Venezuelan American

Venezuelan Americans
venezolano-estadounidenses
Total population
814,080 (2022)[1]
0.24% of the U.S. population (2022)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Religion
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Venezuelan Americans (Spanish: venezolano-estadounidenses, venezolano-americanos, or estadounidenses de origen venezolano) are Americans who trace their heritage, or part of their heritage, to the nation of Venezuela. The word may refer to someone born in the U.S. of Venezuelan descent or to someone who has immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela.

Venezuelan Americans are one of 20 Latin American groups in the United States. Venezuela's diverse culture includes influences from Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, and the French, along with influences from African and Indigenous elements.

Venezuelan Spanish is the group's spoken form of the Spanish language.

In the United States, Venezuelans are on top of the list of nationalities requesting asylum.[2]

History

Until the 20th century, the number of Venezuelans that immigrated to the United States is unknown because they were included in the "Other" category. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were many European migrants who went originally to Venezuela, but later moved to the United States with their children and grandchildren who were born and/or grew up in Venezuela speaking Spanish. From 1910 to 1930, it is estimated that over 4,000 South Americans each year migrated to the United States. However, there are not many specific figures that indicate the number of Venezuelans among the 4,000.[3]

Many Venezuelans settled in the United States with hopes of receiving a better education, only to remain there following graduation. Many Venezuelans who have relatives living in the United States also immigrated to this country. However, since the 1980s, the reasons for Venezuelan immigration have changed to include hopes of earning a better salary.[3] In the 1990s and continuing up to the present, many Venezuelans opposing the regime of presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro have migrated to the United States (mostly to Florida, but Texas and Utah are other destinations).

Due to economic turmoil and crime in Venezuela, there is an ongoing migration wave to the United States and its neighboring countries.[4][5][6][7][8] and currently as of the early 2020s, Venezuelans make up the majority of undocumented immigrants coming into the country, many going to cities such as New York and Chicago.[9][10][11]

Demographics

The largest concentration of Venezuelans in the United States is in South Florida, especially the Miami suburbs of Doral and Weston. Other main states with Venezuelan American populations are, according to the 2010 census, followed by Texas second, New York, California, New Jersey, Georgia and Virginia. Urban areas with a large Venezuelan community include Miami, Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.[3]

U.S. States with large Venezuelan American populations

States

State Venezuelan
Population
(2022 Census)[12][13][14]		 Percent
 Alabama 1,759 0.0%
 Alaska 309 0.0%
 Arizona 4,625 0.1%
 Arkansas 2,214 0.1%
 California 29,345 0.1%
 Colorado 9,587 0.2%
 Connecticut 7,651 0.2%
 Delaware 139 0.0%
 District of Columbia 1,808 0.3%
 Florida 380,972 1.7%
 Georgia (U.S. state) 33,227 0.3%
 Hawaii 1,750 0.1%
 Idaho 2,999 0.2%
 Illinois 16,730 0.1%
 Indiana 7,673 0.1%
 Iowa 582 0.0%
 Kansas 2,854 0.1%
 Kentucky 2,245 0.1%
 Louisiana 1,991 0.0%
 Maine 345 0.0%
 Maryland 7,891 0.1%
 Massachusetts 7,266 0.1%
 Michigan 3,705 0.0%
 Minnesota 4,139 0.1%
 Mississippi 560 0.0%
 Missouri 1,611 0.2%
 Montana 248 0.0%
 Nebraska 1,586 0.1%
 Nevada 2,597 0.1%
 New Hampshire 781 0.1%
 New Jersey 15,566 0.2%
 New Mexico 2,142 0.1%
 New York 28,590 0.2%
 North Carolina 18,389 0.2%
 North Dakota 11 0.0%
 Ohio 8,388 0.1%
 Oklahoma 3,981 0.1%
 Oregon 2,475 0.1%
 Pennsylvania 12,931 0.1%
 Rhode Island 2,378 0.2%
 South Carolina 5,443 0.1%
 South Dakota 53 0.0%
 Tennessee 11,789 0.2%
 Texas 122,038 0.4%
 Utah 18,326 0.5%
 Vermont 346 0.1%
 Virginia 12,400 0.1%
 Washington 5,150 0.1%
 West Virginia 261 0.0%
 Wisconsin 3,726 0.0%
 Wyoming 403 0.1%
Total U.S. Venezuelan Population 814,080 0.2%

U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest Venezuelan populations

The largest populations of Venezuelans are situated in the following metropolitan areas (Source: 2021 estimate):[15]

  1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA - 177,730 - 2.92%
  2. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA – 77,541 - 2.88%
  3. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA – 60,308 - 0.84%
  4. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA-CT MSA – 41,915 - 0.21%
  5. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA – 24,211 - 0.39%
  6. Dallas–Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA - 19,124 - 0.23%
  7. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA – 18,508 - 0.58%
  8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA – 14,480 - 0.23%
  9. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA - 13,621 - 0.14%
  10. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA – 11,867 - 0.09%
  11. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, MSA - 9,941 - 0.42%
  12. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area - 7,789 - 0.16%
  13. Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC MSA - 6,649 - 0.25%
  14. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA - 6,186 - 0.21%
  15. Jacksonville, FL-GA MSA - 5,097 - 0.20%
  16. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA - 4,971 - 0.11%
  17. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA - 4,339 - 0.07%
  18. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL MSA - 3,949 - 0.50%
  19. Salt Lake City, UT MSA - 3,845 - 0.3%
  20. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA - 3,528 - 0.37%
  21. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX MSA - 2,381 - 0.11%

States with highest Venezuelan population

The 10 states with the largest Venezuelan population were (Source: Census 2020[16]):

  1. Florida – 380,972 (1.7% of state population)
  2. Texas – 122,038 (0.4% of state population)
  3. Georgia – 33,227 (0.3% of state population)
  4. California – 29,345 (0.1% of state population)
  5. New York – 28,590 (0.2% of state population)
  6. North Carolina – 18,389 (0.2% of state population)
  7. Utah – 18,326 (0.5% of state population)
  8. Illinois - 16,730 (0.1% of state population)
  9. New Jersey – 15,566 (0.2% of state population)
  10. Pennsylvania – 12,931 (0.1% of state population)

Population distribution by Venezuelan ancestry

Among U.S. communities in 2000 wherein one thousand or more people indicated their ancestry, those where at least 1% of people claimed Venezuelan ancestry were:[17]

  1. Doral, Florida 8.22%
  2. Weston, Florida 4.1%
  3. Fontainebleau, Florida 3.14%
  4. The Hammocks, Florida 3.14%
  5. Key Biscayne, Florida 2.36%
  6. North Bay Village, Florida 2.15%
  7. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 1.96%
  8. Miami Beach, Florida 1.79%
  9. Virginia Gardens, Florida 1.58%
  10. Kendale Lakes, Florida 1.54%
  11. Kendall, Florida 1.47%
  12. Surfside, Florida 1.41%
  13. Richmond West, Florida 1.36%
  14. West Sand Lake, New York 1.34%
  15. Aventura, Florida 1.31%
  16. Country Club, Florida 1.26%
  17. Bal Harbour, Florida 1.21%
  18. Coral Gables, Florida 1.17%
  19. Bay Harbor Islands, Florida 1.15%
  20. Miami Lakes, Florida 1.06%
  21. Tamiami, Florida 1.06%
  22. Miami Springs, Florida 1.01%
  23. Sand Lake, New York 1.01%
Carolina Herrera, fashion designer

By Venezuelan birth

The top 25 U.S. communities with the most residents born in Venezuela are:[citation needed]

Miguel Cabrera, professional baseball player
  1. Doral, Florida 17.3%
  2. Medley, Florida 16.1%
  3. Weston, Florida 10.2%
  4. Maurice, Louisiana 9.8%
  5. Hunters Creek, Florida 7.1%
  6. Three Lakes, Florida 5.1%
  7. North Westside, Florida 5.0%
  8. Northlake, Texas 4.8%
  9. Key Biscayne, Florida 4.3%
  10. Aventura, Florida 4.2%
  11. Dade City North, Florida 4.0%
  12. Southchase, Florida 3.7%
  13. Lake Belvedere Estates, Florida 3.7%
  14. Fontainebleau, Florida 3.5%
  15. Wahneta, Florida 3.5%
  16. Derwood, Maryland 3.3%
  17. North Bay Village, Florida 3.3%
  18. Princeton, Florida 3.1%
  19. The Hammocks, Florida 3.0%
  20. Chambers Estates, Florida 2.8%
  21. Snellville, Georgia 2.8%
  22. Tequesta, Florida 2.8%
  23. Horizon West, Florida 2.7%
  24. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 2.4%
  25. Surfside, Florida 2.4%

Ethnic variety

The Venezuelan American population represents Venezuela's ethnic variety. Some 40 percent of Venezuelan immigrants are a mixture of European, Indigenous, and African ancestry. The rest are 56 percent white, 2 percent black and 2 percent is Indigenous. Most Venezuelan Americans are descendants of Spanish (mainly), Italians, Portuguese, Germans, Jews, Syrians and Chinese.[18]

Socioeconomics

Laura Termini, actress, producer, writer, and a Board Certified Health/Beauty Counselor AADP.

The Venezuelan American population are highly educated. The people obtain bachelor's, graduate, and professional degrees at nearly double (48.5%) the total U.S. national percentage (27%), while only 6% of the group's adults did not complete high school, compared to 15.9% of the total U.S. national population.[19] Venezuelan Americans are not only highly adapted to the English language and achieve great accomplishments in American education, but also tend to consider the teaching and preservation of the Spanish language a priority for the most part. Thus, they teach the language to their children. And emphasize the extreme importance of obtaining a level of academic achievement and/or technical acumen for their own children.

Venezuelan Americans work in a variety of professions. However, many of them are inclined to banking and the petroleum industry. Thus, they often have a significantly deep depth of expertise within these specific professions. Venezuelan Americans also work in highlighted positions in the television, publishing, and radio industries. In addition, many Venezuelan Americans are becoming politicians or entering some form of public service within government, working in both local and federal politics. Furthermore, there is a significant growth in the number of Venezuelan Americans that engage in the public arena of politics specifically at the federal level, going so far as proactively submitting for electoral consideration for those federal public positions. In general, most commonly Venezuelan American citizens will often engage heavily and overtly in U.S. politics, and the politics of their native country, and are often extremely well informed and a few among their number are astute near-consistent life-long polymath students of history, language, science, culture, and economics.

They will often be very aware of specific political policies, local, state, and federal laws, and the history of where those policies and laws come from. The attitude among these few Venezuelan Americans is that there is no shame in not knowing something, but to be content and complicit in not knowing is something to be truly ashamed of. So they will often instead view the lack or absence of knowing something as an opportunity to proactively engage in a deep self-study on a particular subject to be better suited and far capable to speak to that subject the next time they engage in a discussion on that same subject.[3]

Relations with Venezuela

Main article: United States–Venezuela relations

Venezuelan Americans still maintain strong relations with their country of origin, which can easily be seen in business, family, and community life. Venezuelan Americans often report on the social and current events in Venezuela and first-generation immigrants visit there frequently. It is also quite common for Venezuelans to visit their relatives in the United States.[3]

Notable people

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Venezuelan Americans.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "B03001 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN - United States - 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau. July 1, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  2. ^ "The Venezuelan Walkers | Human Rights Watch". September 5, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e Walker, Drew (2010). "A Countries and Their Cultures: Venezuelan American". Everyculture.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  4. ^ Turkewitz, Julie; Herrera, Isayen (September 24, 2023). "Why Are So Many Venezuelans Going to the United States?". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Turkewitz, Julie; Rios, Federico (October 7, 2022). "In Record Numbers, Venezuelans Risk a Deadly Trek to Reach the U.S. Border". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Historic Venezuelan refugee crisis tests U.S. Border policies - CBS News". CBS News. September 26, 2023.
  7. ^ "Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis".
  8. ^ "Venezuelan Migration Crisis Impacts Neighboring Countries". NPR.
  9. ^ "The Venezuelan migrant crisis and the U.S. Response, explained". The Week. October 16, 2022.
  10. ^ Fandos, Nicholas (September 21, 2023). "Venezuelan Migrants Scored a Big Victory. How Will It Affect New York?". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Why are Venezuelans coming to the United States?". December 2022.
  12. ^ "Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census".
  13. ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  14. ^ https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B03001?q=B03001:%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20Origin%20by%20Specific%20Origin&g=010XX00US,$0400000
  15. ^ "Explore Census Data".
  16. ^ "Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census".
  17. ^ "Venezuelan ancestry by city – ePodunk". Epodunk.com. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  18. ^ "Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales del Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI" [Ethnic Composition of the Three Areas Culture of the American Continent at the beginning of the 21st century] (PDF) (in Spanish). September 20, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2008.
  19. ^ "S0201. Selected Population Profile in the United States; Population Group: Venezuelan". 2006 American Community Survey. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2008.

Further reading

  • O’Neil, Shannon K. "A Venezuelan Refugee Crisis." (2018). online
  • Walker, Drew. "Venezuelan Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 485–497. online

External links