Demographic Trends: Salvadorans May Replace Cubans as Third Largest US Hispanic Group

Churches Witness Growth of Salvadoran Community

Salvadorans may soon replace Cubans as the third largest U.S. Hispanic group, behind Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, according to a Pew Research Hispanic Center study.

According to Pew, based on the 2011 American Community Survey, there were 1.95 million Salvadorans living in the U.S. in 2011 compared to 1.89 million Cubans – statistically speaking, these estimates are indistinguishable. But since 2007, the Salvadoran population's growth rate has been about double that of the Cuban population (33 percent versus 17 percent). Pew predicts that Salvadorans are thus expected to overtake the Cubans in number in a matter of years.

Over 240,000 Salvadorans reside in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area alone, according to Pew, with many Hispanic congregations in the suburbs of D.C. having seen a rapid surge of Salvadoran members over the past decade. Read more