Asheville, NC Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/ increased from 245,573 in 1970 to 242,858 in 2010. That was an increase of 73.0 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 1,570 in 1970 to 23,821 in 2010. That was an increase of 1417.3 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 0.6 percent to 5.6 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 64.4 percent.

	Asheville MSA: Population  1970-2010

Sources of Population Change

The primary sources of population change are:

Natural Change [Births minus Deaths or B-D];
Net Domestic Migration [NDM - movement between states]; and
Net International Migration [NIM - movement into and out of the country].
There is also a residual "other" amount that isn't placed in one of those three categories.

The first chart below shows the three population change factors for three periods adjusted for annual average amounts. Domestic migration (NDM) was the primary factor adding population in all periods.

The second chart shows the same data but with an adjustment to reflect births to immigrants shifted to NIM. In it, NDM remained the primary factor adding population in all periods.

	Asheville MSA: Sources of Population Change 1990-2014 		Asheville MSA: Sources of Population Change (Adjusted) 1990-2014

		B-D	  NDM	 NIM						B-D	  NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	 4.5%	92.1%	 3.4%					90-'99	 0.9%	92.1%	 7.0%
	00-'09	 5.3%	79.7%	15.1%					00-'09	 neg.	78.2%	21.8%
	10-'14	 neg.	90.8%	 9.2%					10-'14	 neg.	83.6%	16.4%

1/ Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison counties.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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