Bolivian Americans or Bolivia-Americans ( es, bolivio-americanos, or ) are

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

of at least partial

Bolivian Bolivian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Bolivia ** Bolivian people ** Demographics of Bolivia ** Culture of Bolivia * SS ''Bolivian'', a British-built standard cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries ...

descent. In Bolivia sometimes referred to colloquially as “gringo bolivianos” or “yanqui llocallas”. Bolivian Americans are usually those of Indigenous, Mestizo, or Spanish background but also occasionally having African, German, Croatian, Lebanese and/or Japanese heritage. Bolivians compose the third smallest Latin American group in the United States, with a 2010 Census population of 99,210. The highest concentration resides in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, which accounts for 38% of the total Bolivian population in the US (especially

Fairfax County, VA Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

.) Additional areas of concentration include the New York City borough of

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 ...

, Miami-Dade County, and the cities of

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 ...

and

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 ...

History

Bolivian immigration into the United States occurred in two significant phases. The first phase occurred during and subsequent to the 1952 National Revolution (between 1952 and the latter 1960s). Most of these immigrants consisted of middle- to upper-middle income occupational professionals or political dissidents, belonging mainly to Bolivia's European descendant community. The second notable phase of Bolivian immigration (between 1980 and 1988) was a result of Bolivia's fiscal policies in the 1970s which gave way to the hyperinflation throughout most of the 1980s. Most of these immigrants consisted of lower-income Mestizo (European/Amerindian mix) and Indigenous Bolivians obtaining work posts as service and manual laborers. Most of the Bolivian American population is of Quechua descent, with the majority of them hailing from the Valle Alto region of Cochabamba, from towns like Tarata, Arbieto, Cliza, Punata, and Tolata, with most of them living in the DC area. Many Bolivians who emigrated to the United States came as tourists. However, many remained of indefinite way in the country, setting with family and friends. This made it difficult to know the number of Bolivians living in the United States. Between 1984 and 1993, only 4,574 Bolivians got U.S. citizenship. In this period about 457 were naturalized each year.Bolivian Americans by Tim Eigo
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Demographics

Bolivians have settled throughout the United States, mainly in

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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

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 ...

; there are also large groups of Bolivian immigrants in

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 ...

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 ...

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 Delaware ...

, South Florida,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, and

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, home to a community of Bolivian medical doctors and their families, most of whom originally from Cochabamba. The number of Bolivians in the U.S. in 2006 was estimated at 82,322. Most Bolivian immigrants are high school or college graduates; many work in companies or in government.

Areas

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

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

– 37,607 #

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

– 9,749 #

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

– 7,068 #

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the List of largest cities, 34th largest metropolitan ar ...

– 6,697 #

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 ...

– 2,359 #

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

– 2,099 #

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

– 2,078 # Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA MSA – 1,970 # Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA – 1,223 #

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...

– 1,170 #

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

– 1,114 # San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA – 898 #

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

and

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United S ...

– 808 #

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 ...

– 744 #

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 ...

– 710 # Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA – 647 #

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 Pierce� ...

– 558 #

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

– 524 #

Salt Lake City, UT MSA The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau currently define the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...

– 519 #

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

– 502 Immigrants by County 2015-2019 Total immigrant population from Bolivia in USA: 78,900 Top Counties: 1)

---------------------------- 13,000 2)

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

--------------------- 4,000 3) Los Angeles County, CA -------------------- 3,600 4) Arlington County, VA -------------------------- 3,600 5) Montgomery County, MD ------------------- 3,500 6) Prince William County, VA ------------------ 3,300 7) Queens Borough, NY -------------------------- 1,800 8) Orange County, CA ----------------------------- 1,800 9)

Loudoun County, VA Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun ...

--------------------------- 1,800 10) Providence County, RI ---------------------- 1,700 11) Harris County, TX ----------------------------- 1,600 12) Collier County, FL ----------------------------- 1,500 13) Broward County, FL -------------------------- 1,400 14) Alexandria City, VA --------------------------- 1,300 15)

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

-------------------------------- 1,100

Notable people

* Juan Fernando Bastos – Bolivian born, American portrait artist *

Javier Calderon Javier may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Javier, in video game '' Advance Wars: Dual Strike'' * Javier Rios, a character in the Monsters, Inc. franchise. * ''Javier'' (album), a 2003 album by the American singer Javier Colon, known ...

- Bolivian born, classical guitarist and University professor *

F. Xavier Castellanos F. Xavier Castellanos (born November 16, 1953) is a Bolivian nueroscientist who is the director of research at the NYU Child Study Center. His work aims at elucidating the neuroscience of ADHD through structural and functional brain imaging st ...

- pediatric neuroscientist and medical doctor (Born Spain of Bolivian parents) *

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

– CEO of

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...

, and

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

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

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

– footballer *

Jaime Escalante Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez (December 31, 1930 – March 30, 2010) was a Bolivian-American educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Escalante was the subject of the 19 ...

– educator *

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

– footballer, US Soccer Hall of Fame *

Pato Hoffmann Erwin Eduardo Hoffmann-Alarcon (born 23 August 1956) is a Bolivian actor and theater director who has performed in such films as '' Geronimo: An American Legend'', '' Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee'', '' Cheyenne Warrior'' and '' The Last ...

- movie and TV actor, advocate for American Indians * Markita del Carpio Landry - chemical engineer, university professor, researcher on nano materials for brain imaging and agriculture (Bolivian mother, French-Canadian father) *

Jaime Laredo Jaime Laredo (born June 7, 1941) is a violinist and Conducting, conductor. He was the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and he began his musical career when he was five years old. Laredo was born in Cochabamba, Boliv ...

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

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

– composer of Hollywood sound tracks and symphony conductor *

Ben Mikaelsen Ben Mikaelsen (born November 24, 1952) is a Bolivian American writer of children's literature. Early life and education Ben Mikaelsen was born on November 24, 1952, in La Paz, Bolivia, the son of missionary parents of Danish descent. He wasn' ...

– writer of children's literature * Mohammed Mostajo-Radji - Bolivian born, neuroscientist, science educator, diplomat *

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

– public servant *

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

– journalist, TV personality *

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

– professional basketball player for Dallas Mavericks of the NBA (mother Bolivian) *

Vicente Sarmiento Vicente Flavio Sarmiento (born May 11, 1964) is an American economist, lawyer, and politician serving as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from the 2nd district since 2023. He was previously the mayor of Santa Ana from 2020 to 2 ...

- economist, lawyer, politician * Carlos Scott – retired Bolivian-American soccer midfielder *

James T. Slater James Thomas Slater is a two-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter based in Nashville. He has written several hit songs of American popular music. Background James Thomas Slater was born in Durham, North Carolina. His father is a psychia ...

– singer/songwriter *

Leo Spitzer Leo Spitzer (; 7 February 1887 – 16 September 1960) was an Austrian Romanist and Hispanist, philologist, and an influential and prolific literary critic. He was known for his emphasis on stylistics. Along with Erich Auerbach, Spitzer is widely ...

- college professor, historian, author * Chris Syler – singer/songwriter * Alberto Torrico – member of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board *

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in '' Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hamm ...

– actress, author (father Bolivian)

History

Demographics

Areas

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading