Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/increased from 923,249 in 1970 to 1,332,576 in 2010. That was an increase of 44.3 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 6,232 in 1970 to 64,376 in 2010. That was an increase of 933.0 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 0.7 percent to 4.8 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 38.3 percent.

	Memphis 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. Natural change (B-D) accounted for a majority of the 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, B-D continued to be the principal factor in population increase in all periods.

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

		B-D	NDM	 NIM						B-D	NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	83.7%	 9.1%	 7.2%					90-'99	76.9%	 9.1%	14.0%
	00-'09	80.7%	 neg.	19.3%					00-'09	68.9%	 neg.	31.1%
	10-'14	82.1%	 neg.	17.9%					10-'14	59.4%	 neg.	40.6%

1/ Arkansas: Crittenden County; Mississippi counties: Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, and Tunica; Tennessee counties: Fayette, Shelby, and Tipton.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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