Puerto Rico has been part of the United States since 1898, so as of 2026 it has been about 128 years.

Quick Scoop

Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States at the end of the Spanish–American War, when Spain ceded the island under the Treaty of Paris signed in December 1898. In the early years, the island was governed by U.S. military authorities until a civil government was set up by the Foraker Act in 1900, formalizing U.S. control and administration.

In 1917, the Jones–Shafroth Act confirmed Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory and granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans born on or after April 25, 1898. Later, in 1952, Puerto Rico adopted its own constitution and became a U.S. commonwealth, which gave it greater internal self-government but did not change the basic territorial relationship with the United States.

So, if you count from the original cession in 1898 to now (2026), Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for roughly 128 years, though its political status and degree of self-government have evolved over that time.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.