What Is Puerto Rico Statehood?
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory whose 3.2 million residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president and have no voting member of Congress. Statehood would make it the 51st state, with the same two senators, House seats, and presidential vote every other state has. Only Congress can admit it.
Statehood would give Puerto Rico full representation in Congress and a presidential vote. Commonwealth, the island’s current name for its status, is not a separate legal category. It is the name Puerto Rico uses for being a U.S. territory.
Key facts
- 3.2 million U.S. citizens live in Puerto Rico, with no vote for president or in Congress (CFR).
- Puerto Rico paid about $5 billion in federal taxes in 2023, mostly payroll and business taxes. Most island income owes no federal income tax (Centro).
- Statehood has won four straight votes, in 2012, 2017, 2020, and 2024. Congress has never acted on any of them (Ballotpedia).
- In 2024, with the territorial status off the ballot for the first time, statehood won 58.6% of valid votes on 63.6% turnout (Ballotpedia).
- The last Congress let the Puerto Rico Status Act die. Its successor, H.R. 9246, was filed June 10, 2026 and has had no hearing (GovInfo).
The island has been a U.S. territory since 1898 and its people U.S. citizens since 1917. A Puerto Rican who moves to any state can immediately vote for president and Congress. Stay on the island, and that vote disappears.
Can Puerto Ricans Vote?
Yes, but where they live decides which elections: Puerto Ricans living on the island cannot vote for president in November, and they can as soon as they move to a state and register. Everyone born in Puerto Rico is a U.S. citizen by birth. The Constitution gives presidential electors only to states and, through the 23rd Amendment, to D.C., so a citizen living on the island cannot vote for president in November. The federal appeals court in Boston held in 2005 that the Constitution guarantees no such vote (Igartúa de la Rosa v. United States, 417 F.3d 145).
What a Puerto Rican citizen can vote for, by where they live
Source: U.S. Constitution, Article II and the 23rd Amendment; Northeastern University (2024); U.S. House of Representatives
A Puerto Rican who moves to a state votes like anyone else there, once registered before that state’s deadline; our voter registration guide lists every state’s dates. The rule also runs the other way. Federal absentee-voting law counts Puerto Rico as part of the United States, so a civilian who moves from a state to the island is not an “overseas voter” and generally cannot keep voting absentee for president from their old state (52 U.S.C. 20310).
How a Territory Becomes a State
Only Congress can admit a state. Article IV of the Constitution says “new states may be admitted by the Congress into this union,” and it takes a simple majority in both chambers and the president’s signature. Congress has admitted 37 states this way since the original 13.
A statehood vote on the island is traditional but not legally required. Congress has admitted states directly, as it did with California in 1850, and through an enabling act and presidential proclamation, as it did with Utah in 1894. The reverse is also true. A territory cannot make itself a state, so even a unanimous vote for statehood does not bind Congress to act.
Puerto Rico already meets the usual qualifications. It has defined borders, a settled republican government, and 3.18 million residents, more than 18 states (Census Bureau, 2025 estimates). Those 18 states elect 36 senators. What Puerto Rico lacks is a vote in the body that decides. The island elects a Resident Commissioner, now Pablo José Hernández, who can speak in the House and vote in committee but cannot cast a final vote on any bill.
Statehood Lost Three Status Votes, Then Won Four
Puerto Rico has held seven status votes since 1967. Statehood lost the first three and has won the last four, though two of those wins carry real caveats. The territorial era began with the 1898 cession, citizenship came in 1917, and the island adopted the “Commonwealth” label in 1952. Statehood then took 61% in 2012, 97% in 2017 on a boycotted 23% turnout, 52.5% in 2020, and 58.6% in 2024.
- Puerto Rico ceded to the U.S. Spain cedes Puerto Rico to the United States after the Spanish-American War. The territorial era begins.
- U.S. citizenship granted The Jones Act makes Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. People born on the island are citizens at birth.
