Chilean Americans ( es, chileno-americanos, ''chileno-estadounidenses'', 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 Ame ...
who have full or partial origin from
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
.
The Chilean population from the
U.S. census was 126,810. In the United States, Chileans are the fourth smallest
Latino group from South America and the fifth smallest overall amongst all Latino groups. Chilean Americans live mainly in the
New York Metropolitan Area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
,
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 ...
,
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...
,
San Francisco Bay Area
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 G ...
(esp.
San Mateo County) and the
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, with high population concentrations found in
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 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
;
Northern New Jersey;
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
; and
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead.
Nassau County is situated on western Long Isla ...
. Most Chileans migrating to the United States settle in metropolitan areas. After the 1960s, Chileans began to immigrate more for economic or academic rather than political reasons and that continues into the modern day.
History
Chileans and other South Americans have been present in the state of
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 m ...
since the
1850s gold rush. Not all Chileans made it to the gold fields. Some remained in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
San Jose,
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, and
Stockton where they frequently worked as bricklayers, bakers, or seamen. Some with capital established themselves in various businesses, particularly the importation of flour and mining equipment from Chile. In the cities most tended to congregate and live in specific areas in the poorer sections of town. In the gold fields they lived in separate camp sites. In the summer of 1849 Chileans constituted the majority of the population of
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...
. Chileans frequently worked their mines as group efforts. When the placer gold ran out around Sonora the Chileans were amongst the first miners in California to extract gold from quartz. Historical remnants of those settlements influenced the names of locations such as
Chileno Valley in
Marin County
Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
,
Chili Gulch in
Calaveras and
Chili Bar in
Placer which was named after Chilean road builders. Names of Chilean towns and places are often found in the names of streets in Northern California: Valparaiso, Santiago, and Calera.
After
Allende was overthrown and a military regime was established in 1973, a large exodus of Chileans took place. Most fled to European countries, but a small group did emigrate to the US. The US government took these Chileans as refugees under a program for "political parolees."
Many of San Francisco's streets carry names of former residents of Chile: Atherton, Ellis, Lick, Larkin, and others. Chilean women also left their names: Mina and Clementina. Manuel Briseño, an early journalist in the mines was one of the founders of the
San Diego Union
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868.
Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
. Juan Evangelista Reyes was a Sacramento pioneer as were the Luco brothers. Luis Felipe Ramírez was one of the City Fathers in
Marysville. The Leiva family owned at one time, much of the land in Marin County, including
Fort Ross. In 1975, Chilean exiles of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship established
La Peña Cultural Center
La Peña Cultural Center or La Peña for short, is a multicultural center in the United States. It was founded in 1975 by Latin American and Californian allies in Berkeley, California in response to the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, or '' golpe de e ...
in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, which is to this day the largest Chilean cultural center in the United States.
Chilean Americans have achieved many skills as entrepreneurs, judges, musicians, and others.
As of 2020, no Chilean American has yet been elected to the United States Congress.
Motives of immigration
Most Chilean immigration to the U.S. has occurred largely since the 1990s.
For the most part, Chileans left as either
political asylees and
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. s first during the presidency of the Marxist
Salvador Allende or for
economic reasons; the involvement of the United States in Salvador Allende's overthrow in 1973 and supporting the
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
of
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
, led to more political exiles fleeing from Chile to the U.S., as well as other countries.
Also, there have been others that have emigrated to seek
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
and career development opportunities. Since the
1960 Valdivia earthquake
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami ( es, link=no, Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (''Gran terremoto de Chile'') on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4– ...
and with
2010 Chile earthquake, many Chileans have pursued economic opportunities in the United States, with
Paterson,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
, representing an increasingly common destination.
