The Caribbean: Immigrant Stories
Caribbean Immigrants in the United States
According to the 2019–2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year dataset, an estimated 4,633,168 Caribbean immigrants live in the United States, representing 10 percent of the total immigrant population of 46,134,671. The top three states with the largest percentage of Caribbean immigrants as a percentage of the total foreign-born population include Florida (39.3%), Rhode Island (25.7%), and New York (23.7%).
The median age among Caribbean immigrants living in the United States is 49 years old and the median year of immigration to the United States for immigrants from the Caribbean is 2000. More than half (63%) of Caribbean immigrants are naturalized U.S. citizens and 57 percent of Caribbean immigrants are proficient in English. Caribbean immigrants have high employment rates (94%), and 10 percent are self-employed or business owners.
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COLETTE A.M. PHILLIPS is a winner of the Immigrant Learning Center’s 2025 Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award. Ms. Phillips was born in St. John’s, the main city on the Caribbean island of Antigua in the country Antigua and Barbuda. She describes growing up in a country shaped by layers of history, cultural resilience, and strong community values. Ms. Phillips explained that Antigua—originally called “Wadadli” by its Indigenous inhabitants—was first home to the Arawaks and Caribs, two tribes whose histories and interactions formed part of the island’s early identity. Antigua was later shaped by European colonization, with nearby territories divided among the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch. The legacy of British colonization continues into the present through its British-style institutions, including education and governance.
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Caribbean Immigrants in the Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD Metro Areas
There are approximately 83,400 Caribbean immigrants living in the Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD metro areas. The largest estimated numbers are from Jamaica (29,034), followed by Trinidad and Tobago (16,154), the Dominican Republic (13,814), Haiti (8,114), and Cuba (6,599). The largest numbers of Caribbean immigrants are found in Prince George’s County, MD (22,965), Montgomery County, MD (16,797) and the District of Columbia (8,415).
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Born in Cuba in 1952, JUAN WEISS arrived in the United States in 1961 after fleeing the communist dictatorship in Cuba. Growing up in a poor family and disadvantaged neighborhood in Miami, FL, he used education as a tool to negotiate a path out of abject poverty. Dr. Weiss graduated from medical school and became a licensed pediatrics board certified physician and later specialized in Infectious diseases. He accomplished this in spite of a life in poverty, numerous obstacles, and very limited resources. As an immigrant he contributed to society both as a physician and as a teacher. His last position was as a faculty member of the School of Health Sciences at ECPI University where he taught medical courses and at times also served as a pro bono physician at the Manassas free medical clinic. Dr. Weiss contributed a major scientific discovery on HIV/AIDS which was published in a prominent medical journal and is now listed in a chronological bibliography of the most important contributions to the world’s literature on medicine and related sciences of the past 4,000 years. Dr. Weiss became a U.S. citizen in 1975.