Ecuadorian Americans

Ecuadorian American
Ecuatoriano Estadounidense

Christina Aguilera Adrienne Bailon • Michael Steger
Regions with significant populations
New York City Metropolitan Area (Ossining, New York; Hudson, New York; Danbury, Connecticut; Jersey City, New Jersey); South Florida, Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area
Languages
American English, Spanish
Religion
Predominately Roman Catholic

An Ecuadorian American is any person in the United States who is of Ecuadorian ancestry. Ecuadorian Americans can be Mestizo, White, Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, Mulato, or Zambo. Many Ecuadorians are of Lebanese descent. There are also sizable populations of Ecuadorians of Italian, German, Chinese, and Japanese descent.

History

Until the 1960s very few Ecuadorans migrated to the United States. In the late 1960s, however, several waves of migration started. Most Ecuadorian immigration to the United States has occurred since the early 1970s. This emigration was because of several reasons: The first of them was that United States immigration law changed. Before 1965, national quotas on immigrants favored more the European immigration than Latin American immigration. But after that year, changes in the law of immigration made it easier for Latin Americans and other groups of foreign to immigrate to United States. In addition, it lowered the price of making air travel, so it was more accessible to Latin Americans. They were drawn to the U.S. for economic opportunities and political freedoms, and Ecuadorian immigration peaked in the political turmoil of 1996-97 and national banking crisis of 1998-99. Another factor in Ecuadoran emigration was the land reform of the 1964. This act improved the lives of many people poor of Ecuador, but also originated far-reaching and unpredictable changes. Therefore, many new small landowners were forced to sell their land. Many landowners abandoned their land and migrated to countries like Venezuela and the United States. The most the immigrants that live in United States send money home. Many immigrants get the American citizenship, others simply are legalized, while that others groups living there illegally and they can cross the border from Mexico or by boat from Puerto Rico. Ecuadoran Americans come from every part of Ecuador. Thus, during the 70s, most of the Ecuadorians came from the northern and central sierra, including the area around Quito. In the 80s, many Ecuadorians came from the costa. And in the 1990s, most of them came from the southern sierra, to border with Peru. The majority of Ecuadoran immigrants emigrate to New York City. In fact, the 1990 census recorded that 60 percent of Ecuadorans live in the New York area; the second-largest group, ten percent, lives in Los Angeles.

Demography

Many Ecuadorians in the United States have settled in cities such as New York City (most residing in Flushing, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Queens, Bushwick, Brooklyn, Fordham, Bronx); Ossining, New York; Hudson, New York; Washington Heights, Manhattan; Danbury, Connecticut; Jersey City, New Jersey; Union City, New Jersey; Newark, New Jersey; Plainfield, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; Orlando, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; Dallas, Texas; San Antonio, Texas Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California and Los Angeles, California. The Tri-State area along with Connecticut and Florida have the largest populations of Ecuadorians in the United States.

Although Queens county's percentage of Ecuadorians is about 4.7% it has the largest Ecuadorian community of any county in the United States numbering just about 101,000. Ecuadorians are the largest South American Latino group in New York City as well as in the State of New York. Ecuadorians are the fourth largest Latino group in New York after Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans. Ecuadorians also constitute Queens County's largest Latino group. Another group of Ecuadorans live in the Bronx, in the Morris Hills and Highbridge neighborhoods north of Yankee Stadium. Still other Ecuadoran neighborhoods are in Brooklyn, in New Jersey cities such as Newark and Jersey City, and in towns in Connecticut.

US communities with high percentages of people of Ecuadorian ancestry

The top 25 US communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Ecuadorian ancestry are:

1. Sleepy Hollow, New York 10.76%
2. Montauk, New York 8.08%
3. East Newark, New Jersey 7.87%
4. Ossining, New York 7.48%
5. Patchogue, New York 7.09%
6. Hightstown, New Jersey 6.31%
7. Union City, New Jersey 5.94%
8. North Plainfield, New Jersey 5.39%
9. Town of Ossining, New York 4.98%
10. Port Chester, New York 4.90%
11. Hackensack, New Jersey 4.78%
12. Springs, New York 4.46%
13. West New York, New Jersey 4.45%
14. Peekskill, New York 4.32%
15. North Bergen, New Jersey 4.02%
16. Harrison, New Jersey 3.90%
17. Guttenberg, New Jersey 3.88%
18. East Hampton, New York 3.81%
19. East Windsor, New Jersey 3.39%
20. Dover, New Jersey 3.37%
21. Rye, New York 3.18%
22. Belleville, New Jersey 3.06%
23. Danbury, Connecticut 2.92%
24. Weehawken, New Jersey 2.83%
25. Newark, New Jersey 2.78%

U.S. communities with the most residents born in Ecuador

The top 25 U.S. communities with the most residents born in Ecuador are:

1. Sleepy Hollow, New York 10.4%
2. East Newark, New Jersey 10.3%
3. Ossining, New York 10.1%
4. Hightstown, New Jersey 9.5%
5. North Plainfield, New Jersey 7.8%
6. Montauk, New York 7.8%
7. Patchogue, New York 7.7%
8. Union City, New Jersey 7.5%
9. Wainscott, New York 6.4%
10. Peekskill, New York 5.9%
11. Springs, New York 5.4%
12. Hackensack, New Jersey 5.3%
13. West New York, New Jersey 5.2%
14. Port Chester, New York 4.8%
15. Queens, New York 4.7%
16. Dover, New Jersey 4.6%
17. Harrison, New Jersey 4.1%
18. Twin Rivers, New Jersey 4.0%
19. Belleville, New Jersey 3.8%
20. Danbury, Connecticut 3.7%
21. Newark, New Jersey 3.6%
22. Spring Valley, New York 3.5%
23. Tarrytown, New York 3.4%
24. Brewster, New York 3.1%
25. Guttenberg, New Jersey 2.9%

Notable Ecuadorian Americans

• Christina Aguilera
• Adrienne Bailon
• Jose Garces
• Gerardo
• Andrés Gómez
• Cork Graham
• Jaime Jarrin
• John Paulson
• Jack Mark Pincay
• Jenn Pinto
• Fatima Ptacek
• Hugo Savinovich
• Pancho Segura

See also

• Corona, Jackson Heights