Immigrant population of cities around the world

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Among U.S. metros, DC is highly underrated and Philly is a notable underperformer. DC has really broad, almost Toronto-like diversity, but hidden in sprawl. Philly has notable in-town diversity but suburbs don't have much, besides the standard Indians-in-McMansion typology.

Agree about DC being very diverse in its suburbs, but Philly's inner-suburbs are moreso than they get credit for. Upper Darby, for instance, is about 25% foreign-born is well-known locally for having over 100 languages spoken in its school district.

Philly's total metro numbers are lower than other peer metros, but the diversity within that total (i.e., balanced representation amongst origin countries) is high (it exceeds Seattle and Atlanta in number of nationalities represented by 10,000+ populations, for example). Continued migration from the NYC area is only increasing that total.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by nito

Paris is the least diverse of the five

That's largely a statistical artefact. INSEE only reports a few foreign communities. Many countries are not reported. For example in Paris we don't have the numbers of Laotian and Egyptian immigrants, both of which are certainly more than 5,000. The Laotians must be 30,000, but INSEE for some reason doesn't report them. Also, the Syrian immigrants are not reported. Many African countries are not reported. Many European countries are not reported. Etc.

INSEE is a disaster. In 2023, they have even mysteriously stopped reporting the immigrant communities, so we may be stuck with the 2022 figures for years to come.

[Docere]

West Midlands Metropolitan County (Birmingham)

Born outside UK 633,091

Europe 180,672
Africa 102,205
Asia 308,122
Americas 37,477

India 104,069
Pakistan 97,134
Poland 34,873
Romania 31,078
Bangladesh 28,305
Jamaica 22,390
Ireland 19,818
Nigeria 16,654
Italy 15,677
Somalia 13,001
China 10,646
Zimbabwe 9,614
Afghanistan 9,014
Ghana 8,334
Iraq 8,235
Iran 7,692
Germany 6,883
Spain 6,315
Lithuania 5,596
Hong Kong 5,167
Sri Lanka 5,113

# 50000+: 2
# 20000+: 6
# 10000+: 11
# 20000+: 21

Greater Manchester

Born outside UK 480,016

Europe 152,378
Africa 87,076
Asia 214,655
Americas 21,153

Pakistan 89,331
India 31,030
Poland 29,859
Nigeria 21,494
Ireland 20,083
Bangladesh 18,138
Italy 14,476
China 12,484
Romania 11,904
Iran 10,351
Spain 10,159
Germany 8,318
Iraq 7,956
Hong Kong 7,056
Somalia 6,277
Zimbabwe 5,823

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 5
# 10000+: 11
# 5000+: 16

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Docere

Of the large US metros (say 2 million+) I'm guessing Pittsburgh would probably have the lowest foreign born percentage or close to it.

This page has a map, which shows Pittsburgh as 439th nationwide among MSAs for percent foreign born. Unfortunately, the raw data isn't downloadable, so there's no easy way to do a sort. I can find a few minor MSAs (like Toledo) that rank lower, but no major ones.

I will say as a Pittsburgher, while it's notable how relatively absent Latinos are from the city compared to other major metros, the migrant population is heavily concentrated in the city proper (predominantly Asian these days), so the suburbs/exurbs being so lily white isn't really immediately visible.

In terms of core cities, at last measure we did have a higher percentage foreign born than Cleveland, Cincinnati, Birmingham, New Orleans, Louisville, Memphis, etc.

[Docere]

Nito you have 73 countries assigned to Sydney and 53 to Toronto - should be the other way around.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

Of the large US metros (say 2 million+) I'm guessing Pittsburgh would probably have the lowest foreign born percentage or close to it.

According to the OECD, among the US metro areas with more than 2 million people, the lowest percentages of foreign-born are in St. Louis (5.1%), Cincinnati (5.3%) and Cleveland (6.0%).

Pittsburgh has less than 2 million people in its metro area.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

According to the OECD, among the US metro areas with more than 2 million people, the lowest percentages of foreign-born are in St. Louis (5.1%), Cincinnati (5.3%) and Cleveland (6.0%).

Pittsburgh has less than 2 million people in its metro area.

The Pittsburgh MSA officially has just under 2.5 million people in its MSA.

The OECD may be looking at urban areas instead of MSA as defined by the U.S. We tend to have a broader understanding of what's "metropolitan."

