Guatemalan Americans ( es, guatemalteco-americanos, links=no, 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 ...

of full or partial Guatemalan descent. The Guatemalan American population at the 2010 Census was 1,044,209. Guatemalans are the sixth largest Hispanic group in the United States and the second largest Central American population after Salvadorans. Half of the Guatemalan population is situated in two parts of the country, the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. The states with the largest Guatemalan population 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 ...

(29%),

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 to ...

(8%) and

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 ...

(7%).

History of Guatemalans in the United States

Guatemalans have migrated to the US since the 1930s and 1940s. Along with other Central Americans they first arrived by way of Mexico and settled in urban areas like

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

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 i ...

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 Un ...

, Oakland,

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 17th ...

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 to ...

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, ...

and

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

. The largest influx of Guatemalans into the United States, however, occurred starting in the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in the 1990s due to the

Guatemalan Civil War The Guatemalan Civil War was a civil war in Guatemala fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The government forces have been condemned for committing genocide against the Maya population of ...

. Tens of thousands of Guatemalan refugees moved into the United States via Mexico; these refugees were both documented and undocumented. The Guatemalan Civil War ended in 1996. After

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, new laws were enacted in Mexico limiting immigration visas and introduced other measures on the southern Mexican border through ''Plan Sur'', a binational treaty with the Guatemalan government. There were 430,000 undocumented Guatemalans by 2008. 71% of Guatemalan immigrants are undocumented.

Immigration

During the 1950s, there were 45,000 documented immigrants from Central America. In the 1960s, this number more than doubled to 100,000. In the decade after, it increased to 134,000. 26,000 of these immigrants were Guatemalan. Following the 1950s, Guatemala had been full of unrest with military wars, civil wars, and a thirty six year long guerrilla war. These wars have produced over 200,000 deaths as well as the displacement of nearly one million refugees. In 1996, the Guatemalan government signed a peace accord. Thus, ending the war; however, the war did not end for many Guatemalans who had to live alongside those who inflicted violence throughout their country. During the Cold War, many Guatemalans immigrated to the United States due to the lack of stability from US intervention. Consequently, many Guatemalans received

Temporary Protected Status Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary status given by the United States government to eligible nationals of designated countries, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security, who are present in the United States. In general, the ...

during that time period. These same Guatemalans lost that status following the war's completion. Migration from Central America had always been below 50,000. However, in 1970, the census had counted 113,913 Central American immigrants. 17,536 of those immigrants were of Guatemalan descent. This was a dramatic increase from the 5,381 count from the decade prior. The 1970s was when the United States experienced a high increase of Guatemalans. According to the 1970 census, there were 17,356 Guatemalans. This is a stark increase considering that there were only 5,381 Guatemalans when the 1960 census was taken. Immigration to the United States from Guatemala truly increased in 1977 with a total of 3,599. This was an 82% increase since the year prior. At large, this can be accounted for the lack of stability within Guatemala's agricultural economy. For many Guatemalans, the agricultural economy was the job market for those impoverished. This market was not enough to sustain Guatemalans at the time. The unemployment rate was 25% and the poverty rate was at 84% In the 1970s, Guatemala experienced a culmination of factors that decreased their ability to uplift themselves from poverty. The infant mortality rate of from 1970–1973 in Guatemala was around 82%. These circumstances included an increasing unemployment rate as well as decreasing wages and opportunities in the rural sector. In 1976, they experienced an earthquake that left many homeless. These factors combined with the general violence caused many Guatemalans to look toward internal, intraregional, and international migration throughout the 1970s and 1980s. When fleeing conflict, many Guatemalans sought refuge in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. For many, Mexico was just another check point within their journeys. In 1982, Mexico experienced economic crisis which had made it difficult for many Guatemalans to sustain themselves. This helps explain the increase of Guatemalans entering the United States throughout the 1980s. Many indigenous Guatemalan workers, in Mexico, were recruited to work with companies within the United States. Many of these workers were already workers at Central American assembly plants. Therefore, the skills were transferable to plants in the US. As a result, many moved to Los Angeles during the 1970s. Unemployment increased from 25% in the 1970s to over 40% in the 1980s. Rural poverty was at 84% and urban poverty was at 47%. This was difficult for many impoverished Guatemalans because many were reliant on the agricultural economy as their job market. During the 1980s were many revolutions led by the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), the Guatemalan government responded with military action- which largely included

