Puerto Rican migration to New York City

Puerto Rican migration to New York City

Puerto Ricans have both immigrated and migrated to New York City. The first group of Puerto Ricans immigrated to New York City in the mid-19th century when Puerto Rico was a Spanish Province and its people Spanish citizens. The following wave of Puerto Ricans to move to New York City did so after the Spanish–American War in 1898. Puerto Ricans were no longer Spanish subjects and citizens of Spain, they were now Puerto Rican citizens of an American possession and needed passports to travel to the mainland of the United States.

That was until 1917, when the United States Congress approved Jones-Shafroth Act which gave Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico a U.S. citizenship with certain limitations. Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States however, were given full American citizenship and were allowed to seek political office in the states which they resided. Two months later, when Congress passed the Selective Service Act, conscription was extended to the Puerto Ricans both in the island and in the mainland. It was expected that Puerto Rican men 18 years and older serve in the U.S. military during World War I. The Jones-Shafroth Act also allowed Puerto Ricans to travel between Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland without the need of a passport, thereby becoming migrants. The advent of air travel was one of the principal factors that led to the largest wave of migration of Puerto Ricans to New York City in the 1950s, known as "The Great Migration". Similar to many other eastcoast cities, Puerto Ricans were the first Hispanic group to move to New York City in large numbers.

From 1970 until about 1990, the city's Puerto Rican population was at its height, they represented up to 80% of the city's Hispanic community and 12% of the city's total population, at that time nearly 70% of Puerto Ricans lived in New York. It wasn't until the 1990s, that the percentage Puerto Ricans made up of the city's Hispanic community and the total population as a whole started to decrease, largely due to a declining Puerto Rican population, increasingly diversifying Hispanic community, and New York City rebounding its economy after deindustrialisation, which ultimately resulted in a faster growing city population and dwindling Puerto Rican influence. However, since the early 2010s, New York's Puerto Rican population started to grow again, though at a very slow rate, despite being in the midst of another major migration wave out of Puerto Rico, most are choosing other cities like Philadelphia or Orlando over New York.

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