How Mass Immigration Impacts

Do you live in one of these urban areas?

Population growth is inevitable in most countries, regardless of whether mass immigration is occuring. However, huge influxes of foreigners in your city is not normal or necessary.

The foreign-born population in the U.S. rose from 9.6 million in 1970 (4.7% of total population) to 19.8 million in 1990 (7.9%), and to over 53 million in 2025 (15.8%). While most land in the country has seen few foreigners, many urban areas have seen immense changes.

In the San Jose, CA metro area, 41.3% of residents were born abroad. In the New York metro area, 30.8% were born abroad. On the other hand, Pittsburgh sits at 4.6% foreign-born, Cleveland at 6.2%, and St. Louis at 5.6%.

Metro area growth

The New York metro area grew by 3.1 million people from 1990 to 2024 - foreign-born residents account for 2.7 million of them, or 87.5% of the growth.

The San Jose metro area grew by 461,210 people from 1990 to 2024. The available nativity series shows foreign-born growth of about 476,746, exceeding total growth as the U.S.-born population declined. The 1990 foreign-born baseline excludes San Benito County, so the foreign-born increase is slightly overstated.

A Common Story

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When there is too much immigration for decades, a pause is needed for the same amount of time. After decades of mass immigration, the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 reduced inflows by approximately 80%. The foreign-born share fell for four straight decades, down to 4.7% in 1970, the lowest ever recorded level in American history.

The Hart-Celler Act of 1965 ended the national-origins quotas and rebuilt admission around family sponsorship. The share moved slowly at first, from 4.7% in 1970 to 7.9% in 1990.

The Immigration Act of 1990 signaled the restart of mass immigration, raising the annual ceiling from 270,000 to 675,000, creating the H-1B visa and the Diversity Visa lottery, and legalizing dual intent, which turned temporary visas into a path to permanent residence. The foreign-born share ballooned to 15.8% in 2025, higher than its ever been.

64%

Of the U.S. foreign-born population lives in 20 metro areas

New York: 13%, Los Angeles: 9%, Miami: 6%.

33.5M
Foreign-born residents added since 1990
From 19.8 million in 1990 to 53.3 million in January 2025.
15.8%
Foreign-born share of the population, January 2025
Above the first-wave peak of 14.8% in 1890.
48%
Growth in the top 20 immigration metros, 1990-2025
The 20 metros that drew the fewest grew 23%.
13%
Of the U.S. foreign-born population lives in New York alone
Los Angeles holds 9%, Miami 6%.
4.7%
Foreign-born share in 1970, the lowest on record
After four decades of restriction. It is 15.8% now.

Sources

  1. Bubbles show foreign-born population for the 30 U.S. metro areas with the largest foreign-born populations, U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year: each metro's foreign-born share applied to its population, one basis for all thirty. Those 30 metros hold about 81% of the foreign-born counted across the 109 metro areas over 500,000 people. The national total and its growth from 1990 to January 2025 are from the U.S. Census decennial counts, ACS, and CIS analysis of the Current Population Survey. The changing first- and second-generation counter uses Census CPS ASEC annual generation counts, 2005–2024. It includes all arrival years and U.S.-born children of any age, excluding later generations with two U.S.-born parents. For 1990 and 2000, Pew historical generation shares are multiplied by C51 population denominators; intervening years through 2004 are linearly interpolated. The 2025 value is our trend estimate, extending the 2021–2024 mean annual change by one year, not a published Census or MPI observation. Survey coverage and weighting change over time; modeled years are identified in the tooltip. The separate MPI benchmark is not spliced into this Census series. See CLAIMS C105 for the reproducible calculation and limitations. Metro bubbles measure foreign-born residents only. The three largest countries of birth in each popup are ACS 2024 table B05006, via the Census Reporter API: one-year for 26 of the 30 metro areas, the same vintage as the bubble counts, and the 2024 five-year table for Austin, San Antonio, Providence and Fresno, which do not publish country-level place of birth at one-year. The table's regional roll-ups ("Caribbean", "Eastern Africa") and its residual "Other" rows are excluded before ranking, so every entry is a country.
  2. Population, 1990: U.S. Census Bureau, County Population Estimates 1990-2000 (CO-99-8), the April 1 1990 census base, summed over the counties of each metro's 2023 OMB delineation so both years sit on the same footprint. Population and foreign-born, 2024: American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, at metropolitan statistical area level. Foreign-born, 1990: U.S. Census Bureau Working Paper POP-twps0029 (Gibson and Lennon, 1999), Table 16, "Nativity of the Population for Metropolitan Areas With 500,000 or More Population: 1990", summed over the 1990 metro areas that make up the modern footprint. The native-born column is the difference between the two measured series, which makes it exactly the change in the native-born population: total 2024 less foreign-born 2024, against the same subtraction for 1990. Census counts as native anyone born in the United States, Puerto Rico or a U.S. Island Area, or abroad to a U.S.-citizen parent. Counties that were rural in 1990 sit outside the 1990 nativity table, which affects Atlanta (8.1% of its modern population), Phoenix (5.2%), Minneapolis (4.5%) and San Jose (2.4%, San Benito County) and slightly overstates their foreign-born growth. Median home price to income is ACS 2024 1-year median home value divided by median household income, the same basis as the metro scatter; it runs about 1.2 points below the national median SALE-price ratio and is not comparable to it.
  3. Sources: Migration Policy Institute; Census Bureau Historical Data; DHS Yearbook
  4. U.S. Census Bureau decennial census and American Community Survey; Migration Policy Institute, U.S. Immigrant Population by Metropolitan Area; Center for Immigration Studies analysis of Census CPS data.