- Commonwealth status adopted Puerto Rico adopts the "Commonwealth" name for its territorial status. The legal status does not change.
- Statehood wins 61% Statehood takes 61% on a two-part ballot, but nearly 500,000 blank ballots let Congress dismiss the result.
- Statehood 97%, 23% turnout Statehood wins 97% but turnout is the lowest ever after a boycott by the pro-status-quo party. Widely dismissed.
- Statehood wins 52.5% A simple yes-or-no vote on statehood passes 52.5%. The narrow, clean result is harder to wave off.
- Statehood wins 58.6% The first vote with no territorial option. Statehood takes 58.6% of valid votes on 63.6% turnout, and 14% of ballots are left blank.
Sources: Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections results; Council on Foreign Relations.
Puerto Rico's status, 1898 to 2024: 1898: Puerto Rico ceded to the U.S. (Spain cedes Puerto Rico to the United States after the Spanish-American War. The territorial era begins.). 1917: U.S. citizenship granted (The Jones Act makes Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. People born on the island are citizens at birth.). 1952: Commonwealth status adopted (Puerto Rico adopts the "Commonwealth" name for its territorial status. The legal status does not change.). 2012: Statehood wins 61% (Statehood takes 61% on a two-part ballot, but nearly 500,000 blank ballots let Congress dismiss the result.). 2017: Statehood 97%, 23% turnout (Statehood wins 97% but turnout is the lowest ever after a boycott by the pro-status-quo party. Widely dismissed.). 2020: Statehood wins 52.5% (A simple yes-or-no vote on statehood passes 52.5%. The narrow, clean result is harder to wave off.). 2024: Statehood wins 58.6% (The first vote with no territorial option. Statehood takes 58.6% of valid votes on 63.6% turnout, and 14% of ballots are left blank.).
1898: Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War, and the island has been a U.S. territory ever since.
1917: The Jones Act granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. People born on the island are citizens at birth, the same as anyone born in a state.
1952: Puerto Rico adopted the name “Commonwealth,” or Estado Libre Asociado, for its status. The label changed. The territorial relationship with Congress did not.
2012: Statehood won 61% on a two-part ballot, but nearly 500,000 voters left the status question blank, which gave Congress a reason to treat the result as unclear.
2017: Statehood won 97%, but turnout fell to 23% after the pro-status-quo Popular Democratic Party urged a boycott. The lopsided number on low turnout meant the result was widely dismissed.
2020: A simple yes-or-no vote on statehood passed 52.5%. The narrow margin and clean format made it harder to dismiss than the earlier votes.
2024: For the first time, the ballot left off the current territorial status entirely and offered only three non-territorial paths. Statehood won 58.6% of valid votes on 63.6% turnout, well below the 78.2% who voted in 2012.
Statehood lost Puerto Rico’s first three status votes, when the current commonwealth was on the ballot, and has won all four since. The two biggest caveats sit inside the winning streak, nearly 500,000 blank ballots in 2012 and a boycott in 2017.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| 1967: commonwealth won (66% turnout) | 39% |
| 1993: commonwealth won (74% turnout) | 46.3% |
| 1998: "none of the above" won (71%) | 46.5% |
| 2012: ~500,000 left blank (78% turnout) | 61.2% |
| 2017: boycotted (23% turnout) | 97% |
| 2020: yes-or-no vote (55% turnout) | 52.5% |
| 2024: no territorial option (64%) | 58.6% |
Values are statehood's share of valid votes in each referendum; light teal marks the boycotted 2017 vote. Source: Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections results, compiled.
What Puerto Rico Voted for in 2024
With the status quo off the 2024 ballot, statehood won a clear majority of valid votes. Voters chose among three options that would all end territorial status. Statehood took 58.6%, sovereign free association 29.6%, and independence 11.8%.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Statehood: 58.6% | 58.6% |
| Sovereign free association: 29.6% | 29.6% |
| Independence: 11.8% | 11.8% |
Share of valid votes in Puerto Rico's November 2024 status referendum, certified January 2025. Source: Ballotpedia, Puerto Rico Commission on Elections.
