Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/ increased from 2,195,146 in 1970 to 5,920,855 in 2010. That was an increase of 169.7 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 53,979 in 1970 to 1,330,824 in 2010. That was an increase of 2365.4 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 2.5 percent to 22.5 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 32.6 percent.

	Houston 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. In it, natural change (B-D) was the primary factor in population increase in all periods.

The second chart shows the same data but with an adjustment to reflect births to immigrants shifted to NIM. In it, NIM became the principal factor in population increase in all periods.

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

		B-D	 NDM	 NIM						B-D	 NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	59.5%	12.2%	28.3%					90-'99	34.4%	12.2%	54.4%
	00-'09	50.5%	22.1%	27.4%					00-'09	22.9%	22.1%	55.0%
	10-'14	43.5%	33.7%	22.8%					10-'14	15.3%	33.7%	51.0%

1/ Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller counties.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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