Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/ decreased from 2,759,443 in 1970 to 2,356,286 in 2010. That was a decrease of 14.6 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population decreased from 116,140 in 1970 to 73,786 in 2010. That was a decrease of 36.5 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 4.2 percent to 3.1 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) decreased by 13.6 percent.

	Pittsburgh 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. International migration (NIM) was the only factor consistently adding population in all three periods, but B-D added a larger share in the first period.

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

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

		B-D	 NDM	 NIM						B-D	 NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	56.3%	 neg.	43.7%					90-'99	  0.9%	 neg.	99.1%
	00-'09	 neg.	 neg.	 all					00-'09	  neg.	 neg.	 all
	10-'14	 neg.	23.9%	76.1%					10-'14	  neg.	18.2%	81.9%

1/ Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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