Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898, acquired from Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans have been citizens of the United States since 1917, and the potential statehood of the territory has been discussed for decades.
Its capital, San Juan, has been for centuries one of the key strategic ports of the Caribbean. The city was founded, albeit at a nearby location, by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1508, making it the second oldest European founded city in the Americas after Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The San Juan-Bayamon metropolitan area has over 2.3 million people, representing over 70% of the island population of 3.2 million.
The island is largely mountainous, with most of the population living in the coastal plains in the northeast of the island. Despite massive outmigration during the 20th century to the mainland, its population grew steadily peaking at 3.8 million at the 2000 census. Over the last twenty years though, the population has declined substantially to just over 3.2 million at present. Multiple hurricanes in the last several years have exacerbated the decline, but in the last few years, there are signs that many who have left are now returning to the island.
The decades long outflow of people from the island to the mainland creates a relatively unusual situation – there are nearly two times as many people who claim Puerto Rican ancestry on the mainland than there are in the territory. Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic ancestry, with nearly 5.9 million. The two main areas of concentration – central Florida and the northeast from Philadelphia to Boston– are shown on the map below:
Some core demographic comparisons –
While median income is substantially lower than mainland income, there are several areas of high income located around the major cities:
The AGS 2025 release for Puerto Rico includes 2020 census and current year demographics as well as business/daytime estimates. The demographic coverage includes most of the core statistics available for the mainland, with a few modifications to support the unique demography of the territory.
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