Jamaican Americans

Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live in South Florida and New York City, both of which have been home to large Jamaican communities since the 1950s and the 1960s. There are also communities of Jamaican Americans residing in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California.

The vast majority of Jamaican Americans are of Afro-Caribbean descent, although smaller numbers are of full or partial Indian Jamaican, Chinese Jamaican, European and Lebanese descent.

Historical immigration

After 1838, European colonies in the Caribbean with expanding sugar industries imported large numbers of immigrants to meet their acute labor shortage. Large numbers of Jamaicans were recruited to work in Panama and Costa Rica in the 1850s. After slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, American planters imported temporary workers, called "swallow migrants", to harvest crops on an annual basis. These workers, many of them Jamaicans, returned to their countries after harvest. Between 1881 and the beginning of World War I, the United States recruited over 250,000 workers from the Caribbean, 90,000 of whom were Jamaicans, to work on the Panama Canal. During both world wars, the United States again recruited Jamaican men for service on various American bases in the region.

Significant immigration waves

Jamaican immigration to the U.S. increased during the civil rights era of the 1960s. As with many other sources of Caribbean immigration, the geographical nearness of Jamaica to the U.S. increased the likelihood of migration. The economic attractiveness and general Jamaican perception of the U.S. as a land of opportunity explain continued migration flows despite economic downturn in America. Traditionally, America has experienced increased migration through means of family preference, in which U.S. citizens sponsor their immediate family. Through this category a substantial amount of Jamaican immigrants were able to enter mainly urban cities within the U.S that provided blue-collar work opportunities. Jamaican immigrants utilized employment opportunities despite the discriminatory policies that affected some Caribbean émigrés.

Jamaicans comprise the largest nationality of U.S. immigrants from the English-speaking Caribbean. Because so many have assimilated into the black community, it is difficult to estimate their number. The 1990 U.S. census placed the number of documented Jamaican Americans at 435,025.

Demographics

An estimated 554,897 Jamaican-born people lived in the U.S. in 2000. This represents 61% of the approximate 911,000 Americans of Jamaican ancestry. Many Jamaicans are second, third and descend from even older generations, as there have been Jamaicans in the U.S. as early as the early twentieth Century. The regional composition is as follows: 59 percent live in the Northeast, mainly in the State of New York; 4.8 percent in the Midwest; 30.6 percent in the South, particularly South Florida; and 5.6 percent on the West. The New York metropolitan area and South Florida have the largest number of Jamaican immigrants in the United States. South Florida is home to the highest number of undocumented Jamaicans, whereas most documented immigrants tend to reside in Brooklyn. Jamaicans refer to Miami metropolitan area and Brooklyn colloquially as " Kingston 21" and "Little Jamaica" respectively. Jamaicans in the Miami metropolitan area mostly live in Broward County and Jamaicans in New York City have formed communities in Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens. Especially Central Brooklyn, particularly East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Flatlands, parts of East Brooklyn like Brownsville and especially Canarsie and the Northeast Bronx, particularly Wakefield and Williamsbridge neighborhoods holding the largest Jamaican populace. Large communities of Jamaican immigrants have formed in New York City and the whole New York Metro Area, which includes Long Island and much of New Jersey and Connecticut, along with Florida (centered in and around the Miami/Broward County, Orlando and Tampa areas), which has the second largest Jamaican community in the U.S. In recent years, many Jamaicans have left New York City for its suburbs, and large Jamaican communities have also formed in many other major cities like Philadelphia (including Delaware and other parts of eastern Pennsylvania), Baltimore, Washington D.C./Central Maryland, Atlanta, Boston, Western NY State ( Buffalo and Rochester) and Cleveland. Smaller numbers are in Charlotte, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

U.S. states with large Jamaican populations

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there were 1,047,117 Jamaican Americans.

The 10 U.S. states with the largest Jamaican populations in 2020 census were:
# New York – 284,228
# Florida – 254,148
# New Jersey – 61,949
# Georgia – 60,091
# Connecticut – 52,815
# California – 37,264
# Maryland – 35,953
# Pennsylvania – 33,767
# Texas – 29,100
# Massachusetts – 29,099

U.S. metropolitan areas with largest Jamaican populations

The top U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest populations of Jamaicans (Source: 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates)

# New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA-CT MSA – 335,659
# Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA – 181,591
# Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA – 71,133
# Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA – 44,705
# Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA – 44,260
# Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA – 36,039
# Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT MSA – 28,764
# Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA – 20,381
# Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area - 18,504
# Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA – 18,251
# Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area - 17,377
# Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area - 15, 854
# Baltimore, MD MSA - 15, 367
# Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro - 15,339
# Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA – 13,698

U.S. communities with high percentages of people of Jamaican ancestry

The top 25 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Jamaican ancestry are (2010):

# Blue Hills, Connecticut (neighborhood) 23.9%
# Lauderdale Lakes, Florida 18.8%
# Lauderhill, Florida 17.6%
# South Floral Park, New York 15.5%
# Miramar, Florida 15.40%
# Bloomfield, Connecticut and Mount Vernon, New York 12.9%
# Lakeview, New York 12.7%
# North Lauderdale, Florida 11.1%
# Uniondale, New York 11.0%
# El Portal, Florida 8.5%
# Roosevelt, New York 8.2%
# Pembroke Park, Florida 8.0%
# North Valley Stream, New York and Hartford, Connecticut 7.90%
# Sunrise, Florida 7.60%
# Miami Gardens, Florida 6.3%
# North Amityville, New York 6.1%
# South Miami Heights, Florida 6.0%
# Hempstead, New York and Elmont, New York 5.9%
# Lake Park, Florida and Carol City, Florida 5.8%
# East Orange, New Jersey, Gordon Heights, New York, Ives Estates, Florida and Golden Glades, Florida 5.7%
# North Miami Beach, Florida 5.5%
# New Cassel, New York 5.30%
# Bronx, New York and Chillum, Maryland 5.2%
# Pembroke Pines, Florida and Wheatley Heights, New York 5.1%
# Bridgeport, Connecticut and Windsor, Connecticut 4.5%
# Orange, New Jersey and South Bay, Florida 4.3%
# Spring Valley, New York 4.2%
# Goulds, Florida, Tamarac, Florida and Royal Palm Beach, Florida 4.1%
# New Carrollton, Maryland, Plantation, Florida and Cottage City, Maryland 4%
# Mangonia Park, Florida, Redan, Georgia and Somerset, New Jersey 3.9%
# Brooklyn, New York, Naranja, Florida and Stone Mountain, Georgia 3.8%
# Mount Rainier, Maryland, Adelphi, Maryland, Pine Hills, Florida, Baldwin, New York and Poinciana, Florida 3.7%
# Westbury, New York and Inwood, New York 3.6%
# Paterson, New Jersey