Nearly a million Puerto Ricans live in New York City alone. That means the Big Apple has a bigger Puerto Rican population than San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital.
Other places with growing populations of Puerto Ricans include Texas, Illinois, and Florida. Most Puerto Ricans on the mainland live in cities, but some are migrant farm workers who harvest potatoes and other produce in places like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
The first Puerto Rican to serve in the U.S. Congress was Herman Badillo (1929- ), a Puerto Rico-born Democrat who was elected to Congress from New York in 1970. In 1976, he cofounded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
