Washington State Immigration

Population

Washington's population increased from 2,853,214 in 1960 to 6,744,496 in 2010. That was an increase of 136.4 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 178,658 in 1960 to 886,262 in 2010. That was an increase of 396.1 percent. The foreign-born share increased from 6.3 percent in 1960 to 13.2 percent in 2010.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 118.3 percent.

	Washington: Population  1960-2010

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. The largest factor contributing to population increase in the first period was NDM, and in the two most periods it was B-D.

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 largest contributor to population increase in the two most recent periods.

	Washington: Sources of Population Change 1990-2014 		Washington: Sources of Population Change (Adjusted) 1990-2014

		 B-D	 NDM	NIM						B-D	NDM	NIM	
	90-'99  47.2%	50.6%   2.2%					90-'99	35.0%  50.6%  14.3%
	00-'09	44.2%	30.2%  25.6%					00-'09	23.7%  30.2%  46.1%
	10-'14	46.4%	25.0%  28.5%					10-'14	21.3%  25.0%  53.7%

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