Who are the residents of San Miguel de Allende? Who lives in San Miguel de Allende?
Kat Ballou
I found this great article in “Travel and Leisure” that gives some of the history of San Miguel de Allende and how Americans came to be expats here as early as the late 1940’s when Stirling Dickinson made his discovery of the city. By the early 1950’s there were about 40 expats living here.Now, according to reliable sources quoted by the author of the article, Simon Watson, out of the a population of about 80,000 in San Miguel de Allende, from...
I found this great article in “Travel and Leisure” that gives some of the history of San Miguel de Allende and how Americans came to be expats here as early as the late 1940’s when Stirling Dickinson made his discovery of the city. By the early 1950’s there were about 40 expats living here.Now, according to reliable sources quoted by the author of the article, Simon Watson, out of the a population of about 80,000 in San Miguel de Allende, from 12,000 to 14,000 (15% tor more) are expats, and of those, roughly 70% are from the US.
Watson described how the expats as a group have a very active life, owning and running all sorts of small businesses, including cafés, bakeries, guesthouses, clothing stores, art galleries, language schools, day spas, and bars. They also teach and lead tours, write guides, and publish a newspaper, an art magazine, and a telephone directory for expatriates. Watson’s overall assessment was that the expats have gradually transformed San Miguel de Allende into “a cosmopolitan center with more restaurants, nightlife, and good shops than in much larger cities in the United States.”
(Stirling Dickinson, an American expat who was one of the founding members of the artist community in San Miguel Allende, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted January 31, 2016
Clementina Beas
San Miguel de Allende is a very cosmopolitan city. We have residents who were born here and come from many generations of San Miguelenses (those born in San Miguel de Allende), and people who have moved here from outside of San Miguel de Allende, either to retire here, or to work here as well. We also have a large foreign community. Those of us Mexicans who have come from outside of San Miguel de Allende have adopted San Miguel de Allende in our...
San Miguel de Allende is a very cosmopolitan city. We have residents who were born here and come from many generations of San Miguelenses (those born in San Miguel de Allende), and people who have moved here from outside of San Miguel de Allende, either to retire here, or to work here as well. We also have a large foreign community. Those of us Mexicans who have come from outside of San Miguel de Allende have adopted San Miguel de Allende in our hearts as our home. These are mostly working age individuals like myself, or professionals who have adopted San Miguel as their home because it’s safe and a culturally diverse city.
The patron saint of San Miguel de Allende is very protective of his land, and people who come to San Miguel de Allende don’t always find that they can stay here for long periods of time. There are those who come to San Miguel de Allende to reside here permanently, while there are those who live here for a short period of time because the patron saint is so protective of his lands, so they find that San Miguel is not for them.
This phenomenon happens not only to Mexicans, but also to the foreign community. If you’re meant to be here in San Miguel de Allende, then you’re meant to be here; and if you’re not, then you’re not.
The people who come to stay in San Miguel de Allende are those who celebrate the culture and traditions, and embrace San Miguel de Allende in their hearts. These are people who respect the land and the culture. San Miguel de Allende is a magical place to live and miracles happen here every day, but that’s only if you’re meant to be here.
If you’re not meant to live here, then your life usually becomes complicated, and you will be forced to leave one way or another. We have a population here of between 180,000 – 200,000 inhabitants. The estimated total foreign population is between 10,000 and 15,000. Majority of the foreign residents live here full time, but we do have a rather large snowbird population- these are people who only live here for several months a year.
The majority of the foreigners living here are from the US and Canada. We have a rather small percentage of English, Italian, and French nationals. The largest part of foreign residents here in San Miguel de Allende are those who have chosen San Miguel de Allende as their place for retirement, but in the last couple of years, we’ve seen a large trend of younger people, and even families who have chosen San Miguel de Allende as their place to live because of the quality of life here. These are people who are continuing to work in Mexico, normally virtually, or people who can afford to travel back and forth their country of origin and work from Mexico as their base.
There are also families that have moved to Mexico to provide a higher standard of living and quality of life for their families, and that is why they have chosen San Miguel de Allende.
(Centro San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted December 4, 2016
Jonathan Peters - Ventanas de San Miguel
The residents of San Miguel de Allende are 15% foreign or non-Mexican. You would think the number was higher because the non-Mexicans tend to congregate in Centro San Miguel de Allende and that is where you feel our presence. The majority of foreigners are from the US, but heavily represented are also Canadians, Europeans and you even see more people from Asia than you used to. You see people from all over the world now. There are still more Americans but...
The residents of San Miguel de Allende are 15% foreign or non-Mexican. You would think the number was higher because the non-Mexicans tend to congregate in Centro San Miguel de Allende and that is where you feel our presence. The majority of foreigners are from the US, but heavily represented are also Canadians, Europeans and you even see more people from Asia than you used to. You see people from all over the world now. There are still more Americans but the residents of San Miguel de Allende is diversifying. A few years down the road, there won’t be a monolithic block of American tier that it used to be.
Here at Ventanas de San Miguel we have a dozen different nationalities aside from Mexican nationals. The people living in San Miguel de Allende is a real mix.
San Miguel de Allende has also become the kind of place where you run into Mexicans who are originally from other areas of Mexico. San Miguel de Allende is still small town but is booming economically and thanks to the Internet, people can run their business from outside their cities now. The standard of living is so good in San Miguel de Allende that a lot of younger Mexicans who have technology related jobs, run their own business and figure out a way to live here. A lot has changed because the population has grown substantially in the last 20-30 years. The person you run into here is not originally from San Miguel de Allende compared to how it used to be.
(Golfing friends, Ventanas de San Miguel, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted January 11, 2017