---
title: "10 facts about Cubans in the U.S."
description: "Millions of people living in the U.S. trace their origins to Cuba. They make up the third-largest Hispanic origin group in the U.S., after Mexicans and Puerto Ricans."
date: "2026-05-07"
authors:
  - name: "Jeffrey S. Passel"
    job_title: "Senior Demographer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/jeffrey-s-passel/"
  - name: "Dalia Fahmy"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/dalia-fahmy/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/05/07/10-facts-about-cubans-in-the-u-s/"
categories:
  - "Immigrant Populations"
  - "Immigration & Migration"
---

# 10 facts about Cubans in the U.S.

![Photo of Children hold a Cuban flag during a feast day celebration honoring the country's patron saint in Hialeah, Florida, on Sept. 7, 2024. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/SR_26.05.07_cuban_featured.jpg?w=640)
*Children hold a Cuban flag during a celebration honoring the country's patron saint in Hialeah, Florida, on Sept. 7, 2024. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)*

Cubans and Americans have a long history that predates the founding of the United States. Cuba and Florida were both Spanish colonies [in the 1500s](https://www.journaloffloridastudies.org/files/vol0108/Winsboro-Historical-Saltwater-Highway.pdf). Over the [last 70 years](https://cri.fiu.edu/us-cuba-relations/chronology-of-us-cuba-relations/), political events and economic conditions on the island have led to Cubans [coming to the U.S. in waves](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-migration-postrevolution-exodus-ebbs-and-flows), including many who arrived following the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Today, there are millions of people living in the U.S. who trace their origin to Cuba. Here are 10 facts about this population, primarily based on a Pew Research Center analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/).

**About this research**

This Pew Research Center analysis summarizes key facts about Cubans in the United States.

**Why did we do this? **

Pew Research Center conducts demographic studies, opinion surveys and other research to better understand people in the United States and around the world. The Center has long studied changes in the U.S. population, [including changes among Hispanics](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/race-ethnicity/racial-ethnic-groups/hispanics-latinos/hispanic-latino-demographics/). This analysis focuses on Cuban Americans and builds on a larger body of work about Hispanic origin groups in the U.S., including [Mexicans](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/fact-sheet/us-hispanics-facts-on-mexican-origin-latinos/), [Puerto Ricans](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/02/05/key-findings-about-puerto-rico/) and [Venezuelans](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/01/09/facts-about-venezuelans-in-the-us/).

Learn more [about Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/about/).

**How did we do this? **

For this analysis, we primarily used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/) (ACS) provided by [IPUMS USA](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/) at the University of Minnesota. ACS figures reported in the text are rounded to the nearest 1,000. Growth rates and population shares are computed from unrounded numbers.

Information on the legal status of immigrants is based on our [August 2025 report](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/08/21/u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-population-reached-a-record-14-million-in-2023/). Data on the CHNV parole program and other admissions at the southwestern border comes from the [U.S. Department of Homeland Security](https://ohss.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/2025_0116_ohss_immigration-enforcement-and-legal-processes-tables-november-2024.xlsx). Data about Cuban Americans’ political leanings and their views about Trump administration policies comes from Center surveys conducted in [2020](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/02/most-cuban-american-voters-identify-as-republican-in-2020/) and [2025](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/11/24/majorities-of-latinos-disapprove-of-trump-and-his-policies-on-immigration-economy/).

**Terminology**

Immigrants, or the foreign-born population, are U.S. residents born in foreign countries to parents who are not U.S. citizens. The U.S.-born population includes people born in the U.S. or its territories or born in foreign countries to at least one U.S. citizen parent.

**Cubans are the third-largest Hispanic origin group in the U.S., after Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. **As of 2024, there were 2.9 million people of Cuban origin in the U.S. – 23% more than in 2019.

### U.S. Cuban population reached 2.9 million in 2024

*U.S. Hispanic population of Cuban origin, by nativity*

| Year | U.S. born | Immigrant | All U.S. Cubans |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1980 | 185,000 | 635,000 | 820,000 |
| 1990 | 305,000 | 755,000 | 1,060,000 |
| 2000 | 395,000 | 855,000 | 1,250,000 |
| 2006 | 590,000 | 925,000 | 1,515,000 |
| 2010 | 775,000 | 1,110,000 | 1,885,000 |
| 2015 | 930,000 | 1,190,000 | 2,115,000 |
| 2019 | 1,045,000 | 1,335,000 | 2,380,000 |
| 2024 | 1,265,000 | 1,670,000 | 2,935,000 |

Note: Population figures are rounded to nearest 5,000.

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of the 2006, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2024 American Community Surveys (IPUMS), and 1980-2000 decennial census 1% samples (IPUMS).

That’s faster than the growth rate for Mexicans and Puerto Ricans over the same period (5% each). But it’s slower than the rate for many other Latin American origin groups, including Venezuelans (119%), Colombians (43%) and Hondurans (37%).

**More than half of Cubans in the U.S. (57%, or 1.7 million) are immigrants, **meaning they were not born in the U.S. The large share of foreign-born Cubans reflects the ongoing arrival of immigrants over the decades, with large numbers coming in recent years.

**Immigration from Cuba has ebbed and flowed. **A quarter million Cubans arrived in the U.S. in the 1960s following the Cuban Revolution. Another quarter million came in the 1970s.

### Cuban immigration waves, 1950 to 2024

*Legal permanent resident (LPR) admissions and other arrivals from Cuba, by fiscal year*

| Year | LPR admissions | Paroles and releases | Mariel boatlift arrivals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1950 | 2,200 |  |  |
| 1951 | 1,900 |  |  |
| 1952 | 2,500 |  |  |
| 1953 | 3,500 |  |  |
| 1954 | 5,500 |  |  |
| 1955 | 9,300 |  |  |
| 1956 | 15,000 |  |  |
| 1957 | 13,700 |  |  |
| 1958 | 11,600 |  |  |
| 1959 | 7,000 |  |  |
| 1960 | 8,300 |  |  |
| 1961 | 14,300 |  |  |
| 1962 | 16,300 |  |  |
| 1963 | 10,600 |  |  |
| 1964 | 15,800 |  |  |
| 1965 | 19,800 |  |  |
| 1966 | 17,400 |  |  |
| 1967 | 33,300 |  |  |
| 1968 | 99,300 |  |  |
| 1969 | 13,800 |  |  |
| 1970 | 16,300 |  |  |
| 1971 | 21,600 |  |  |
| 1972 | 20,000 |  |  |
| 1973 | 24,100 |  |  |
| 1974 | 18,900 |  |  |
| 1975 | 26,000 |  |  |
| 1976 | 36,000 |  |  |
| 1977 | 69,700 |  |  |
| 1978 | 29,800 |  |  |
| 1979 | 15,600 |  |  |
| 1980 | 15,100 |  | 125,000 |
| 1981 | 10,900 |  |  |
| 1982 | 8,200 |  |  |
| 1983 | 9,000 |  |  |
| 1984 | 10,600 |  |  |
| 1985 | 20,300 |  |  |
| 1986 | 33,100 |  |  |
| 1987 | 28,900 |  |  |
| 1988 | 17,600 |  |  |
| 1989 | 10,000 |  |  |
| 1990 | 10,600 |  |  |
| 1991 | 10,300 |  |  |
| 1992 | 11,800 |  |  |
| 1993 | 13,700 |  |  |
| 1994 | 14,700 |  |  |
| 1995 | 17,900 |  |  |
| 1996 | 26,500 |  |  |
| 1997 | 33,600 |  |  |
| 1998 | 17,400 |  |  |
| 1999 | 14,100 |  |  |
| 2000 | 20,800 |  |  |
| 2001 | 27,700 |  |  |
| 2002 | 28,300 |  |  |
| 2003 | 9,300 |  |  |
| 2004 | 20,500 |  |  |
| 2005 | 36,300 |  |  |
| 2006 | 45,600 |  |  |
| 2007 | 29,100 |  |  |
| 2008 | 49,500 |  |  |
| 2009 | 39,000 |  |  |
| 2010 | 33,600 |  |  |
| 2011 | 36,500 |  |  |
| 2012 | 32,800 |  |  |
| 2013 | 32,200 |  |  |
| 2014 | 46,700 | 17,300 |  |
| 2015 | 54,400 | 30,700 |  |
| 2016 | 66,500 | 41,300 |  |
| 2017 | 65,000 | 13,400 |  |
| 2018 | 76,500 | 200 |  |
| 2019 | 41,600 | 2,300 |  |
| 2020 | 16,400 | 700 |  |
| 2021 | 23,100 | 13,100 |  |
| 2022 | 36,600 | 177,200 |  |
| 2023 | 81,600 | 176,000 |  |
| 2024 | 178,100 | 207,000 |  |

Note: Mariel boatlift arrivals in 1980 were originally classified as refugees, not legal permanent residents; most had their status adjusted to LPR later in the decade. Data for the 1976 fiscal year reflects 15 months. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 

Source: LPR admissions for 1989-2023 come from the Department of Homeland Security's Yearbook of Immigration Statistics; older data in this series comes from historical statistical yearbooks and annual reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Paroles and releases for 2014-2024 and LPR admissions for 2024 come from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.

Immigration from the island continued into the 1980s and included 125,000 Cubans who came during the monthslong [Mariel boatlift](https://www.history.com/articles/mariel-boatlift-castro-carter-cold-war), a large exodus in response to political unrest and an economic downturn.

Inflows increased in the mid-2000s and remained high until the [COVID-19 pandemic](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/). There was a dramatic increase starting in 2022 as President Joe Biden’s administration [changed policies affecting Cuban immigrants](https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IN/PDF/IN11937/IN11937.4.pdf).

