While Latinos live all over the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and in every ward in the District, different national groups have established their communities in different places.

Maps by Diane Patterson + Nicholas John; Story by Jeniffer Peña Alvarez

Latinos started to move to the Washington DC area in the 1940s for various reasons. Many came to work at Latin American embassies that opened along the 16th Street NW after World War II, first settling in nearby in the Adams Morgan and Mt Pleasant neighborhoods and eventually spreading out around the Metropolitan Washington D.C. area.

This summer we started our mapping project by looking in the District and then expanded our focus to the surrounding areas. Using maps made by Diane Patterson and Nicholas John based on 2010 Census data, we learned a lot about where Latinos live in the Washington area, mapping population clusters for eight of the Washington area’s largest Latino national groups.

What is immediately obvious is that the region’s largest Latin American national groups each have a significant presence in the District of Columbia, while Peruvians and Bolivians live almost exclusively in Washington’s Maryland and Virginia suburbs, where most of the region’s nearly 1 million Latinos have settled. In the D.C. area, the counties with the largest Latino populations are Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and Alexandria and Fairfax in Northern Virginia.

Where Bolivians live in Greater D.C.
Where Bolivians live in Greater D.C.: Bolivians are the second smallest group in the District, while larger concentrations of Bolivians live in Virginia, specifically Alexandria and Fairfax Counties.
Where Dominicans live: One of the Latino groups with the longest continuous presence in Washington D.C., Dominicans are the fifth largest group in the District. Today you can find Dominicans living in upper Northeast DC and in the suburbs.
Where Dominicans live: One of the Latino groups with the longest continuous presence in Washington D.C., Dominicans are the fifth largest group in the District. Today you can find Dominicans living in upper Northeast DC and in the suburbs.
Guatamalans
Where Guatamalans live in Greater D.C.
Where Hondurans live in Greater D.C.
Where Hondurans live: Hondurans are the sixth largest group in the District and are mostly concentrated in Northeast DC and in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland.
Where Mexicans live: Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans are the second largest group of Latinos in the District. They live throughout the area.
Where Mexicans live: Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans are the second largest group of Latinos in the District. They live throughout the area.
Where Peruvians live in Greater D.C.
Where Peruvians live: Peruvians have only a small presence in the District and tend to live mostly in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, in Maryland and in Virginia’s Alexandria and Fairfax.
Where Puerto Ricans live in Greater D.C.
Where Puerto Ricans live: Puerto Ricans are the third largest group in the District, living largely in Northeast and Southeast neighborhoods and throughout the more densely populated suburban neighborhoods in the Washington region.
Where Salvadorans live in greater D.C.
Where Salvadorans live in greater D.C.: Salvadorians are the largest national Latino group in the District. In D.C., many people of Salvadoran origin or descent live in the Northeast neighborhoods of the city, while even more have moved out to the suburbs.

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