Immigration and International Population Totals for Cities, Metro Areas

Many metro areas throughout the U.S. benefited from international migration in recent years.

In 135 of these regions, international population growth exceeded domestic population growth between 2010 and 2012, according to Census Bureau estimates. Some cities would have actually lost instead of gained population had it not been for immigrants and others migrating from overseas.

International migration statistics represents estimates, not hard population counts. The Census Bureau, according to its methodology, bases its estimates on immigration/emigration of the foreign born, net migration between Puerto Rico and the U.S., migration of natives in and out of the country and movement of those serving in the Armed Forces. So, not all residents included in the census migration estimates are necessarily foreigners.

The following table shows estimated international population changes for each metro area occurring between the 2010 Census and July 2012. The second column refers the difference between net international migration and domestic population changes, which take into account Americans relocating, births and deaths.