Census data showed that the number of new immigrants in the 20 most populous U.S. counties nearly tripled from 2021 to 2022.
Last year saw the highest rate of net migration from abroad to the U.S. since 2017, showing that immigration rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Although the number of immigrants in the top 20 U.S. counties exploded last year, many of the most populous counties are still losing residents to other counties and regions.
- Los Angeles County, California, the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, and Cook County, Illinois (which includes Chicago) all lost population in 2022.
- The population losses in these counties were smaller in 2022 than it was in 2021, however.
- Sunbelt cities like Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, and Tampa all attracted internal migration last year.
- Manhattan added 17,472 residents in 2022 after losing nearly 100,000 in 2021.
- Three-quarters of U.S. counties saw more deaths than births last year, up from 45% of counties in 2018.