Many of the Pinochet-era immigrants were of middle or upper class origin. A significant proportion of them arrived with advanced educations and well-developed skills. They had contacts with other Chilean exiles and a sense of identity from their shared commitment to a democratic Chile. After a period of adjustment, many of them were able to pursue skilled jobs or professions. Unfortunately, others, who lacked skills or whose professional certifications were not recognized in the United States, were forced to take low-level jobs in which they were unable to use their skills. Some had been politically active students or union leaders in Chile who did not enter the United States with easily transferable skills.
The second major arrival into the United States was mainly for economic or academic opportunities. Yet, in general, acquiring a
U.S. Visa
The visa policy of the United States consists of the requirements for foreign nationals to travel to, enter, and remain in the United States. Visitors to the United States must obtain a visa from one of the U.S. diplomatic missions unless they ...
requires the applicant to have a stable economic background, so most Chileans emigrating to the United States since 1990 have done so mostly for study purposes or to further their academic backgrounds.
Identity
Chileans are mostly diverse, their ancestry can be fully South European as well as mixed with Indigenous and other European heritage. They commonly identify themselves as both Latino and white.
Some Chilean-owned stores and restaurants advertise as French and Italian.
Many often prefer living in white suburban neighborhoods in the U.S., and have a strong sense of family.
Demographics
Population by state
The 10 US states with the largest population of Chilean Americans are:
#
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 m ...
– 24,006
#
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
– 23,549
#
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
– 15,050
#
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
– 8,100
#
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
– 6,282
#
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
– 4,195
#
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the 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; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
– 4,146
#
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
– 3,364
#
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
– 3,045
#
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
– 2,753
Population by urban agglomeration
The largest populations of Chilean Americans are situated in the following urban areas:
#
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA – 20,688
#
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 ...
– 17,161
#
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 ...
– 10,471
#
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 ...
– 6,963
#
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 ...
– 4,000
#
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 ...
– 2,622
#
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA – 2,570
#
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 ...
– 2,454
#
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 ...
– 2,066
#
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA
The Orlando metropolitan area, commonly referred to as Greater Orlando, Metro Orlando, Central Florida as well as for U.S. Census purposes as the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the ...
– 1,884
#
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 ...
– 1,779
#
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state— King, Snohomish, and Pier ...
– 1,776
#
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 ...
– 1,730
#
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA – 1,686
#
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 ...
– 1,505
#
Salt Lake City, UT MSA – 1,463
#
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 ...
– 1,397
#
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is ...
– 1,376
#
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA – 1,215
#
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 ...
– 1,211
Population by city proper
#
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
– 7,026
#
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 world ...
,
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 m ...
– 4,112
#
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
– 1,427
#
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
– 934
#
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
,
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 m ...
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 ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
– 876
#
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
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 m ...
– 754
#
Miami Beach
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
– 739
#
Washington, DC
)
, 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 Morg ...
– 697
#
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
– 632
#
Doral, Florida – 622
#
Kendall, Florida – 613
#
Hialeah, Florida – 602
#
The Hammocks, Florida – 564
#
Pembroke Pines, Florida
Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. The population of Pembroke Pines is 171,178 as of the 2020 census. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous ...
– 558
#
Fontainebleau, Florida
Fontainebleau (also spelled Fountainebleau) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The population was 59,870 during the 2020 census.
Geography
Fontainebleau is located at (25.770144, -80.345917).
According to the U. ...
– 549
#
Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is no ...
– 542
#
Kendale Lakes, Florida
Kendale Lakes is a census-designated place (CDP) and a suburb of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 55,646 at the 2020 census.
History
Kendale Lakes (and all of West Kendall) once had a large Miami Jewish popu ...
– 469
#
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
– 467
#
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
– 405
#
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_ ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
– 374
#
Union City, New Jersey – 372
#
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...
– 368
#
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
– 357
#
Coral Springs, Florida
Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 134,394. It is a ...
– 342
#
Miramar, Florida
Miramar is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 134,721. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which is home to approximately six million people.