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

of 150,000 civilians during 1981 to 1983. Ultimately, this formed a ripple effect which called for displacement and migration to both Mexico and the United States for many Guatemalans and Mayas. Mass migration from Guatemala occurred during the 1980s; as a result, changing the relationship with the United States. This time period Guatemala was experiencing high levels of poverty along with social and political unrest. Guatemalans sought refuge during the 1980s due to civil war and economic devastation. However, at the time, they were not granted asylum. Despite, this female asylees have been able to receive asylum since then.

Femicide Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female," but definitions of it vary depending on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russ ...

has become more prevalent in Guatemala. In this manner, many United States courts have been granting

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

due to the increase in femicide in Guatemala. The

Immigration Reform and Control Act The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA or the Simpson–Mazzoli Act) was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986. The Immigration Reform and Control Act altered U. ...

(IRCA) was passed in the United States in the year of 1986. Following IRCA, most documented Guatemalan Americans were able to receive legal admission through the petitioning of family members already in the United States. Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) disadvantaged incoming Guatemalan immigrants because it allowed for documentation to those who entered prior to 1982; however, Guatemalan immigration largely took part following 1982. In 1997, immigration was further limited for Guatemalans through the

Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act or NACARA (Title II of ) is a U.S. law passed in 1997 that provides various forms of immigration benefits and relief from deportation to certain Nicaraguans, Cubans, El Salvador, Salvadorans ...

. This act allowed Central American asylees to be documented in the United States but called for deportation for those undocumented. At the time, many of those people were Guatemalan Americans. Deportation of undocumented immigrants have consequences of socioeconomic mobility within Guatemala. Households in Guatemala that receive money from Guatemalans in the United States are able to pull themselves into a better economic standing. Whereas, households who lose that money receive downward mobility.

Literature in the U.S.

According to Rodriguez, the main themes of Central American literature in the United States are: war, violence, criminality, solidarity, migration, ethnicity, and the construction of identity. Maya Chinchilla is a Guatemalan poet of mixed US, German and Guatemalan heritages. In her poem "Central Americanamerican" she "diffracts the construction of Central American identity beyond a geographic notion and along the multiple coordinates of migrations, generations, heritages, languages, ethnicities, races, sexualities, cultures, and discourses magnified in the Central American diasporas." Novels like ''The Tattooed Soldier'' by Héctor Tobar display the cultural significance of Central American identity within US multiculturalism.

Culture

Guatemalan Mayas and Hispanics

Guatemalan Americans are a very culturally diverse group of people, included about 23 distinct ethnic groups, whose languages are different, although maintain unique cultural traditions. The groups are, in majority,

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

. The Ladino are a different group that speak

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

and have the Spanish culture. So, Guatemalan Americans are a multicultural community. This reason is why the assimilation processes, traditional beliefs, and customs vary differently between groups. Most Ladino Guatemalans living in the United States come from Jutiapa, Guatemala City, and Chiquimula. The majority of Ladinos from Jutiapa and Chiquimula live in the northeast, in states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts. Immigrant Maya American communities have preserved their ethnic customs. The Guatemalans of European descent (most of Spanish ancestries) often mixed with other US Hispanic groups. However, it is unknown the transmission of cultural traditions Guatemalans of immigrants to their descendants by lack of studies, not knowing anything about their descendants. Some traditions have remained in most neighborhoods of Guatemalan immigrants, especially in

and southern

, sections in that the Guatemalan traditions are being transformed, and lost due to American acculturation. Some Guatemalan traditions are the celebration of Quinceañeras, the formation of soccer leagues, and the Organization de las Fiestas de la Patronal (Organization of Patronal Parties). There are over one million Maya Natives in the United States- largely from both Mexico and Guatemala. Despite this, the United States fails to recognize Maya Natives as refugees from Guatemala despite the political and social conditions that produce the need for immigration. Mayas are at the bottom of the social stratum in Guatemala. This can be accounted by racism within Guatemalan along with the vulnerability that is produced during migration to the United States through Mexico.