The election commission’s final canvass is dated February 11, 2025. Read another way, the two options that keep a tie to the United States, statehood and free association, together drew about 88% of the valid vote.
Counting every ballot, statehood drew just under half, because one in seven voters left the question blank. Opponents point to that number, and supporters point to the fact that statehood still beat the next option two to one. Both readings come from the same count.
- Statehood (49.1%) 620,782 votes
- Sovereign free association (24.8%) 313,259 votes
- Independence (9.9%) 125,171 votes
- Left blank (14.3%) 181,243 ballots
- Invalid (1.9%) 23,610 ballots
Share of all 1,264,065 ballots cast in the November 2024 status referendum. Source: Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections, Informe Estadístico Elecciones Generales 2024.
The Three Status Options on the Table
The 2024 ballot offered three choices, and they differ sharply on citizenship, money, and representation. The table below lays out what each would change for the 3.2 million people who live there. The new House bill, H.R. 9246, lists these three plus a fourth it calls Commonwealth.
What each status option would change for Puerto Rico.
Source: Puerto Rico Status Act (118th Congress); GAO-14-31; Census Bureau apportionment data
Sovereign free association is the option most readers know least. It is the arrangement the United States has with Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, where the smaller nation runs its own affairs but keeps defined ties to the United States through a renewable treaty. The choice between these three is the choice Puerto Rico has asked Congress to put to a binding vote.
What Statehood Would Change in Dollars
The single largest practical change is money, and the clearest example is health care. States get an open-ended federal Medicaid match set by a formula that pays poorer states more, from 50% up to 83%. Puerto Rico gets a fixed rate under a hard annual cap instead.
Congress set the four smaller territories’ Medicaid match at 83% for good, and gave Puerto Rico 76% only through September 2027. Without new law, the island’s rate falls back to 55% the next day, still under a cap of about $3.8 billion a year (MACPAC, KFF).
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| American Samoa: 83%, permanent | 83% |
| Guam: 83%, permanent | 83% |
| Northern Mariana Islands: 83%, permanent | 83% |
| U.S. Virgin Islands: 83%, permanent | 83% |
| Puerto Rico now: 76%, through Sept. 2027 | 76% |
| Puerto Rico after Sept. 2027: 55% unless Congress acts | 55% |
Values are the federal share of Medicaid costs (FMAP) set by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Source: MACPAC, August 2025.
Medicaid is one line in a larger ledger. The most detailed federal estimate, from the Government Accountability Office in 2014, found that statehood would raise both spending and revenue, and that business decisions would drive the size of the tax side.
What GAO estimated statehood would change in federal money, using 2010-2011 data.
Source: GAO-14-31, March 2014
The range on the corporate line is the honest headline. GAO could not say whether statehood would bring in close to nothing or several billion dollars from companies, because many firms are on the island for tax breaks that statehood would end.
Statehood would also likely end PROMESA, the 2016 law that put a federal oversight board in charge of the island’s roughly $70 billion debt. In August 2025 the president fired six of the board’s seven members by email. A federal judge blocked the firings on October 3, 2025, ruling the members were never properly removed, and the case is on appeal (CRS). A state controls its own budget without that fight.
A New Status Bill, With No Hearing Yet
The House passed a Puerto Rico Status Act 233-191 in December 2022, the furthest any status bill has gone. Its successors in the last Congress, H.R. 2757 and S. 3231, never got a committee vote and died when that Congress ended in January 2025.
The live bill is H.R. 9246, the Puerto Rico Democratic Self Determination Act, filed June 10, 2026 by Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández. It would hold a status vote on March 14, 2027 among four options, independence, commonwealth, statehood, and free association, with a May runoff if none wins a majority. Congress would still have to pass a law to carry out the result. The bill sits in the House Natural Resources Committee, which has not scheduled it (GovInfo).