History
Miramar w ...
and
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
– 340
Population by percentage
US communities with the highest percentages of Chileans as a percent of total population: (Source: Census 2010)
#
Brookeville, Maryland – 3.73%
#
Manorhaven, New York – 3.57%
#
Oyster Bay, New York
The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shor ...
– 2.67%
#
Warm Springs, Virginia
Warm Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Bath County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 123. – 1.63%
#
Dover, New Jersey – 1.55%
#
Key Biscayne, Florida – 1.50%
#
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about north of New York City, and is served by the ...
– 1.48%
#
Forest Home, New York
Forest Home is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 572 at the 2010 census.
The community of Forest Home is in the Town of Ithaca, northeast of the City of Ithaca and north of Cornell Un ...
– 1.40%
#
Doral, Florida – 1.36%
#
Victory Gardens, New Jersey
Victory Gardens is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,582, an increase of 62 (+4.1%) from the 2010 census count of 1,520, which in turn reflected a ...
– 1.32%
#
Wharton, New Jersey – 1.27%
#
The Crossings, Florida
The Crossings is a census-designated place (CDP) and suburb of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,276 at the 2020 census. The CDP includes the neighborhoods of The Crossings, Devon Aire and Calusa.
Geograp ...
– 1.18%
#
The Hammocks, Florida – 1.11%
#
Inwood, New York
Inwood is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 9,792 at the 2010 census. It is considered part of Long Island's Five Towns area and is located within the To ...
– 1.10%
#
North Lynbrook, New York
North Lynbrook is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 793 at the 2010 census.
History
North Lynbrook was first created for the 200 ...
– 1.01%
Chileans are more than 1% of the entire population in only fifteen communities in the US. These communities are mostly located in
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 ...
,
Morris County, NJ, and
Nassau County, NY
Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead.
Nassau County is situated on western Long Islan ...
.
Traditions and Customs
Most Chileans have customs that blend well into the American lifestyle. The Chilean workday is similar to the American workday, with the regular businessperson working 45 hours a week from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm with a lunch break, as well as possibly staying behind at work for a few hours to work overtime. However, many Chileans outside Santiago are used to going home for lunch, something not as common in the US and with Chilean Americans.
Unlike the "normal" American diet, Chileans are used to having four meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, tea (or ''
onces'') at about five o'clock, and a late dinner. Many people actually have ''onces'' during the early evening hours and skip dinner. Surprisingly, Chile is one of the only Latin countries where tea is a more popular drink than coffee, differing from American consumption trends as well.
Notable people
*
Alexa Guarachi
Alexa Guarachi Mathison (; born 17 November 1990) is an American-born Chilean tennis player who specialises in doubles.
She reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 11 in September 2021, and has won five titles on the WTA Tour, most ...
– Tennis player
*
Los Abandoned – Chilean American rock band
*
Marjorie Agosín
Marjorie Agosín (born June 15, 1955) is a Chilean-American writer. She has gained notability for her outspokenness for women's rights in Chile. The United Nations has honored her for her work on human rights. The Chilean government awarded he ...
– Poet, essayist, fiction writer, activist, and professor.
*
Fernando Alegria – Stanford professor
*
Marsia Alexander-Clarke – American video installation artist
*
Isabel Allende – Chilean writer
*
Fernando Alvarez – Jockey
*
Cayetano Apablasa (1847–1889) – Land owner and politician in Los Angeles, California. He was son of a Chilean.
["Biographies of Famous Citizens," LAGenealogy.com]
*
Tom Araya
Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz (; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean American musician, best known as the vocalist and bassist of American thrash metal band Slayer. Araya is ranked 58th by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalis ...
– Musician
*
Claudio Arrau – Pianist
*
Felipe Bazar – U.S. Navy hero
*
Natascha Bessez – Singer and beauty pageant
*
Nico Bodonczy – Football (soccer) player
*
Daniel Borzutzky
Daniel Borzutzky is a Chicago-based poet and translator. His collection ''The Performance of Becoming Human'' won the 2016 National Book Award. The son of Chilean immigrants, Borzutzky's work often addresses immigration, worker exploitation, pol ...