Religion

Due largely to influences such as Spanish colonization and U.S. business involvement in Central America, the indigenous religions of Guatemala have mixed to create a hybrid spirituality and emergent "spiritual forms, practices, and communities as these intersect with other aspects of Hispanic/a identity, such as ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality." The difference with Guatemalans in the US from other Hispanics is that a large percentage of Guatemalans are

Evangelical Protestant Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual exper ...

s. Guatemala had seen a rise of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

churches in the late 20th century, although the majority of Guatemalans are Roman Catholics. According to the national census in 2006, Protestants constituted about 30% of the population in Guatemala, the majority are from rural indigenous communities. Guatemalan-Americans are a contributor to the rise of Hispanic Protestants in the USA during the 2000s.

Socioeconomic mobility

Compared to the U.S.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

population and U.S. population in total, Guatemalans are found to have significantly lower levels of

educational attainment Educational attainment is a term commonly used by statisticians to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed as defined by the US Census Bureau Glossary. See also *Academic achievement *Academic degree *Bachelor's degree ...

across the population. They are less likely than U.S. born citizens to earn a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, with only 9% of Guatemalans age 25 or older having received one in 2013. Despite this, studies demonstrate that Guatemalan Americans have one of the highest levels of participation within the work force. 31% of those Guatemalan Americans work within the service sector.

Demographics

Pili Tobar at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Half of the Guatemalan population is situated in two parts of the country, the

and

. A combined population of 267,335 resides in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Riverside,

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

, and

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 State ...

counties. There is also a Guatemalan community in

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 Vegas ...

. The Northeast megalopolis, extending from

to north of

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 ...

, is home to a population of 257,729 Guatemalans. Cities such as Langley Park, Trenton, Stamford, Providence and Lynn have significant concentrations of Guatemalans along the corridor.

Distribution by state

Cities (metro areas) with the largest Guatemalan populations

The largest population of Guatemalans are situated in the following areas (Source: Census 2010): #

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 Coun ...

- 231,304 #

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 are ...

- 101,257 #

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, Virgi ...

- 52,421 #

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 List of largest cities, 34th largest metropolitan ar ...

- 47,699 #

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

- 38,147 #

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 ...

- 37,700 #

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 hi ...

- 33,573 #

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 ...

- 28,726 #

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 ...

- 27,571 # Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA - 22,241 # Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA MSA - 21,540 # Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA - 14,978 # Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA - 12,754 # Trenton-Princeton, NJ MSA - 12,548 #

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 United States metropolitan area, metropolitan area in the Southwestern Uni ...

- 11,702 # Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA - 10,460 #

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 ...

- 8,114 #

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 fi ...

- 7,305 #

Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As of the 2010 Census, t ...

- 6,512 # Port St. Lucie, FL MSA - 6,269

US communities with largest population of people of Guatemalan ancestry

The top 25 US communities with the highest populations of Guatemalans (Source: Census 2010) #

– 138,139 #

– 30,420 #

– 25,205 #

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

– 17,973 #

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 ...

– 11,930 #

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Stamford, Connecticut – 7,707 #

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

– 6,722 #

– 6,154 #

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish for " St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's populatio ...

– 5,895 #

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

– 5,715 #

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

– 5,223 #

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

– 5,134 #

Langley Park, Maryland Langley Park is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is located inside the Capital Beltway, on the northwest edge of Prince George's County, bordering Montgomery County. ...

– 5,029 #

– 4,851 #

Lake Worth Beach, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

– 4,632 #

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

– 4,302 #

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

– 4,256 #

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

– 4,238 #

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 ...

– 4,135 #

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

– 3,897 #

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city region commonly called the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88, ...

– 3,669 # Palmdale, California – 3,618 # Inglewood, California – 3,593 #

– 3,592

US communities with high percentages of people of Guatemalan ancestry

The top 25 US communities with the highest percentages of Guatemalans as a percentage: # Marydel, Maryland - 42.55% #

Brewster, New York Brewster is a village and the principal settlement within the town of Southeast in Putnam County, New York. Its population was 2,390 at the time of the 2010 census. The village, which is the most densely populated portion of the county, was nam ...

- 38.16% #

Indiantown, Florida Indiantown is a village in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,560 at the 2020 census. It is a rural community in the interior of Florida's Treasure Coast region, first established in the early 1900s, then incorporated on D ...

– 37.15% #

Templeville, Maryland Templeville is a town in Caroline and Queen Anne's counties, Maryland, United States. Templeville is located near the Maryland-Delaware line. The population was 138 at the 2010 census. It was known as Bullock Town until the name was changed in 18 ...

– 31.88% #

Georgetown, Delaware Georgetown is a town and the county seat of Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 6,422, an increase of 38.3% over the previous decade. Georgetown is part of the Salisbury, Marylan ...

– 31.86% #

Chamblee, Georgia Chamblee ( ) is a city in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The population was 30,164 as of the 2020 census. History The area that would later become Chamblee was originally dairy farms. During the late ninet ...

– 30.89% # Henderson, Maryland – 29.45% #

– 26.81% #

Ellijay, Georgia Ellijay is a city in Gilmer County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,619 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Gilmer County. Agriculture is important in Gilmer County, known as the "Apple Capital of Georgia." The city ...

– 19.39% #

– 18.66% #

Collinsville, Alabama Collinsville is a town in DeKalb and Cherokee counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It was incorporated in 1887. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,983. Collinsville's largest employer is Koch Foods. It is a poultry plant that employee ...

– 18.51% #

East Ellijay, Georgia East Ellijay is a city in Gilmer County, Georgia, United States. The population was 546 at the 2010 census, down from 707 in 2000. East Ellijay was originally the location of Fort Hetzel, one of the Cherokee removal forts built in 1838 to house th ...

– 18.31% # Mount Kisco, New York – 16.38% # Fairview, New Jersey – 15.84% #

Schuyler, Nebraska Schuyler is a city in Colfax County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 6,211 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Colfax County. The city (as well as the county) is named after former Vice President of the United States, Schu ...

– 13.99% #

Saluda, South Carolina Saluda is a town in Saluda County, South Carolina, United States, along the Little Saluda River. The population was 3,565 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Saluda County. Geography Saluda is located at (34.003131, -81.771691). Accordi ...

– 13.74% #

Central Falls, Rhode Island Central Falls is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,583 at the 2020 census. With an area of only , it is the smallest and most densely populated city in the smallest state, and the 27th most densely ...

– 13.28% # Greenport, New York – 13.06% #

Carthage, Missouri Carthage is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 15,522 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jasper County and is nicknamed "America's Maple Leaf City." History Jasper County was formed in 1841. ...

– 12.80% #

Tice, Florida Tice is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 4,853. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geo ...

– 12.70% # Stuart, Florida – 12.62% #

Stacy Street, Florida Stacy Street is a street and surrounding census-designated place (CDP) in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 978 at the 2020 census, which misspelled it as Stacey Street. Geography Stacy Street stretches west from Haver ...

– 12.59% # Modest Town, Virginia – 11.41% #

Trion, Georgia Trion is a town in Chattooga County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,960 at the 2020 census, down from 1,827 at the 2010 census. Trion is the second-largest incorporated community in Chattooga County, which has a population of appro ...

– 10.84% #

Monterey, Tennessee Monterey is a town in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,850 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cookeville, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Monterey is rooted in a settlement that developed around ...

– 10.77%

Notable people

* Luis E. Arreaga – American diplomat and United States Ambassador in Guatemala and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. *

Luis von Ahn Luis von Ahn (; born 19 August 1978) is a German-Guatemalan entrepreneur and a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is known as one of the pioneers of crowdsourcin ...

– Entrepreneur and an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University * Aston Matthews – American hip hop artist from Los Angeles, California. * Luis Beza – American trumpet player for

third-wave ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band

Suburban Legends Suburban Legends are an American ska punk band that formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1998 and later based themselves in nearby Santa Ana. After building a fanbase in the Orange County ska scene through their numerous regular perform ...

. *

David Campos David Campos (born September 28, 1970), is a politician who is Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party. In 2008 he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented San Francisco's District 9 (Bernal Heights, P ...

– Guatemalan-American attorney and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing

District 9 ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction mockumentary film directed by Neill Blomkamp in his feature film debut, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. It is a co-production of New Zea ...

