Puerto Rican Population in United States by State : 2025 Ranking & Insights

According to U.S. Census estimates, all 50 states and the District of Columbia report a measurable Puerto Rican population, totaling 5.9 million nationwide. Florida leads with 1.2 million residents, followed by New York (1.0 million) and Pennsylvania (484,559). This ranking examines how Puerto Rican communities are distributed across the entire United States, highlighting regional patterns, cultural concentrations, and state-level differences.

Top 5 states with the largest Puerto Rican population in United States

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  • 1
    Florida
    Puerto Rican population in Florida is 1,208,449
    5.51% of Florida population is Puerto Rican
  • 2
    New York
    Puerto Rican population in New York is 1,039,812
    5.23% of New York population is Puerto Rican
  • 3
    Pennsylvania
    Puerto Rican population in Pennsylvania is 484,559
    3.73% of Pennsylvania population is Puerto Rican
  • 4
    New Jersey
    Puerto Rican population in New Jersey is 474,542
    5.12% of New Jersey population is Puerto Rican
  • 5
    Massachusetts
    Puerto Rican population in Massachusetts is 328,541
    4.70% of Massachusetts population is Puerto Rican

U.S. States by Puerto Rican Population : National Rankings

View Methodology
American Community Survey data [1] show Puerto Rican populations present across states nationwide, with the largest counts in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The table below provides additional context, including total population, population density, and demographic distributions based on current ACS data for all states included in this analysis*.
states in United States ranked by Puerto Rican population count
Rank by Puerto Rican Population
State
Puerto Rican Population
% of Total State Population
% of Total United States Puerto Rican Population
5 Year Rank Trend
1 Florida 1,208,449 5.51% 20.37%
2 New York 1,039,812 5.23% 17.53%
3 Pennsylvania 484,559 3.73% 8.17%
4 New Jersey 474,542 5.12% 8.00%
5 Massachusetts 328,541 4.70% 5.54%
6 Connecticut 294,813 8.19% 4.97%
7 Texas 249,182 0.84% 4.20%
8 224,544 0.57% 3.79%
9 212,170 1.67% 3.58%
10 143,232 1.22% 2.41%
11 130,892 1.24% 2.21%
12 123,749 1.14% 2.09%
13 118,589 1.37% 2.00%
14 68,142 1.10% 1.15%
15 66,610 1.13% 1.12%
16 53,283 0.78% 0.90%
17 52,550 0.52% 0.89%
18 49,768 0.95% 0.84%
19 49,014 0.67% 0.83%
20 43,892 4.01% 0.74%
21 43,372 0.56% 0.73%
22 41,120 0.71% 0.69%
23 40,114 0.57% 0.68%
24 31,020 3.08% 0.52%
25 29,991 0.95% 0.51%
26 24,592 0.49% 0.41%
27 22,782 0.37% 0.38%
28 20,209 1.46% 0.34%
29 19,468 0.49% 0.33%
30 19,011 0.42% 0.32%
31 18,173 0.39% 0.31%
32 17,869 0.31% 0.30%
33 16,735 0.57% 0.28%
34 15,555 0.37% 0.26%
35 13,562 0.41% 0.23%
36 11,416 0.54% 0.19%
37 9,895 0.34% 0.17%
38 9,894 0.31% 0.17%
39 8,902 0.29% 0.15%
40 7,050 0.96% 0.12%
41 6,820 0.50% 0.12%
42 6,719 0.35% 0.11%
43 6,681 0.34% 0.11%
44 6,198 0.35% 0.10%
45 5,480 0.82% 0.09%
46 4,118 0.53% 0.07%
47 3,553 0.40% 0.06%
48 3,210 0.50% 0.05%
49 2,633 0.24% 0.04%
50 1,631 0.28% 0.03%
Need the complete table? Full rankings and the underlying data sets for California and other locations are available for purchase or license.

Methodology

This ranking list is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS is one of the most reliable sources for understanding population trends across different locations, and it provides estimates for various racial and ethnic groups at city, county, state and all geography levels down to the Census block group.
This list ranks state in United States by their Puerto Rican population, using the most recent ACS data available.

How the Census defines Puerto Rican population

The U.S. Census Bureau allows people to self-identify their ancestry, meaning individuals can write upto ancestries when responding to the survey. In this ranking, we include everyone who identifies as having Puerto Rican ancestry, whether alone or in combination with another ancestry.
Here are a few important things to know about how ancestry is reported:
  • Some people identify as Puerto Rican alone, while others identify as Puerto Rican along with another race (such as Puerto Rican and German).
  • We’ve used the “Puerto Rican alone or in any combination” category unless noted otherwise, which gives a broader picture of the Puerto Rican population in each area.

How We Ranked the Data

This ranking is based on the total number of people who identified as Puerto Rican alone or in combination in state. To provide additional context, we’ve also included two key percentages:
  1. % of Total State Population – This shows what percentage of the total state population identifies as Puerto Rican .
  2. % of Total United States Puerto Rican Population – This tells us how much of the entire U.S. Puerto Rican population lives in that state.
To keep things simple, all population numbers have been rounded to the nearest whole number, and percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Because of rounding, some percentages may not add up to exactly 100%.

Things to Keep in Mind

Like all survey-based data, ACS estimates come with some limitations. Here are a few things to be aware of:
  • In places with very small Puerto Rican populations, the numbers may not be reported at all due to privacy protections or sampling variability in the survey.
  • Since the ACS is based on a sample, the numbers are estimates, not exact counts. That means they may slightly differ from other sources like the decennial U.S. Census.
  • State that don’t have any reported Puerto Rican population are not included in the ranking but are listed separately below for reference.
This ranking is meant to provide a clear, data-driven look at where Puerto Rican populations are most concentrated while keeping the numbers easy to understand.

Sources

  1. 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.
  2. 2023.