Garifuna Settlement and Migration Patterns:
There are widely divergent estimates of the Garifuna population depending on which statistics are used and which regional/national population is measured.  I would conservatively estimate that the total world population of Garifuna is at about 200,000 as of 1999. Based on this number, the US share of the world Garifuna population is between 50,000 and 100,000 but because a fair number of Garifuna migrants are here illegally, more precise estimates are difficult to make. Based on the population estimates gathered in table 1 below, about one half of the world Garifuna population resides in the US.  Approximately 2/3rds of those are from the Spanish-speaking countries of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua while the remaining 1/3rd is from English speaking Belize. 
Figure 1.  Garifuna population estimates by year and location.	
Year
	Total	Guatemala	Honduras	Belize	New Orleans	Los Angeles	New York	
1960 				4,147				
1974/75 	70,000-80,000	3,101						
1980 			60,900					
1984/85 		3,000		10,600				
1987 	200,000						30,000	
1992 	100,000-200,000					4,000-10,000		
1997			100,000-200,000		2,000-4,000			
1998 						25,000		
1999 			126,320 (all blacks)	16,730				
Note: The figures above are drawn from many sources, some of which are from national censuses.  Other figures are from journalists and anthropologists and related scholars.  I discarded several journalistic estimates which were inconsistent with more reliable census figures.
Source: Gonzalez 1988, Palacio 1992, Ferguson 1997a, Ferguson 1997b, O’Connor 1998, World Fact Book 1999, Davidson as cited in Gonzalez 1988, Cruz based on Davidson and as cited in Gonzalez 1988	
Based on research carried out in 1981/82, Palacio estimates that there were between 4,000 and 10,000 Garifuna living in Los Angeles (Palacio 1992) but more recent estimates put that number around 25,000 (O'Conner 1998). My conservative estimate of the Los Angeles Garifuna population is somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 with the vast majority living predominantly in South Central Los Angeles.

Sources:

ABC-CLIO, Inc. (1999). Facts & Figures (Honduras), ABC-CLIO, Inc. Kaleidoscope. [Population statistics originally excerpted from the following: Europa World Year Book; The World Factbook; World Population Prospects]
	
Ferguson, H. (1997a). Black Hondurans try to Preserve Culture; Emigration, Development Trouble Garifuna. The Times-Picayune. New Orleans (?): A1.
	
Ferguson, H. (1997b). Many Garifuna Moving Families to New Orleans. Times-Picayune. New Orleans (?): A4.
	
Gonzáles, N. (1988). Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenesis and Ethnohistory of the Garifuna. Chicago, University of Illinois Press.
	
O'Conner, A.-M. (1998). Column One: American Threat to a Proud Heritage. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles: Part A, Page 1.
	
Palacio, J. O. (1992). "Garifuna Immigrants in Los Angeles: Attempts at Self-Improvement." Belizean Studies 20, No.3 (December 1992): 17-26.