Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/ increased from 5,317,407 in 1970 to 5,965,850 in 2010. That was an increase of 12.2 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 258,891 in 1970 to 570,193 in 2010. That was an increase of 120.2 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 4.9 percent to 9.6 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 6.7 percent.

	Philadelphia 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 consistently negative and 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, net immigration (NIM) became the primary factor in population increase in the two most recent periods.

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

		B-D	 NDM	 NIM						B-D	 NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	71.8%	 neg.	28.2%					90-'99	 50.8%	 neg.	49.2%
	00-'09	62.1%	 neg.	37.9%					00-'09	 35.9%	 neg.	64.1%
	10-'14	51.6%	 neg.	48.4%					10-'14	 21.5%	 neg.	78.5%

1/ PA counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia: NJ counties: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem; Cecil County, MD and New Castle County, DE.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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