– Poet and translator
*
Diaz Brothers – Musician
*
Charissa Chamorro
Charissa Cree Chamorro (born April 26, 1977, in Baytown, Texas) is a clinical psychologist and American television personality of Chilean heritage specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression and sleep-related issues.
Chamorro is a freq ...
– Actress
*
Charmaine – Musician
*
Beto Cuevas – Singer
*
Angélica Castro – Former model, actress and TV presenter (see Wikipedia en español)
*
Cristian de la Fuente
Cristian is the Romanian and Spanish form of the male given name Christian. In Romanian, it is also a surname.
Cristian may refer to:
People
* Cristian (footballer, born 1994), Brazilian footballer
* Cristian Adomniței (born 1975), Romanian en ...
–
Soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...
actor
*Tanya Del Solar – Beauty pageant
*
Patricia Demick
Patricia Demick (born January 26, 1972 in Viña del Mar, Chile) is a female boxer.
Biography
Career
While she is better known as a boxer, she has also posed as a model for various magazines, often wearing sports bikinis and boxing gloves. ...
– Boxer
*
Ruperto Donoso – Jockey
*
Ariel Dorfman – Educator, activist, and author
*
Juan Downey – Artist
*
Frank J. Duarte – Laser physicist and author
*
Matias Duarte – Inventor
*
Sebastian Edwards
Sebastian may refer to:
People
* Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films and television
* ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film
* ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film
...
– Academic and economist
*
Paloma Elsesser
Paloma Kai Shockley Elsesser (born April 12, 1992) is an American fashion model.
Early life
Elsesser was born in London, England to an African-American mother and a father of Chilean and Swiss descent. Her Grandfather is Swiss and came from a S ...
– Plus size fashion model
*
Julio M. Fernandez – Biologist
*
Pablo Francisco
Pablo Ridson Francisco (born January 4, 1974) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He started his career doing improv in Tempe, Arizona.
Career
In the 1990s, he appeared on ''MADtv'' as a featured player. His stand-up act was introduced ...
– Comedian
*
Alberto Fuguet
Alberto Felipe Fuguet de Goyeneche (; born 7 March 1963) is a Chilean author, journalist, film critic and film director who rose to critical prominence in the 1990s as part of the movement known as the New Chilean Narrative. Although he was bo ...
– Writer and film director
*
Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness
Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness ( Morgan, 23 August 1904 – 29 January 1970), was a mistress of King Edward VIII while he was Prince of Wales. She was supplanted in his affections by Wallis Simpson, for whose sake Edward abdicated and bec ...
– Mistress of King Edward VIII
*
Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show '' Becker'', but subsequently became best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurl ...
– Actor
*
John Gavin – Actor
*
Alexa Guarachi
Alexa Guarachi Mathison (; born 17 November 1990) is an American-born Chilean tennis player who specialises in doubles.
She reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 11 in September 2021, and has won five titles on the WTA Tour, most ...
– Tennis player
*
Lisa Guerrero
Lisa Guerrero (born April 9, 1964) is an American journalist, actress, former sportscaster, artist, and model. Since 2006, Guerrero has been an investigative correspondent for the nationally syndicated newsmagazine ''Inside Edition''.
Early ye ...
– Sportscaster and actress
*
Tommy Guerrero – Skateboarder, company owner, and musician
*
Claudio Guzmán – Television director, producer, art director, and production designer.
*
Sophia Hayden
Sophia Hayden (October 17, 1868 – February 3, 1953) was an American architect and first female graduate of the four-year program in architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Life
Early life
Sophia Gregoria Hayden was bor ...
– Architect and the first woman graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*
Fareed Haque
Fareed Haque is an American jazz guitarist, based in Chicago, Illinois.
Education
Haque was born in Chicago in 1963. His father was from Pakistan, his mother was from Chile. When he was a child, Haque traveled with his parents all over the worl ...