There are several counties in the Pittsburgh MSA which really shouldn't be in it. Armstrong County has absolutely no exurban development other than a tiny sliver in Freeport, but was added at the 1990 Census after furious lobbying by the county (local hospitals wanted to be reimbursed at the higher Pittsburgh MSA Medicare rate, not the non-metro rate). Fayette County really has little to do with Pittsburgh as well.

Edit: Also worth noting that a smaller Pittsburgh MSA would also lead to a (slightly) more diverse Pittsburgh MSA.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by eschaton

The Pittsburgh MSA officially has just under 2.5 million people in its MSA.

The OECD may be looking at urban areas instead of MSA as defined by the U.S. We tend to have a broader understanding of what's "metropolitan."

No. OECD uses the international definition for metro areas, the FUA (dense core, and outlying areas where more than 15% of the population in employment commute to the central core).

For Pittsburth, they have 1.45 million people in its metro area.

For US metro areas larger than 1 million people, the lowest percentages of foreign-born are in Birmingham, Alabama (3.7%), St. Louis (5.1%), Cincinnati (5.3%), Pittsburgh (5.5%), and Memphis (5.6%).

[dimondpark]

Combined Statistical Areas by
Foreign Born Population(age 25+)
with a Graduate Degree or
Professional Degree, 2024:
967,373---New York-Newark
618,081---San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland
558,487---Los Angeles-Long Beach
424,306---Washington-Baltimore-Arlington
321,178---Miami-Port St Lucie-Ft Lauderdale
295,043---Boston-Worcester-Providence
273,966---Chicago-Naperville
258,540---Dallas-Ft Worth
256,616---Houston-Pasadena
228,544---Seattle-Tacoma
182,201---Atlanta-Athens-Sandy Springs
163,346---Philadelphia-Reading-Camden
119,011---Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor
96,941----Orlando-Lakeland-Deltona
88,462----Phoenix-Mesa
82,654----Raleigh-Durham-Cary
74,405----Denver-Aurora-Greeley
68,783----Portland-Vancouver-Salem
67,182----Minneapolis-St Paul
61,904----Sacramento-Roseville
56,814----Charlotte-Concord
56,319----New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury
40,525----Las Vegas-Henderson

[Crawford]

Again, DC shines. Look at those numbers compared to Chicago and the Sunbelt growth monsters. I know it's CSA so kinda sus including Baltimore, but DC is an unheralded immigrant magnet.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Again, DC shines. Look at those numbers compared to Chicago and the Sunbelt growth monsters. I know it's CSA so kinda sus including Baltimore, but DC is an unheralded immigrant magnet.

DC will punch above it's weight when it comes to educational attainment, but yeah.

Also, Raleigh is wayy out of it's size tier yet there it is.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Combined Statistical Areas by
Foreign Born Population(age 25+)
with a Graduate Degree or
Professional Degree, 2024:
967,373---New York-Newark
618,081---San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland
558,487---Los Angeles-Long Beach
424,306---Washington-Baltimore-Arlington
321,178---Miami-Port St Lucie-Ft Lauderdale
295,043---Boston-Worcester-Providence
273,966---Chicago-Naperville
258,540---Dallas-Ft Worth
256,616---Houston-Pasadena
228,544---Seattle-Tacoma
182,201---Atlanta-Athens-Sandy Springs
163,346---Philadelphia-Reading-Camden
119,011---Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor
96,941----Orlando-Lakeland-Deltona
88,462----Phoenix-Mesa
82,654----Raleigh-Durham-Cary
74,405----Denver-Aurora-Greeley
68,783----Portland-Vancouver-Salem
67,182----Minneapolis-St Paul
61,904----Sacramento-Roseville
56,814----Charlotte-Concord
56,319----New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury
40,525----Las Vegas-Henderson

Just casual spot checking but it appears that educational attainment among immigrants is generally higher in metros with lower percentages of foreign-born. The total educated foreign-born in the NY CSA is about 16% of the total MSA foreign-born population. For the LA CSA its' about 13%. For the Detroit CSA it's about 25% and Philadelphia it's about 22%. Yes, I know comparing CSA to MSA isn't the cleanest comparison but it's probably directionally legitimate.

[Docere]

London, NYC and Toronto by broad global regions (ordered by world population share).

