 75,000 Colombians immigrated at that time the United States, concentrating mostly in the state of California.^[2]

Demographics

Hispanic and Latino Americans
National origin groups Argentine Americans Bolivian Americans Chilean Americans Colombian Americans Costa Rican Americans Cuban Americans Dominican Americans Ecuadorian Americans Guatemalan Americans Honduran Americans Mexican Americans Nicaraguan Americans Panamanian Americans Paraguayan Americans Peruvian Americans Puerto Ricans (stateside) Salvadoran Americans Spanish Americans Uruguayan Americans Venezuelan Americans
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Related national groups Belizean Americans Brazilian Americans Filipino Americans Guyanese Americans Haitian Americans Portuguese Americans Surinamese Americans
Languages English Spanglish Spanish United States New Mexican Puerto Rican
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Lists Communities with Hispanic majority Hispanic and Latino Americans Puerto Rico Related topics

Ethnic composition

Large communities

As of the 2000 Census, 1,228,400 Colombians were living in the New York metro area and 469,271 Colombians were living in the Miami metropolitan area. The largest Colombian community lives in the South Florida area (Doral, Kendall, Weston, and Hialeah) with a population of 138,768,^[3]^[4] and Jackson Heights in Queens County, New York city.^[2]

In New York City, a large Colombian community thrives and continues to expand in size since the wave of immigration began in the 1970s. Jackson Heights in Queens County was heavily Colombian during the 1980s, but other immigrant groups have settled in the area, notably Mexicans. Many of the displaced Colombians have moved to adjacent areas such as Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Corona, College Point and Flushing. Queens County still has the largest concentration of Colombians in the United States of any county (roughly 275,000).

Top States with highest Colombian population

The 50 states with the largest population of Colombians were (Source: 2010 Census^[5])

State/Territory	Colombian American Population (2015 Estimated)^[6]
Florida	600,414
New York	541,879
New Jersey	501,593
California	264,416
Texas	190,810
Georgia (U.S. state)	156,013
Massachusetts	93,843
Connecticut	90,048
Illinois	89,347
North Carolina	72,245
Pennsylvania	67,362
Washington	61,102
Virginia	53,159
Arizona	47,009
Ohio	43,159
Michigan	31,101
Colorado	27,584
Maryland	24,112
Nevada	19,562
Utah	18,200
New Mexico	17,743
Wisconsin	16,466
South Carolina	14,155
Missouri	13,936
Hawaii	12,249
Indiana	12,008
Oregon	11,637
Minnesota	11,198
Rhode Island	10,568
Alaska	9,991
Tennessee	8,209
Delaware	8,001
Louisiana	7,610
New Hampshire	7,196
Iowa	6,912
Alabama	6,824
Maine	5,745
Idaho	5,530
West Virginia	5,015
Kentucky	4,669
Vermont	4,421
Oklahoma	4,271
Kansas	4,020
Nebraska	3,775
Arkansas	3,527
Kansas	3,413
Montana	3,006
Mississippi	2,840
North Dakota	2,611
Wyoming	1,478

The U.S. state with the smallest population of Colombians (as of 2010) was Wyoming with 1,478 Colombian Americans.

The 25 U.S. communities with the highest Colombia ancestry

The 25 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Colombian ancestry are:^[4]

Victory Gardens, New Jersey 15.27%
Dover, New Jersey 11.27%
The Hammocks, Florida 10.02%
Central Falls, Rhode Island 9.94%
Montauk, New York 9.53%
Doral, Florida 8.71%
Country Club, Florida 8.63%
Morristown, New Jersey 7.98%
Englewood, New Jersey 7.17%
Virginia Gardens, Florida 7.16%
Key Biscayne, Florida 7.07%
Elizabeth, New Jersey 6.46%
Kendale Lakes, Florida 6.36%
Weston, Florida 6.19%
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 6.07%
West New York, New Jersey 5.82%
North Bergen, New Jersey 5.77%
both Fontainebleau, Florida and North Bay Village, Florida 5.29%
Guttenberg, New Jersey 5.28%
Richmond West, Florida 5.13%
Bay Harbor Islands, Florida 4.72%
Surfside, Florida 4.66%
Hialeah Gardens, Florida 4.62%
Kendall, Florida 4.56%
Union City, New Jersey 4.53%

U.S. communities with the most residents born in Colombia

The top 25 U.S. communities with the most residents born in Colombia are:^[7]

Victory Gardens, NJ 17.3%
Dover, NJ 14.3%
Virginia Gardens, FL 12.3%
Kendall West, FL 11.9%
The Hammocks, FL 11.6%
Central Falls, RI 11.4%
Country Club, FL 11.3%
Morristown, NJ 9.8%
Montauk, NY 9.0%
Broadview-Pompano Park, FL 8.9%
Doral, FL 8.6%
Englewood, NJ 8.3%
East Hampton North, NY 8.1%
Fort Devens, MA 8.0%
Key Biscayne, FL 7.9%
Kendale Lakes, FL 7.8%
Sunny Isles Beach, FL 7.5%
Kendale Lakes-Lindgren Acres, FL 7.5%
The Crossings, FL 7.4%
Elizabeth, NJ 7.2%
North Bay Village, FL 7.0%
Weston, FL 6.7%
West New York, NJ 6.3%
Hialeah Gardens, FL 6.1%
Kendall, FL 6.0%

Cultural traditions in the United States

Musical styles that are enjoyed by Colombian Americans include vallenato and cumbia. The majority of Colombians are Roman Catholic. Colombian food is varied due to the several distinct regions of Colombia. Popular dishes include bandeja paisa, sancocho (chicken or fish soup with plantain), empanadas (meat-filled turnovers), pandebono and pan de queso (types of cheese-bread), and arepas (corncake similar to a tortilla). Colombian food is popular and well known in Queens County.

The main pastime of Colombians in the United States is soccer, and most Colombian Americans raised in the United States continue to follow soccer. Another popular pastime, especially among the older generation, is parqués, a Colombian board game which is very similar to Parcheesi.