**U.S. immigration policy toward Cubans has changed over the past 70 years. **[Beginning in the 1960s](https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/cuban-adjustment-act), almost all Cubans coming to the U.S. were admitted legally – many as refugees. In later years, Cubans entered under the “[wet foot, dry foot](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/world/americas/cuba-obama-wet-foot-dry-foot-policy.html)” policy, which allowed Cubans who reached U.S. soil without visas to remain and pursue legal status. In January 2017, President Barack Obama ended this policy as part of his initiative to [establish diplomatic relations with Cuba](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html). Since then, Cubans have generally been subject to policies that also apply to other immigrants.

**As a result of policy changes, the number of unauthorized immigrants from Cuba in the U.S. has risen sharply.** The nature of U.S. immigration policy toward Cubans meant that there were essentially no unauthorized immigrants from the island in the U.S before 2017. But as of July 2023, there were [475,000 unauthorized Cuban immigrants](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/RE_2025.08.21_Unauthorized-immigrants_detailed-tables_country-trends.xlsx) in the U.S., according to our latest estimates. And [at least 250,000 more](https://ohss.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/2025_0116_ohss_immigration-enforcement-and-legal-processes-tables-november-2024.xlsx) entered the country between then and the end of 2024.

Under Biden, a majority of unauthorized Cuban immigrants had temporary protection from deportation, including through the [CHNV parole program](https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/biden-administrations-humanitarian-parole-program-cubans-haitians-nicaraguans-and/#:~:text=Share:,of%20to%20their%20home%20countries.), which allowed immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the U.S.; as well as through [special parole and release policies](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/08/21/u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-population-reached-a-record-14-million-in-2023/#who-are-unauthorized-immigrants) at the southwestern border. In 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration [canceled the CHNV program](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/12/dhs-issues-notices-termination-chnv-parole-program-encourages-parolees-self-deport) and ended or attempted to end [other programs](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian-parole/the-cuban-family-reunification-parole-program) that offered temporary protections from deportations.

**Historically, Cubans have been more likely than Hispanics overall to [identify as Republican](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/02/most-cuban-american-voters-identify-as-republican-in-2020/).** But their support for the GOP [has at times softened](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/06/24/after-decades-of-gop-support-cubans-shifting-toward-the-democratic-party/).

In an [October 2025 Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/11/24/majorities-of-latinos-disapprove-of-trump-and-his-policies-on-immigration-economy/), Cuban Americans were more likely than Hispanics overall to say they approve of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration (40% vs. 21%). However, they were about as likely as Hispanics overall to worry that they or someone close to them would get deported (47% vs. 52%).

**Florida is home to far more Cubans than any other state. **Around six-in-ten Cubans in the U.S. (61%, or 1.8 million) live in Florida. No other Hispanic origin group is as concentrated in a single state.

Another 8% of Cubans live in Texas (225,000). Three other states each account for around 3% of all Cubans in the U.S.: California (99,000), New Jersey (98,000) and New York (85,000).

**The Miami metro area has an especially large Cuban population. **About four-in-ten Cubans in the U.S. (42%, or 1.2 million) live in and around Miami. Another 177,000 live in the Tampa metro area.

Outside Florida, the next-largest populations of Cubans live in the New York City (153,000) and Houston (107,000) metro areas. In total, 94% of U.S. Cubans live in metro areas, a much higher share than among Americans overall (79%).

**Cubans are the oldest Hispanic origin group in the U.S., with a median age of 38.2. **That’s identical to the median age of the U.S. population overall, but considerably higher than the median age for all Hispanics (30.2). The higher median age among Cubans is due to older immigrants arriving from the island and the relatively low fertility rate among Cuban Americans in general.

### U.S.-born Cubans have more education than those who are immigrants

*% of adults ages 25 and older whose highest educational attainment is …*

| Group | Less than H.S. diploma | Bachelor’s degree | Graduate
degree | Bachelor’s or higher | NETS | Grouping |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| U.S. population | 10.1 | 22.2 | 14.7 | 36.9 | 37 | Group 1 |
| All Hispanics | 25.9 | 14.3 | 7.3 | 21.6 | 22 | Group 1 |
| Cuban origin | 16.3 | 21.2 | 11.5 | 32.7 | 33 | Group 1 |
| U.S. born | 7.6 | 27.6 | 17.8 | 45.4 | 45 | Group 2 |
| Immigrants | 20.1 | 18.5 | 8.7 | 27.2 | 27 | Group 2 |

Note: Shares may not sum due to rounding. High school graduates and those with some college are not shown.

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 2024 American Community Survey (IPUMS).   

**Cubans have somewhat less education than Americans overall, but that differs by where they were born.** Foreign-born Cubans are less likely than Americans overall to have at least a bachelor’s degree, while the opposite is true for U.S.-born Cubans.

- 11% of Cubans in the U.S. ages 25 and older have a graduate degree (versus 15% of U.S. adults).

- 33% have at least a bachelor’s degree (versus 37%).

- 16% have not graduated from high school (versus 10%).