The Impact of Social Networks and Human Capital on Puerto Rican and Dominican Migrants’ United States Destination Selections

Jessie A Rochford, Fordham University

This research explores the potential roles of social networks and human capital on the destination decisions of Puerto Rican and Dominican migrants to the United States. Geographic location has long been studied in relation to ethnic enclaves and migrant communities. This research goes further in exploring migrants’ initial destination selection as a way of uncovering human capital effects and social network processes. The analysis comes from data from the Latin American Migration Project’s Puerto Rican and Dominican samples of householders (N = 440) to explore the rationale behind the destination decisions of Puerto Rican and Dominican migrants to the United States.