Greater London

East and Southeast Asia 248,652 7%
South Asia 694,669 19.4%
Sub-Saharan Africa 557,428 15.6%
Europe 1,293,563 36.2%
Latin America and Caribbean 278,938 7.8%
Middle East and Central Asia 335,852 9.4%

New York Metro Area

East and Southeast Asia 935,906 15.7%
South Asia 595,936 10%
Sub-Saharan Africa 215,791 3.6%
Europe 823,903 13.8%
Latin America and Caribbean 2,994,166 50.3%
Middle East and Central Asia 283,799 4.8%

Toronto Census Metropolitan Area

East and Southeast Asia 711,900 24.8%
South Asia 666,655 23.3%
Sub-Saharan Africa 133,705 4.7%
Europe 553,105 19.3%
Latin America and Caribbean 361,875 12.6%
Middle East and Central Asia 317,510 11.1%

World population share:

East and Southeast Asia 29.5%
South Asia 25.2%
Sub-Saharan Africa 14.4%
Europe 9.4%
Latin America and Caribbean 8.3%
Middle East and Central Asia 7.9%


Didn't include Northern America (US/Canada basically - for foreign born comparison you'd be comparing Americans in Toronto, Canadians in New York and both in London which doesn't make much sense) or Oceania (less than 1% of global population).

Toronto doesn't have as many nationalities represented as New York or London. But it comes closest to "the world in a city" or reflecting the composition of the world population. Just under half were born in East, Southeast or South Asia - while just over half the world's population lives there.

[Docere]

When you look from a global population perspective comments (I know often in jest) like "where are the Mexicans in London?" are kind of nonsensical. Less than a tenth of the world's population lives in Latin America. I actually find the modest (though certainly not absent) Chinese/East Asian presence more striking.

[muppet]

well tbf this is city proper, and the East/SE Asian population today is estimated at 380K-420K in there alone -the recent flood from HK has increased the Chinese population by half, plus the returning boom in students post pandemic (as reminder the 2021 census was carried out in the middle of a lockdown), many from China, Philippines and Indonesia.

Also something to be said about how only Chinese/ HK got the tickbox, while the rest had to submit via the Any Other Asian category, also including Nepalese, Kazakhs, Afghans etc. thus blurring figures, and often leaving them out in summaries. For example, the Filipino population was 80K in 2021, but without their own. As the SE Asian population nears 200K, they need at least their own category.

[Docere]

Born in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Greater London 94,549
New York Metro Area 542,194
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 411,075

Even when Hong Kong went from British to Chinese control, few moved to London, far more went to Canada and probably the US.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Docere

Born in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Greater London 94,549
New York Metro Area 542,194
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 411,075

Even when Hong Kong went from British to Chinese control, few moved to London, far more went to Canada and probably the US.

SF and LA have a lot, too.

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by Docere

London, NYC and Toronto by broad global regions (ordered by world population share).

Greater London

East and Southeast Asia 248,652 7%
South Asia 694,669 19.4%
Sub-Saharan Africa 557,428 15.6%
Europe 1,293,563 36.2%
Latin America and Caribbean 278,938 7.8%
Middle East and Central Asia 335,852 9.4%

This seems to track as I just got back from a trip to London (it was hot AF). I didn't see very many East or Southeast Asians or Latinos. Minority wise, saw a good amount of South Asians and Middle Eastern looking people, as well as Africans. When I toured Chinatown, the Asians I saw there were mainly service workers working in restaurants or boba shops, whereas the crowd in general was more diverse, likely to there being many tourists in the area. But overall, more distinct from SF Chinatown where there are more visible local Chinese walking around, not just tourists.

The Asian food in London also unsurprisingly did not compare to what I'm used to here in the Bay Area. Ironically I saw a Fogo De Chao Brazilian steakhouse right at the entrance of London's Chinatown.

[Docere]

Perhaps the Chinese box is there because there is a small, but long-standing presence in Britain. I did have dinner in Liverpool's Chinatown once (don't remember how good it was). While Filipinos are much more recent.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by craigs

SF and LA have a lot, too.

Indeed...

Born in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

New York Metro Area 542,194
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 411,075
San Francisco Metro Area 368,764
Los Angeles Metro Area 357,688
Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area 319,610
Greater Sydney 297,549
Greater Melbourne 199,813
San Jose Metro Area 152,011
Greater London 94,549