ABSTRACTBetween 1981 and 1987 the United States experienced a rate of immigration that had not been seen since before the First World War. Some 25 percent of these people came from the Americas south of the United States. While the great majority of these Latin and Caribbean immigrants tended to settle in a few select states, there are interesting nationality‐related differences in settlement preferences. In this paper the settlement patterns of persons from each of eleven different Latin and Caribbean nations who received immigrant status in 1987 are considered. Regression analysis suggests that social and economic forces were important, but that specific factors influenced different nationalities differently. Evidence is also found for a lagged adjustment in the settlement process. Furthermore, the attractive effect of a previously settled migrant stock is estimated to be strong for every nationalit