Time magazine described the bind as a colonial catch-22. Puerto Rico has little leverage in Congress because it has no representation, and it has no representation because it is still a territory.
Our brief on the debate over adding Puerto Rico and expanding the Supreme Court to 13 lays out what each side argues, and our explainer on why residents of Puerto Rico and other territories cannot vote for president covers the wider group of U.S. citizens in the same position. Advocates point to four straight statehood wins to argue Congress can no longer call the island undecided.
Would Statehood Help One Party
The most common objection to Puerto Rico statehood is that it would hand Democrats two safe Senate seats. The evidence points to a swing state, not a lock for either party, and the distinction matters.
- In 2024, Puerto Rico elected a pro-statehood, Trump-aligned governor. Jenniffer González of the New Progressive Party, which is aligned with Republicans nationally, won the governorship in the same election as the 58.6% statehood vote. The island splits its votes.
- The statehood majority is real but not overwhelming. Statehood won 58.6% of valid votes, but 14% of voters left the question blank, so it drew 49% of all ballots cast. Supporters and opponents both have a number to point to, and a fair reading shows both.
- Statehood is a question of representation, not a partisan headcount. The case for letting 3.2 million citizens vote does not depend on which party they would favor, and the case against it is weaker when the partisan tilt is uncertain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Puerto Rico a state? No. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. Its residents are U.S. citizens, but the island has no voting member of Congress and no vote for president. Statehood would change that, and only an act of Congress can make it happen.
Do Puerto Ricans pay federal taxes? Yes, about $5 billion a year, including Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, federal customs duties, and business taxes. Most residents do not owe federal income tax on income earned on the island, which is one of the changes statehood would bring (ITEP).
Can Puerto Ricans vote for president? Not while living on the island. A Puerto Rican who moves to any of the 50 states or registers there can vote for president immediately, because the barrier is the territory’s status, not the person’s citizenship.
How many House seats would Puerto Rico get as a state? About four, based on the 2020 Census, when the average House district held about 761,000 people and Puerto Rico had 3.29 million residents. With two senators, that makes about six electoral votes. Unless Congress enlarged the House, those seats would come out of other states’ shares.
What is the difference between statehood and free association? Statehood makes Puerto Rico the 51st state with full representation and federal programs. Sovereign free association makes it a self-governing nation that keeps defined ties to the United States through a renewable treaty, the arrangement the U.S. has with Palau and the Marshall Islands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Puerto Ricans vote?
Yes. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and where they live decides which elections they vote in. On the island they vote for governor, the legislature, mayors, a Resident Commissioner in Congress and in presidential primaries. In any state they vote in every election, like any other citizen, once registered.
Can Puerto Ricans vote for president?
Not while they live in Puerto Rico. The Constitution gives presidential electors only to states and, through the 23rd Amendment, to D.C., and a federal appeals court held in 2005 that island residents have no right to vote for president. A Puerto Rican who moves to a state can vote for president there once registered.
What You Can Do
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Ask your House member to back a binding status vote. H.R. 9246 would put the question to Puerto Rico’s voters in March 2027, and it has had no hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee. Ask your representative to cosponsor it and press the committee to schedule it. Use the letter and call script below.
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Ask your senators where they stand on a Senate version. A House bill alone cannot become law, so ask your senators whether they will file or cosponsor a Senate companion to H.R. 9246.
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Watch the Medicaid deadline. Puerto Rico’s 76% Medicaid match expires after September 2027. Ask your members of Congress whether they will extend it, or put the island on the same permanent 83% the other territories already have.
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Learn the stakes and share them. The Council on Foreign Relations backgrounder lays out the territory’s status and economy without spin. Read the case for and against adding Puerto Rico and expanding the Court before you decide where you stand.