Bolivian Americans or Bolivia-Americans ( es, bolivio-americanos, or ) are

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Amer ...

of at least partial Bolivian descent. In Bolivia sometimes referred to colloquially as “gringo bolivianos” or “yanqui llocallas”. Bolivian Americans are usually those of Indigenous, Mestizo, or Spanish background but also occasionally having African, German, Croatian, Lebanese and/or Japanese heritage. Bolivians compose the third smallest Latin American group in the United States, with a 2010 Census population of 99,210. The highest concentration resides in the

Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgin ...

, which accounts for 38% of the total Bolivian population in the US (especially Fairfax County, VA.) Additional areas of concentration include the New York City borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, Miami-Dade County, and the cities of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

History

Bolivian immigration into the United States occurred in two significant phases. The first phase occurred during and subsequent to the 1952 National Revolution (between 1952 and the latter 1960s). Most of these immigrants consisted of middle- to upper-middle income occupational professionals or political dissidents, belonging mainly to Bolivia's European descendant community. The second notable phase of Bolivian immigration (between 1980 and 1988) was a result of Bolivia's fiscal policies in the 1970s which gave way to the hyperinflation throughout most of the 1980s. Most of these immigrants consisted of lower-income Mestizo (European/Amerindian mix) and Indigenous Bolivians obtaining work posts as service and manual laborers. Most of the Bolivian American population is of Quechua descent, with the majority of them hailing from the Valle Alto region of Cochabamba, from towns like Tarata, Arbieto, Cliza, Punata, and Tolata, with most of them living in the DC area. Many Bolivians who emigrated to the United States came as tourists. However, many remained of indefinite way in the country, setting with family and friends. This made it difficult to know the number of Bolivians living in the United States. Between 1984 and 1993, only 4,574 Bolivians got U.S. citizenship. In this period about 457 were naturalized each year.Bolivian Americans by Tim Eigo
/ref>

Demographics

Bolivians have settled throughout the United States, mainly in Washington D.C.,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

; there are also large groups of Bolivian immigrants in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, home to a community of Bolivian medical doctors and their families, most of whom originally from Cochabamba. The number of Bolivians in the U.S. in 2006 was estimated at 82,322. Most Bolivian immigrants are high school or college graduates; many work in companies or in government.

Areas

The largest populations of Bolivians are situated in the following areas (Source: Census 2010): # Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA – 37,607 # New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA – 9,749 # Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA – 7,068 #

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a ...

– 6,697 # Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA – 2,359 # Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA – 2,099 #

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

– 2,078 #

Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA MSA The Providence metropolitan area is a region extending into eight counties in two states, and is the 38th largest metropolitan area in the United States. Anchored by the city of Providence, Rhode Island, it has an estimated population of 1,622, ...

– 1,970 # Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA – 1,223 # Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA – 1,170 # Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA – 1,114 #

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gover ...

– 898 # San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA MSA and

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United ...

– 808 # Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA – 744 # Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA – 710 #

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

– 647 # Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA – 558 # Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA – 524 #

Salt Lake City, UT MSA The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau currently define the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...

– 519 # Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA – 502 Immigrants by County 2015-2019 Total immigrant population from Bolivia in USA: 78,900 Top Counties: 1) Fairfax County, VA ---------------------------- 13,000 2) Miami-Dade County, FL --------------------- 4,000 3) Los Angeles County, CA -------------------- 3,600 4) Arlington County, VA -------------------------- 3,600 5) Montgomery County, MD ------------------- 3,500 6)

Prince William County, VA Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas ...

------------------ 3,300 7) Queens Borough, NY -------------------------- 1,800 8)

Orange County, CA Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

----------------------------- 1,800 9) Loudoun County, VA --------------------------- 1,800 10) Providence County, RI ---------------------- 1,700 11) Harris County, TX ----------------------------- 1,600 12)

Collier County, FL Collier County is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East N ...

----------------------------- 1,500 13)

Broward County, FL Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...

-------------------------- 1,400 14) Alexandria City, VA --------------------------- 1,300 15) Cook County, IL -------------------------------- 1,100

Notable people

* Juan Fernando Bastos – Bolivian born, American portrait artist * Javier Calderon - Bolivian born, classical guitarist and University professor * F. Xavier Castellanos - pediatric neuroscientist and medical doctor (Born Spain of Bolivian parents) * Marcelo Claure – CEO of

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...

, and Brightstar Corporation (Born Brazil of Bolivian parents) *

Liliana Colanzi Liliana Colanzi Serrate (born 1981) is a Bolivian writer. Life Colanzi was born in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in 1981, and studied at the Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (UPSA) and the University of Cambridge. She obtained a doctorate in ...

— Professor of comparative literature, fiction writer known for environmentalist science fiction * Windsor del Llano – footballer *

Jaime Escalante Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez (December 31, 1930 – March 30, 2010) was a Bolivian-American educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Escalante was the subject of the ...

– educator * Marco Etcheverry – footballer, US Soccer Hall of Fame * Pato Hoffmann - movie and TV actor, advocate for American Indians * Markita del Carpio Landry - chemical engineer, university professor, researcher on nano materials for brain imaging and agriculture (Bolivian mother, French-Canadian father) *

Jaime Laredo Jaime Laredo (born June 7, 1941) is a violinist and conductor. He was the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and he began his musical career when he was five years old. Laredo was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1948, ...

– Grammy Award winning musician, violinist, conductor * Jaime Moreno – footballer, US Soccer Hall of Fame * Jaime Mendoza-Nava – composer of Hollywood sound tracks and symphony conductor * Ben Mikaelsen – writer of children's literature *

Mohammed Mostajo-Radji Mohammed A. Mostajo-Radji (born January 9, 1989) is a Bolivian scientist and diplomat. As the former Bolivian Ambassador for Science, Technology and Innovation, he has been the only Latin American science diplomat at the rank of ambassador. Scie ...

- Bolivian born, neuroscientist, science educator, diplomat * Cecilia Muñoz – public servant * Milenka Peña – journalist, TV personality * Josh Reaves – professional basketball player for

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. The ...

of the NBA (mother Bolivian) * Vicente Sarmiento - economist, lawyer, politician * Carlos Scott – retired Bolivian-American soccer midfielder * James T. Slater – singer/songwriter *

Leo Spitzer Leo Spitzer (; 7 February 1887 – 16 September 1960) was an Austrian Romanist and Hispanist, philologist, and an influential and prolific literary critic. He was known for his emphasis on stylistics. Along with Erich Auerbach, Spitzer is widely ...

- college professor, historian, author *

Chris Syler Christopher Sean Syler is an American-born singer-songwriter, composer and television personality. He began writing his original music since 2007. Life and career Syler was born in Brenham, Texas to an American father and a Bolivian mother. Chri ...

– singer/songwriter *

Alberto Torrico Alberto Torrico was elected to the California State Assembly in 2004. He served for six years, including two years as Majority Leader. During his three terms in Sacramento, Alberto served as Chair of the Public Employee Retirement and Social S ...

– member of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board *

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer ...

– actress, author (father Bolivian)

History

Demographics

Areas

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading