Data
El Salvador population and diaspora
El Salvador's population, the size of the Salvadoran diaspora, where it lives, and TPS status — compiled from DIGESTYC and US Census figures.
Resident population
6.3m
Measured in people. Updated annually.
Last checked · updated annually
| Location | Population | Share of all Salvadorans |
|---|---|---|
| El Salvador | 6300000 | 71% |
| United States | 2500000 | 28% |
| Canada | 85000 | 1% |
| Guatemala | 22000 | <1% |
| Spain | 20000 | <1% |
| Italy | 18000 | <1% |
| Australia | 12000 | <1% |
Roughly three in ten people born Salvadoran live outside El Salvador, almost all of them in the United States. That single fact explains the remittance economy, the dollarised currency, the political salience of TPS, and why Salvadoran nationality law is written to keep people in rather than push them out.
Where the US diaspora lives
Los Angeles, Washington DC and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs, Houston and New York, in that order. Los Angeles alone hosts several hundred thousand.
TPS
Temporary Protected Status has covered a large share of Salvadorans in the United States since the 2001 earthquakes, and its repeated legal and political near-death experiences are followed here more closely than most domestic policy. We track developments in the news section and in Spanish at TPS.
The domestic picture
The resident population has been broadly flat for a decade — births falling, emigration slowing, and some return migration since 2022. Median age is rising faster than the region’s average.
Source: DIGESTYC / US Census Bureau. Official page. Compiled by AH El Salvador and last checked September 1, 2026. Free to reproduce with a link.