The US Census Bureau recently released statistics on immigration to each of the country's 3,142 counties and county equivalents.
- The US Census Bureau recently released estimates of how much net international migration added or subtracted from the populations of the 3,142 counties and county equivalents in the country between 2016 and 2017.
- Most counties saw at least some population growth from immigration, with coastal cities and border areas among those attracting the most immigrants per capita.
Immigration has always been a central part of the American experience, and certain areas draw more immigrants than others.
The US Census Bureau recently released its annual population estimates for each of the country's 3,142 counties and county equivalents. In addition to showing the estimated total population change in those areas between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017, the Census Bureau also included a breakdown of the components of that change, including net international migration, or the number of immigrants from other countries moving into a county minus the number of people leaving that county for another country.
The overwhelming majority of counties — 2,446 out of the 3,142 counties and county equivalents — had net positive international migration, with more immigrants to the county than emigrants from the area. Three hundred eighty-eight counties had net negative international migration, while the Census Bureau estimates that 308 counties had zero net population change from international migration.
Many of the counties with the highest net immigration relative to their 2016 population come as no surprise — counties in and around the big cities in the Northeast, in South Florida, and along the Texas border all saw a large amount of population growth from immigration.
Here's net international migration per 1,000 2016 residents between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017:
And here are the 10 counties with populations above 10,000 with the highest per-capita population growth from immigration: