For example, I just learned that the Mexican community of Redwood City, California is largely made up of folks originally from Aguililla, Michoacan. Are there other similar communities in America? Specifically, immigrant communities that originate in a single town or region?

31 comments

  1. In Maine there is. We have Somali refugees in Portland and Waterville. Given that Maine overall is like 95% white it stands out.

    In my small town we have a significant Indian population and almost all of them are from Bangalore. That’s because of a particular business that hires a lot of H1B workers.

  3. Large parts of ID, NV, and some of eastern CA: Basques

    Jingletown neighborhood of Oakland and San Leandro, CA: Azorean Portuguese. Mass and RI too I think.

    I don’t know about any areas with Mexican specificity, but I kind of assume there’s lots of Jalisco influence in many places.

  4. San Diego. Due to proximity, Tijuana is the origin point for a huge chunk of immigrants here.

    There are also a ton of Filipinos from Luzon who migrated due to the Marcos dictatorship and, later, the eruption of Mt Pinatubo. So many immigrated that one of the main enclaves was nicknamed ‘Manila Mesa’.

  5. Hey there fellow Bay Area resident. I’m white, it my partner is Laos and his a huge family here. They’re all from a specific state.

    Sounds like it’s because they all came over during the Vietnam war and it was a chain thing. Makes sense.

    Laos if you’re wondering

  6. We have a Chaldean community in El Cajon (just east of San Diego). I’ve worked with some of them, they joke that every Chaldean in San Diego County knows each other and all their parents live in El Cajon.

  8. I’m in Southern California so you encounter immigrant communities from all over, but every once in a while I have encountered obscure groups – like Assyrians from Lebanon.

  9. It seems like a common thing for some countries.

    Good news of a local finding good employment in a foreign location. Other locals follow. They establish a community to support each other.

    Some of them go back and build their retirement homes with their savings. Others stay because the new home is the preference.

  13. Many of the Guatemalan immigrants in my area are indigenous people and if they speak Spanish at all, it’s their second language.

  14. There’s tons of Vietnamese & Ukrainians in N/NE Salem & Portland (not sure abt the amount of Ukrainians up there.) In my current town of 15,000 the second most common ethnic group are Pacific Islanders brought in from the churches which is a little surprising but I’m not sure on a more specific base

  15. I live in a small city in la county where half of the population is from lebanon. they even built a mosque in the city

  16. In Mass where I lived- French Canadians from little towns near Moncton in New Brunswick. I grew up hearing the names like Shediac and Bouctouche so much it felt like it was part of my life, but it was only where my neighbors were from.

  17. Montgomery has a lot of Koreans because of the Hyundai plant. It’s the city’s 5th largest employer.

  18. NJ has too many too count. But there’s a thriving Desi community here; it’s probably 10% of the State population at this point. Gujarati is the 3rd most spoken language.

    But a unique one is the Syrian Jews in Deal NJ. The average house price there is about 3-5 million.

  19. East Albuquerque has a massive Vietnamese community, predominately folks from South Vietnam would fled in the mid-1970s. Chain migration and the gradual arrival of “boat people” refugees has resulted in plenty of recent immigrants too. At the hospital my wife works, all signs are in Vietnamese in addition to Spanish and English.

  20. Tons of West Africans here. Not West African but one of the leaders of the Rwanda genocide was arrested just down the road from me.

  21. I was reading the *Encyclopedia of New England,* and every entry is written by a credited expert on their subject. The section on immigrant groups in New England is great, but the Cape Verdean-American writer who did the section on Cape Verdeans really knocked it out of the park- they started by pointing out that there are lots of immigrant groups who sailed to America, but Cape Verdeans are the only ones who owned the boats they used to get here. (They include the Pilgrims.)

    I don’t know if that’s factually true, but it certainly is badass.

  23. I grew up in a rural town in North Carolina. We had a number of Laotian Hmong families whose parents had settled in the area after the Vietnam war and had kids, and I went to school with those kids growing up.

  24. I have never had Ethiopian food but for some reason it is a small community in DC and VA.

    I am not really sure why but like anything in DC, there is probably an embassy.

  25. I’m in a rural area close to a couple small towns. We’ve got some folks from Oaxaca, Mexico. Another Oaxacan opened a restaurant and helped them immigrate.

  26. Columbus Ohio here. Refugees from Somalia and Nepal are a huge part of our community, especially in my little suburb.

    Up at the lake one day, two women wearing full hijab flew by us on a jet ski. It’s nice to see how the different cultures in our area combine their traditions with local customs.

  27. Yes, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park in Queens, NY are full of Indo-Carribean Americans, mostly Guyanese. Along Liberty Ave near Lefferts Blvd and the A train is Little Guyana. They have a fascinating, unique culture that does not really exist in the US aside from in Queens.

  28. My parents are originally from Sunset Park Brooklyn, NY. The western half of this neighborhood is mostly Latino of various nationalities along 4th and 5th Ave. Today there’s a lot of Mexicans in the neighborhood and many of them came from Puebla like my mother. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of Mexican immigrants in NYC come from Puebla originally.

    The eastern half of Sunset Park on the other hand is home to Brooklyn’s Chinatown along 8th Ave. Unlike the Mandarin dominated Manhattan and Flushing, Queens Chinatowns, Sunset Park (as well as Brooklyn as a whole) is home to mostly Cantonese and Fuzhouese immigrants and there descendants.

    Sunset Park at one point was home to many Scandinavian immigrants, and there are still some remnants of this neighborhood’s past like [this](https://pin.it/mE5B649).

  30. The DMV has a large amount of West African immigrants, and an Ethiopian community near Silver Spring.

    If you want to get more specific than that, the Nigerian immigrants are majority either Igbo or Yoruba.

  31. Palizzi Social Club in South Philly is a great example of this.

    South Philadelphia has always had a sizable Italian population which was centered around neighborhood social clubs for a good portion of the 20th century. Often times, these social clubs were divided by region or town of origin in the “old country”. Pallizzi specifically served residents hailing from the town of Vasto, Italy.

    The club still exists today and is operated by a local chef named Joey Baldino, whose family were original members. Very cool spot and a worthwhile visit if you’re in Philly and lucky enough to know someone who has a membership and is willing to bring you as a guest.

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