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 Ameri ...

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, 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,

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

, and the cities of Los Angeles and Providence, Rhode Island.

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
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Demographics

Bolivians have settled throughout the United States, mainly in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, N ...

, California and Maryland; there are also large groups of Bolivian immigrants in Texas, New York City, New Jersey,

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, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Chicago, 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 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 ...

– 37,607 #

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

– 9,749 #

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Co ...

– 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 The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and ...

– 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 Gov ...

– 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 Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...

– 1,170 #

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...

– 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 San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the ...

and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA – 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 The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

– 524 # Salt Lake City, UT MSA – 519 #

Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the cit ...

– 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 Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

--------------------- 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 ------------------ 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 in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from ...

----------------------------- 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 m ...

-------------------------- 1,400 14) Alexandria City, VA --------------------------- 1,300 15)

Cook County, IL Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

-------------------------------- 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 Raul Marcelo Claure Bedoya is a Bolivian technology entrepreneur, businessman, and investor. Until early 2022 he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Group International and chief operating officer (COO) of SoftBank Group Corporati ...

– 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 Likewize (formerly Brightstar Corp.) is an American privately held corporation founded in 1997. It provides global wireless distribution and services, serving mobile device manufacturers, wireless operators and retailers. Likewize offers device and ...

(Born Brazil of Bolivian parents) * Liliana Colanzi — Professor of comparative literature, fiction writer known for environmentalist science fiction *

Windsor del Llano Windsor Alfredo del Llano Suárez (born 17 August 1949 in Cochabamba, Bolivia) is a retired footballer forward who earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973 and another thirty with Bolivia between 1975 and 1981. He played professional ...

– 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 1 ...

– educator *

Marco Etcheverry Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. A creative playmaker, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for D.C. ...

– 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 194 ...

– Grammy Award winning musician, violinist, conductor * Jaime Moreno – footballer, US Soccer Hall of Fame *

Jaime Mendoza-Nava Jaime Mendoza-Nava (December 1, 1925 – May 31, 2005) was a Bolivian-American composer and conductor. Early life and work Mendoza-Nava was born in La Paz, Bolivia. He studied at The Juilliard School and Madrid Royal Conservatory, the Sorbonne, ...

– composer of Hollywood sound tracks and symphony conductor * Ben Mikaelsen – writer of children's literature * Mohammed Mostajo-Radji - Bolivian born, neuroscientist, science educator, diplomat *

Cecilia Muñoz Cecilia Muñoz (born July 27, 1962) is an American political advisor who served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama, a position she held for five years. Prior to that, she served as the White House Direct ...

– public servant *

Milenka Peña Milenka Peña is a television and radio journalist, producer and broadcaster in the Chicago area, also well known in many Latin-American countries. She is also a writer and a public speaker, participating as a key-note speaker in national and inte ...

– journalist, TV personality *

Josh Reaves Joshua Alexander Reaves (born June 4, 1997) is a Bolivian-American professional basketball player for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He played college basketball at Penn State. Early life and high school Reaves was born and gr ...

– professional basketball player for Dallas Mavericks of the NBA (mother Bolivian) * Vicente Sarmiento - economist, lawyer, politician *

Carlos Scott Carlos Scott is a retired Bolivian-American soccer midfielder who spent two seasons in the North American Soccer League, one in the Major Indoor Soccer League and earned one cap with the U.S. national team. Scott attended Adelphi University, ...

– retired Bolivian-American soccer midfielder * James T. Slater – singer/songwriter * Leo Spitzer - college professor, historian, author * Chris Syler – 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 – actress, author (father Bolivian)

History

Demographics

Areas

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading