Today, the country’s American community has three nuclei: the Province of San José, especially the capital city and its suburbs, in addition to the canton of Pérez Zeledón; the Province of Guanacaste and the Province of Puntarenas, in the latter the majority lives near the coasts. Furthermore, half of the immigrants are under 29 years old and are mostly dedicated to teaching, administrative activities and support services or commerce, the rest are retired.
Retirement destination
Costa Rica is positioned as one of the favorite places for American citizens to retire. In Central America, the country represents the largest recipient of retired Americans, since they are attracted by the benign climate, political stability, an acceptable cost of living and the natural attractions that the territory offers.
Furthermore, for the year 2011, the American agglomeration was the only one—apart from the Colombian one—to grow more than 4% compared to the previous decade. Going back to 2000, about 9,511 North Americans lived in Costa Rica, but ten years later this number had multiplied by almost 7,000 people.
Increasing numbers
According to the Ⅹ National Population Census, around 16,000 North American citizens live in Costa Rica, which represents the third largest foreign community in the country after Nicaraguans and Colombians, and the largest US agglomeration in Central America.1 Furthermore, according to others entities—including the United States Department of State—more than 100,000 Americans live in the nation, which is emerging as the second largest North American community in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. There is also a constant and developed cultural exchange between both countries through institutions such as the Costa Rican North American Cultural Center.
