There are also communities of Jamaican Americans residing in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California.

After 1838, European colonies in the Caribbean with expanding sugar industries imported large numbers of immigrants to meet their acute labor shortage.

After slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, American planters imported temporary workers, called "swallow migrants", to harvest crops on an annual basis.

Between 1881 and the beginning of World War I, the United States recruited over 250,000 workers from the Caribbean, 90,000 of whom were Jamaicans, to work on the Panama Canal.

[3][4] During both world wars, the United States again recruited Jamaican men for service on various American bases in the region.

Through this category a substantial amount of Jamaican immigrants were able to enter mainly urban cities within the U.S that provided blue-collar work opportunities.

The New York metropolitan area and South Florida have the largest number of Jamaican immigrants in the United States.

South Florida is home to the highest number of undocumented Jamaicans, whereas most documented immigrants tend to reside in Brooklyn.

In recent years, many Jamaicans have left New York City for its suburbs, and large Jamaican communities have also formed in many other major cities like Philadelphia (including Delaware and other parts of eastern Pennsylvania), Baltimore, Washington D.C./Central Maryland, Atlanta, Boston, Western NY State (Buffalo and Rochester) and Cleveland.

However, the lack of tailored media options has led to increased reliance on platforms like WhatsApp, which can sometimes contribute to the spread of misinformation.

Below is a selected list of Caribbean media platforms in the diaspora tailored to Jamaican-American audiences, featuring news, music, and cultural content.

These platforms often focus on cultural preservation, community building, and political engagement, addressing the unique needs of Jamaican Americans and their descendants.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, Jamaican immigrants to the United States consistently compose of a high share of skilled professionals.

[29] Many cultural events in Jamaica are also observed by Jamaican Americans in local public celebrations or in the privacy of their homes.

[30][31] Other famous rappers and DJ's such as Busta Rhymes, The Notorious B.I.G., Special Ed, Pete Rock, Canibus, Heavy D, Joey Bada$$, Slick Rick, and Bushwick Bill are all of Jamaican heritage.

Notable Jamaican-American actors include Jada Pinkett Smith, Kerry Washington, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Harry Belafonte.

Several Jamaican-Americans, including Jeff Cunningham, Robin Fraser, and Mark Chung have played for the United States national soccer team.

There have also been many Jamaican-American NBA players including Patrick Ewing, Ben Gordon, Andre Drummond, Roy Hibbert, Andrew Kennedy, and Omari Johnson.

Notable Jamaican-American NFL football players includes Patrick Chung, Atari Bigby, Nevin Lawson, Orlando Franklin, Kenrick Ellis, Ryan McBean and Laken Tomlinson.

There are also several Jamaican-American world-renowned boxers including boxing greats Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Jamaicans have been involved in American political issues since the 1800s.

[36] Renowned Jamaican-Americans from this group include former Secretary of State and four star general Colin Powell, Vice President Kamala Harris, former National Security adviser Susan Rice, "Mother of the Pell Grant" Lois Rice, former Governor of New York David Paterson, and lieutenant governor of Virginia Winsome Sears.

Walt W. Braithwaite helped transform the field of aerospace design, driving the development of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems at Boeing.

He has designed numerous highly complex engineering systems that successfully flew on board NASA's Manned Space Flight Programs.