– Fusion guitarist
*
Alfredo Jaar
Alfredo Jaar (; ; born 1956) is a Chilean-born artist, architect, photographer and filmmaker who lives in New York City. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war— ...
– Artist, architect, and filmmaker
*
Nicolas Jaar
Nicolas Jaar (; ; es, Nicolás; born January 10, 1990) is a Chilean-American composer and recording artist based in New York. Among his notable works are the albums '' Space Is Only Noise'' (2011), ''Sirens'' (2016), and '' Cenizas'' (2020). H ...
– Composer and recording artist
*
Alain Johannes – Musician
*
Paulina Kernberg – Child psychiatrist and professor
*
Mario Kreutzberger
Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld (; born 28 December 1940), better known by his stage name as Don Francisco (), is a Chilean television host, and a popular personality on the Univision network reaching Spanish-speaking viewers in the United ...
– aka Don Francisco, U.S. Latino TV host
*
Juan Pablo Letelier – Socialist member of the Chilean Senate, son of
Orlando Letelier
*
Jason Liebrecht – Voice actor
*
Vicente Luque
Vicente Luque (born November 27, 1991) is an American and Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. Luque currently competes in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of October 3, 2022, he is #9 in the UF ...
– MMA fighter
*
Antonio Macia – Screenwriter and actor
*
Paloma Mami – Singer
*
Benny Mardones – Singer
*
Roberto Matta – Surreal painter
*
Gordon Matta-Clark
Gordon Matta-Clark (born Gordon Roberto Matta-Echaurren; June 22, 1943 – August 27, 1978) was an American artist best known for site-specific artworks he made in the 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the field of socially engaged food art.
...
– Artist
*
Claudio Miranda – Novelist and filmmaker
*
Gabriela Mistral – Nobel laureate
*
Daniella Monet – Actress
*
Harry Hays Morgan Jr.
Harry Hays Morgan Jr. (April 25, 1898 – July 8, 1983) was an American diplomat, society figure and actor. He is most notable as the brother of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and uncle of Gloria Vanderbilt.
Early life and diplomatic career
Morgan ...
– Diplomat, society figure, and actor
*
Mauro E. Mujica – Chairman and CEO of
U.S. English
*
Gloria Naveillán – Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, born in
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 ...
*
Ricardo A. Olea – Engineer and scientist
*
Gonzalo Lira - Novelist, filmmaker, vlogger and amateur journalist
*
America Olivo – Actress, singer, and model
*
Cote de Pablo – Actress, singer and musical theater actress
*
Frank Pando
Frank Pando is an American actor. Pando's screen acting career debuted in 1999 in the TV series ''The Sopranos'' as Agent Frank Grasso. He has since acted in several television shows, movies, and plays, including roles as policemen in '' The Vi ...
– Actor
*
Marko Zaror
Marko Zaror Aguad (born June 10, 1978) is a Chilean martial artist and actor.
Zaror was born in Santiago, Chile, and lives in Los Angeles, California. He started training in martial arts when he was six years old. His main sports are taekwondo ...
– Actor
*
Pedro Pascal
José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. He began his career guest-starring on various television shows before rising to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell on the fourth season of the HBO fantas ...
– Actor
*
Nicole Polizzi
Nicole Elizabeth LaValle (née Polizzi; born November 23, 1987), best known by her nickname Snooki, is an American reality television personality. She is best known for being a cast member of the MTV reality show '' Jersey Shore'' and starri ...
– Reality TV personality
*
Promis – Singer-songwriter and composer
*
Jose Quiroga – Cardiologist
*
Horatio Sanz – Comedian,
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
*
Elizabeth Schall
Elizabeth Schall is a female American singer, songwriter and guitarist, and founder of the death metal band Dreaming Dead and grindcore band Cretin. Prior to that, she was a guitarist of the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens and the d ...
