More people are leaving Puerto Rico for U.S. mainland Migration between Puerto Rico and the U.S.
A decadelong economic recession has contributed to a historic number of people leaving Puerto Rico for the U.S. mainland. Between 2005 and 2015, Puerto Rico had a net loss of about 446,000 people to the mainland, with job-related (40%) and family or household reasons (39%) cited as primary causes among a plurality of those leaving.
Puerto Rico’s population losses have affected nearly every county, or municipio, on the island. The population of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital and largest metro area, declined by 40,000 people (-10%) between 2005 and 2015, to 355,000, by far the largest numeric drop of any municipio.
More people are leaving Puerto Rico for U.S. mainland  | Migration between Puerto Rico and the U.S.  | 100K  | 89 000  | 80  | Puerto Rico to U.S.  | 2015 net  | 60  | migration to  | Puerto Rico  | 46 .844  | -64,238  | 40  | 34 .230  | 20 34  | U.S. to Puerto Rico  | 24,762  | 05  | '06 '07  | '08  | '09  | 10  | 11 '12  | '13 '14  | 15  | Note: For 2015, totals don't include children younger than 1 Net migration is the  | number of migrants from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico minus the number from  | Puerto Rico migrants to including the U.S mainland. Data include all people moving to and from  | Puerto Rico including non Puerto Ricans.  | Source: Pew Research Center ana lysis of 2005 2015 American Community Survey  | and Puerto Rico Community Survey.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 