ORLANDO, Fla. — International migrants were drawn to some of the largest urban counties in the U.S. last year, an influx that helped some of those areas recover from the loss of local residents and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Census figures show Desk.
More than 1.1 million people moved to the U.S. last year, fueling population growth at a time when immigration has become a hot-button election issue in the race for the White House and Congress. New arrivals from abroad accounted for more than two-thirds of U.S. population growth last year, according to the agency’s population estimates.
Population estimates published last month show which provinces attracted international migrants last year, but do not distinguish between those in the country legally or illegally. More than half of the US foreign-born population lives in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. But the numbers alone only tell part of the story.
Florida’s Miami-Dade County saw more than 54,000 arrivals last year, the most of any county in the U.S., according to estimates.
Florida as a whole received more than 178,000 international migrants last year, 15% of the U.S. total. More than seven in 10 went to the Sunshine State’s five most populous and urban counties: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach in South Florida; Hillsborough, home to Tampa, on the Gulf Coast; and Orange, in central Florida, where Orlando is located.
A large number of Florida’s international migrants have cases pending in immigration court, according to figures from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Miami and Orlando had two of the largest caseloads last year for cases of migrants placed in removal proceedings, with Florida courts seeing concentrations of Cubans and Venezuelans.
The increases in Florida also reflect some of the pent-up international migration that was postponed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Stefan Rayer, director of the Population Program at the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
“Some international migrants arriving in 2022-2023 likely intended to move earlier but were unable to do so due to pandemic-related travel restrictions,” Rayer said in an email.
Detailed figures on where people came from in 2023 have not yet been published by the Census Bureau. But according to microdata from the 2022 American Community Survey, the largest share of international migrants to Florida came from Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Colombia, respectively.
An influx of more than 40,300 people to California’s Los Angeles County – the third-largest international migration in the US in 2023 – helped ease the departure of 119,000 local residents from the country’s most populous county, figures from the Census Bureau.
Large numbers of international migrants also flocked to the counties home to San Diego, Anaheim, San Jose and Oakland, again as local residents headed for the exit due to housing costs, a rising unemployment rate or other reasons.
A similar influx of international migrants and outflow of local residents occurred in counties including the New York City boroughs, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.
The largest numbers of international migrants to California came from Mexico, China and India, respectively, according to micro data from the 2022 American Community Survey.
The District of Columbia and surrounding counties illustrate the appeal of urban centers to international migrants. Two urbanized Maryland counties just outside the District, Montgomery and Prince George’s, had some of the largest numbers of international migrants in the U.S. last year. The total population of the district also grew year on year.
“I think this means these areas are becoming more attractive as some employment and other activities return to the center cities,” William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution, said in an email. “While many have predicted a doomsday scenario for urban centers post-pandemic, the rise in immigration could well be a ‘magic bullet’ for their recovery.”
Suburban counties farther from the capital, including Prince William and Fairfax counties in Virginia, also experienced an influx of international migrants, but smaller than the previous year.
Among counties with more than half a million residents, Ada County, Idaho, where Boise is located, and two counties in Utah, where the city of Provo and Salt Lake City are located respectively, had some of the largest growth rates in international migration in 2023.
Utah and Idaho have both been among the fastest-growing states in the country over the past decade. Meanwhile, Provo, Salt Lake City and Boise have become regional tech hubs, siphoning white-collar workers and companies from more expensive tech centers in San Francisco and Seattle.
However, the increase in international migration may have another explanation.
Mallory Bateman, director of demographic research at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, attributes the turnout in both states in part to the return of Latter-day Saint missionaries from abroad. They are considered international migrants, even though they are American citizens.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the missionaries were recalled to the United States and not sent back to their international posts until 2021. Last year would mark the end of a two-year mission period for many of them.
“It’s one of those special features of Utah that isn’t really shared anywhere else,” Bateman said.
In Idaho, the increase can also be attributed in part to the return of military personnel and other U.S. residents stuck abroad due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, said Jaap Vos, a professor of planning and natural resources at the University of Idaho.
Just as international migration soared in other states, it fell precipitously in Nevada. Clark County, home to the tourist city of Las Vegas, saw a 58% decline, the largest among counties home to half a million or more people, Census Bureau figures show.
The decline from more than 8,800 international migrants in 2022 to fewer than 3,700 people in 2023 may have been largely caused by economic factors; Nevada had the highest unemployment rate — 5.1% — of any state last year. Other urban Western counties, including areas home to Seattle and Portland, Oregon, saw smaller increases in international migration than in 2022.
“It fluctuates every year, which doesn’t surprise me,” said Stephen Miller, research director at the University of Nevada’s Center for Business and Economic Research in Las Vegas.
The largest sources of international migrants in Nevada came from Mexico, the Philippines and China, respectively, according to microdata from the 2022 American Community Survey.
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