Hispanics and Latinos in New Jersey


The U.S. state of New Jersey is home to significant and growing numbers of people of Latino and Hispanic descent, nearly 1.8 million, who in 2018 represented a Census- estimated 20.4% of the state's total population. New Jersey's Latino population comprises substantial concentrations of Dominican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, Central Americans, Peruvian Americans, Colombian Americans, and Ecuadorian Americans. New Jersey is also home to a large Brazilian American and Portuguese-speaking population. The state has multiple municipalities with Hispanic-majority populations. Latinos and Hispanics form one-third of the population in the largest city, Newark settling in the Forest Hill, Broadway and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods which comprise mostly of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. The northern part of Hudson County it was nicknamed Havana on the Hudson for the large number of Cuban exiles and émigrés living there. Little Lima, in Paterson, is the largest Peruvian enclave outside of South America. Many Latino and Hispanic people have been elected to public office in New Jersey, at both the state and local levels.

Places and populations

Municipalities with majority Hispanic populations are: as of the 2010 United States Census.

Places with over 100,000 people

Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development is designed to empower the Hispanic community of New Jersey by administering grant dollars and providing other assistance to Hispanic community-based organizations, creating training and employment opportunities for Hispanic college interns, conducting and supporting research on New Jersey's Hispanic community, and ensuring Hispanic access to services and programs.

Public officeholders

There are officeholders of Latino background throughout the state.

Statewide

The percentage of Latinos in Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, grew considerably between 1980 and 2010, from 18.6% to 33.8%; that of blacks has slightly decreased from 58.2% to 52.4%. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 33.83% or one-third of the population, of which 13% of the total population was Puerto Rican. While municipal elections have seen black-Latino coalitions, voting tends to remain racially polarized.