DOMINICANS AND
PUERTO RICANSThe Spanish-speaking Caribbean—Cuba,
the Dominican Republic, and Puerto
Rico—continued to be important sources
of Hispanic migration to the United
States in the late 20th century. As of
2000, the Dominican-American commu-
nity was among the most recently devel-
oped Hispanic-American groups. Their
numbers had swiftly come to rival those
of Cuban Americans. Mostly poor andliving in urban areas, Dominican
Americans were facing socioeconomic
problems similar to those Puerto Rican
Americans have historically faced.Dominican Immigrants
Already growing in the 1970s, Dominican
immigration skyrocketed in the 1980s and
1990s. In the 1980s more than 20,000
Dominicans on average were legally
admitted to the United States each year;
in the 1990s, the annual average number202 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
NEW JERSEYMiddlesex-
Somerset-
HunterdonNewarkBergen-
PassaicDutchess CountyCONNECTICUTStamfordWaterburyNew HavenBridgeportNassau
CountyLess than 300
300 to 799
800 to1,599
1,600 to 2,999
3,000 to 122,000NUMBER OF DOMINICANS0 20 km0 20 milesLess than 5,000
5,000 to 19,999
20,000 to 49,999
Over 50,000IN METROPOLITAN AREASSource: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, 5% PUMS file.WaterburyNew HavenDanburyDutchess CountyNewburgh-
MiddletownBergen-
PassaicBridgeportStamfordNew York
Jersey CityNewarkTrentonMiddlesex-
Somerset-
HunterdonNassau
CountyNEW YORKCONNECTICUTNEW JERSEYDominican Population in New York City