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Paraguayan Americans

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Paraguayan Americans
The Embassy of Paraguay to the United States in Washington, D.C.
Total population
25,022 (2018)[1]
Regions with significant populations
New York City • Miami-Dade County • Washington, D.C. • Los Angeles
Languages
American English · Spanish · Guarani
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Argentine Americans, Uruguayan Americans.
Part of a series on
Hispanic and
Latino Americans
National origin groups
History
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Paraguayan Americans (Spanish: paraguayo-americano, norteamericano de origen paraguayo or estadounidense de origen paraguayo) are Americans of Paraguayan descent.

The Paraguayan population in the United States at the 2010 Census was 24,933. Paraguayans are the smallest Latino group in the United States. The Paraguayan population is concentrated mainly in Queens, NY, Westchester County, NY, and Somerset County, NJ. Additional areas of concentration include Miami-Dade County and Montgomery County, Maryland. The highest concentration of Paraguayans in the U.S. reside in Somerset County, NJ.[2]

History

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The first Paraguayans emigrated between the years of 1841 and 1850. At that time, Paraguayans were not coming directly to the United States from Paraguay, but through other countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. The Paraguayan residents in the U.S. were included in the early records in the group of "other" South Americans. During those years, 3,579 "other" immigrants arrived. In 1979, close to 11,000 Paraguayans went to live in the United States, but the numbers declined rapidly. In 1982, 4,000 Paraguayans immigrated to the United States. The reasons of migration were varied, but many immigrants were young people that wanted study in American universities.[3]

Additionally, some of the immigrants arrived for political persecutions or to escape civil riots. More women than men migrated to the United States, although the numerical difference was not significant, and most of them lacked jobs. In addition, many American marriages adopted Paraguayan infants. More than a thousand Paraguayan infants were adopted in this country. Of these, 254 were adopted in 1989, 405 in 1993 and 351 in 1995.[3]

Socioeconomics

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Paraguayan American women generally work in hotel housekeeping and in the agriculture (in California and Kansas). Paraguay and Kansas founded Partners of the Americas, a non-profit exchange program. This is because of the similarities between the two regions, as they both make a living from raising livestock and growing wheat, both are landlocked, and both are the same size and population.

Most Paraguayan Americans speak Spanish, Guarani (indigenous language of Paraguay) and English very well.[3]

Demographics

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Sharlene Wells was the first foreign-born, bilingual Miss America.[4]

The large populations of Paraguayan Americans are in New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Paraguayan Americans also have population importance in Dallas and Atlanta. Many Paraguayan Americans have jobs in the service industry in urban zones such as Minneapolis, Chicago or states like New York and New Jersey.

States and residence areas

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The 10 states with the largest population of Paraguayans (Source: 2000 Census):

  1. New York - 5,940
  2. Florida - 2,222
  3. New Jersey - 1,964
  4. California - 1,228
  5. Maryland - 1,161
  6. Virginia - 924
  7. Texas - 763
  8. Pennsylvania - 500
  9. Connecticut - 494
  10. Illinois - 423

The largest population of Paraguayans are situated in the following areas (Source: Census 2000):

Lists of Americans
By US state
By ethnicity
  1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA - 7,492
  2. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA - 1,793
  3. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA - 1,531
  4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA - 509
  5. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA - 375
  6. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA - 358
  7. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA - 336
  8. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA- 301
  9. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA - 267
  10. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA - 264
  11. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA - 236
  12. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA - 229
  13. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA - 191
  14. Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA - 158
  15. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA - 144
  16. Richmond, VA MSA - 131
  17. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA - 128
  18. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA - 113
  19. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA - 109
  20. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA - 108

U.S. communities with largest population of people of Paraguayan ancestry

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The top 25 U.S. communities with the highest populations of Paraguayans (Source: Census 2010)

  1. New York, NY - 3,534
  2. Bernardsville, NJ - 266
  3. White Plains, NY - 260
  4. Harrison, NY - 235
  5. Los Angeles, CA - 180
  6. Washington, D.C. - 161
  7. Raritan, NJ - 147
  8. Greenburgh, NY - 144
  9. Peapack-Gladstone, NJ - 142
  10. Miami, FL - 131
  11. Mamaroneck (Village), NY - 130
  12. Houston, TX - 119
  13. Somerville, NJ - 114
  14. Arlington, VA - 113
  15. Rye (Town), NY - 102
  16. Chicago, IL and Rockville, MD - 101
  17. Mamaroneck (Town), NY - 88
  18. Miami Beach, FL - 87
  19. Bridgewater Township, NJ - 82
  20. Bedminster Township, NJ - 81
  21. Yonkers, NY - 79
  22. North Bethesda, MD - 78
  23. Aspen Hill, MD - 77
  24. Philadelphia, PA and Dallas, TX - 74
  25. Greenwich, CT and Wheaton, MD - 71

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

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U.S. communities with the highest percentages of Paraguayans as a percent of total population (Source: Census 2010)

  1. Far Hills, NJ - 5.77%
  2. Peapack-Gladstone, NJ - 5.50%
  3. Bernardsville, NJ - 3.45%
  4. Raritan, NJ - 2.14%
  5. Bedminster Township, NJ - 1.00%

Paraguayans are more than 1% of the entire population in only five communities in the United States. All of these communities are located in Somerset County, NJ.

Notable people

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Julieta Granada professional golfer.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "B03001 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN - United States - 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau. July 1, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Olivia Miller, "Paraguayan Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 459-466. online
  3. ^ a b c Paraguayan Americans. Countries and Their Cultures: Paraguayan Americans by Olivia Miller. Retrieved July 21, 2011, to 13:50 pm.
  4. ^ "Miss America: 1985". Miss America. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2014.

Further reading

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  • Cooney, Jerry W. Paraguay: A Bibliography of Immigration and Emigration (1996).
  • Hanratty, Dennis M., and Sandra Meditz. Paraguay: A County Study (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990).
  • Miller, Olivia. "Paraguayan Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 459–466. online
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