Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Santa Cruz-Watsonville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1/ increased from 123,790 in 1970 to 262,382 in 2010. That was an increase of 112.0 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 9,811 in 1970 to 49,067 in 2010. That was an increase of 400.1 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 7.9 percent to 18.7 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 87.2 percent.

	Santa Cruz 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) was the primary factor in 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, NIM replaced B-D as the principal factor in added population in all periods.

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

		B-D	 NDM	 NIM						 B-D	 NDM	 NIM	
	90-'99	58.8%	 neg.	41.2%					90-'99	 28.0%	 neg.	72.0%
	00-'09	63.0%	 neg.	37.0%					00-'09	 21.6%	 neg.	76.4%
	10-'14	63.2%	19.5%	17.2%					10-'14	 18.6%	19.5%	61.8%

1/ Santa Cruz County.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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