Costa Rican Americans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
(140,152  ) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New York Metro Area, Greater Los Angeles, South Florida | |
| Languages | |
| American English, Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic, minority Protestant |
(140,152
0.05% of the U.S. population (2012)
Costa Rican Americans (Spanish: costarrico-americano or estadounidenses de origen costarricense) are Americans of Costa Rican descent.
The Costa Rican population at the 2010 Census was 126,418. Costa Ricans are the fourth smallest Hispanic group in the United States and the smallest Central American population.
Costa Rican populations are prominent in the New York Metropolitan Area, especially in North Central New Jersey (Essex County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, Somerset County, New Jersey, and Union County, New Jersey). Additional areas with significant Costa Rican residents include New York City, Suffolk County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut. There are also sizable groups of Costa Ricans in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, South Florida metropolitan area, and Lincoln County, North Carolina.
There have never been waves of migration from Costa Rica to the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Service records indicate that very few Costa Ricans have actually tried to enter the country illegally. This is because, unlike other Hispanic groups, they have not been forced to emigrate to the U.S. for political oppression or extreme economic circumstances.
Most Costa Ricans living in the United States have settled in the U.S. for any of the following reasons: they have married American citizens and decided to move to the U.S.; they were raised by their families in the United States; they have been hired to work in the United States after completing a degree from an American university; they have found research opportunities that may not be as readily available in their country, or they have come to various jobs and trades in the United States.
...
Wikipedia