– Singer-songwriter and guitarist
*
Sebastian Soto
Sebastian Guerra Soto (born July 28, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Austrian Bundesliga club Austria Klagenfurt and the United States national team.
Youth career
Soto began his youth career with ...
– Soccer player
*
Tom Araya
Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz (; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean American musician, best known as the vocalist and bassist of American thrash metal band Slayer. Araya is ranked 58th by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalis ...
– Musician
*
Elizabeth Subercaseaux – Writer
*
Mahani Teave
Mahani Teave (born 14 February 1983) is a classical pianist from Easter Island, Chile.
Background
Teave was born on Hawaii, to a Rapa Nui father and an American mother. She attended the Austral University and studied music at the Cleveland I ...
– Classical pianist and conservationist, born in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
to a
Rapanui father and an American mother
*
Ryann Torrero – Soccer player and model
*
Steve Thurston – Journalist, entrepreneur, and co-founder, CEO and president of Integrity Ministries
*
Mercedes Valdivieso – Chilean writer and Rice University professor
*
Arturo Valenzuela – Professor
*
Francisca Valenzuela
Francisca Valenzuela (; born March 17, 1987 in San Francisco, California) is an American-born Chilean singer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist. Valenzuela was born and raised in San Francisco, California, where she resided until the age of 12, bef ...
– Chilean poet, singer-songwriter, and pianist
*
Leonor Varela
Leonor Magdalena Varela Palma (; born 29 December 1972) is a Chilean actress. She played the title role in the 1999 television film ''Cleopatra'', and vampire princess Nyssa Damaskinos in the 2002 Marvel Comics film '' Blade II''.
Early lif ...
– Actress
*
Andres Velasco – Economist and professor
*
Alexander Witt
Alexander B. Witt (born 1952) is a Chilean-American filmmaker and cinematographer mostly known for his work as a camera operator and second unit director, including regular collaborations with director Ridley Scott.
Life & career
From a 2004 ...
– Director
Chileans abroad
Of the 857,781 Chilean
expatriates around the globe, 13.3% (114,084) live in the United States, 50.1% reside in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, 4.9% in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
, and around 2% each in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, with the remaining 18% being scattered in smaller numbers across the globe, particularly the countries of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
.
See also
*
Demographics of Chile
*
Latino conservatism in the United States
*
Chileans in the United Kingdom
Chileans in the United Kingdom (Spanish: ''Chilenos en Reino Unido'') are people of Chilean origin living in the United Kingdom.
History
When approximately 2,500 Chilean exiles (including businessmen, professors, and students) arrived in Grea ...
*
Chilean Australian
Chilean Australians ( es, chilenos australiano) are Australians of Chilean descent or Chileans who have obtained Australian citizenship. Chileans are the second largest group of Hispanic and Latin American Australians residing in Australia. The ...
*
List of Chileans
*
Chile–United States relations
The relationship between Chile and the United States, which dates back to the 19th century, has improved significantly since 1988 and is better than at any other time in history. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the US government applauded the r ...
Notes
References
US Census Chilean Factpageby Ariel Dorfman ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' 10/24/06
Further reading
* Burson, Phyllis J. "Chilean Americans." ''Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America,'' edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 479–490
online* Pike, F. B. ''Chile and the United States: 1880–1962'' (University of Notre Dame Press, 1963).
* Gomez, L.A. (2018). "Chilean Americans: A micro cultural Latinx group." In
Patricia Arredondo (Ed.), Latinx immigrants: Trascending acculturation and xenophobia (pp. 33-52). Springer.
External links
Historical Text ArchiveHistory of Chileans and the California Gold Rush
PBS American Experience the Gold Rush
**
Cámara Chileno Norteamericana de Comercio (AMCHAM)Chilean American Chamber of Commerce
**
Chilean Diplomacy
La Peña Cultural Centera major Chilean community and political activism center in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
{{Hispanics/Latinos
Hispanic and Latino American
*
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...