[3][4][5] Rabanal was in Spain's gazetteers[6] until Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became an unincorporated territory of the United States.

In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the combined population of Rabanal and Salto barrios was 1,498.

Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions)[13] in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (sectors in English).

Alejandro, Alturas de Cidra, Borrero, Colinas de Buenos Aires, Diego Rivera, El Buen Pastor, El Paraíso, Fátima, Jolujo, Jiménez o Loma de los Jiménez, La Cumbre, La Loma, La Pastora, Lomas de Rabanal, Los Bravos, Los Dos Mangoes, Los Panes, Malavé, Millo Reyes, Monseñor Ignacio González, Piñeiro, San José, Tierra Linda, and Tres y Medio (3½).

In Rabanal is Parcelas La Milagrosa comunidad and part of the Cidra urban zone.