. * René Corado – Guatemalan-American ornithologist and writer. * David Estrada – of Guatemalan descent. *

Francisco Goldman Francisco Goldman (born 1954) is an American novelist, journalist, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College. His most recent novel, ''Monkey Boy'' (2021), was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fi ...

– American novelist, journalist, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing. He is son of a Guatemalan Catholic mother and

Jewish-American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...

father. *

Ted Hendricks Theodore Paul Hendricks (born November 1, 1947), nicknamed "the Mad Stork", is a former professional football player who played as an outside linebacker for 15 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Green Bay Packers, and the Oakland/Los Angeles R ...

– Guatemalan born, former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who logged 15 seasons for the Baltimore Colts (1969–73), the Green Bay Packers (1974) and the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders (1975–83) in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. *

Oscar Isaac Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...

– Guatemalan born American raised actor and singer. *

Ed Lopez Eduardo Jesus Lopez-Reyes best known as Ed Lopez (born June 26, 1976) is an American politician and activist for the Republican Party. He previously served as the vice chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus. In 2022, Lopez unsuccessfully ran f ...

– American Republican Party activist and National Vice Chairman of the

Republican Liberty Caucus The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of Individual freedom, individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party (United States), Republi ...

. He is of Guatemalan descent. *

Manny Marroquin Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work. Life and career ...

– Grammy winning mixing engineer. Guatemalan born, his family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine due to the

. * Benito Martinez – American actor most known for his role as police captain (later city councilman)

David Aceveda The following is a list of character summaries from the FX Networks television series ''The Shield''. Main characters * Michael Chiklis – Vic Mackey (2002–2008) * Glenn Close – Monica Rawling (2005) * Catherine Dent – Danielle "D ...

in the television series ''

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt pol ...

'' * Rubio Rubin – American soccer player of Guatemalan and Mexican descent. * AraabMuzik – American hip hop record producer of Dominican and Guatemalan descent. *

KC Porter Karl Cameron Porter, known as ''K.C'' (born June 27, 1962), is an American record producer, singer-songwriter, arranger and composer, winner of six Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammy Awards. Porter has worked on more than 40 albums with sales in ...

– American record producer, songwriter, musician and singer * Bridget Powers – American hardcore pornographic actress. *

Tony Revolori Anthony Revolori ( Quiñonez; born April 28, 1996) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Zero Moustafa in ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' (2014), for which he was nominated for numerous acting awards, and Flash Thompson in the Mar ...

–Guatemalan American actor ( Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home) * Pam Rodriguez – American

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though ...

of Guatemalan and Puerto Rican descent. * Devorah Rose – Guatemalan/

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n American socialite * Juana Samayoa – Guatemalan-American actress and television presenter. *

Gadi Schwartz Gadi Schwartz (born July 18, 1983) is an American journalist working as an NBC News host and correspondent. He is the co-host of ''Stay Tuned'', an NBC News program broadcast on Snapchat's Discover platform, ''Stay Tuned Now'' on NBC News Now, ...

– NBC News Correspondent * Willie Sims – Guatemalan born, American raised footballer * Ryan Spilborghs – American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

in the Texas Rangers organization. * Héctor Tobar – Los Angeles author and journalist. * Norma Torres – Politician. She is Guatemalan born but American raised. * David Unger – Guatemalan-American author and translator. *

Daphne Zuniga Daphne Eurydice Zuniga (; born October 28, 1962) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1982 slasher film '' The Dorm That Dripped Blood'' (1982) at the age of 19, followed by a lead role in another slasher film '' The Initiation ...

– American actress ('' Melrose Place'', ''

One Tree Hill One Tree Hill may refer to: * "One Tree Hill" (song), a 1987 song by U2 referencing One Tree Hill, New Zealand volcanic peak * ''One Tree Hill'' (TV series), a 2003–2012 American drama series named for the U2 song ** ''One Tree Hill'' (soundtr ...

'' and '' Spaceballs''). Her father was originally from Guatemala. * Anthony Gonzalez – American actor. * Ricky Duran – Guatemalan-American recording artist. Runner-up of season 17 of the American talent competition The Voice.