Immigrant population of cities around the world

[Docere]

Including Puerto Rico in US stats, and Anguilla, Cayman Islands, etc in British stats, but not including Guadeloupe and Martinique in French stats is absurd in the extreme.

US stats do not include Puerto Rico and UK stats don't include Anguilla and Cayman Islands. I doubt the latter two would make the 5000 cut anyway.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by muppet

well what should it be? I'll update it. Brazil now the second largest contingent from the Americas.

55,787 (see post #1).

[Docere]

[deleted]

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

How many from Laos and Egypt should there be?

We don't know because INSEE doesn't publish individualized stats for these countries.

The last time INSEE published the full list of countries for immigrants was in 2021 (for the year 2018), and it was only for the entire France, not for the regions. Since 2021, they have mysteriously stopped publishing the list, so we remain stuck with the numbers from 2018.

In 2018, there were 32,600 Laotian immigrants in France (almost all of them in Greater Paris). This number is a slight underestimate due to the Laotian elites not being counted as immigrants (as per their French citizenship already in French Indochina), but unlike the Vietnamese, who are many in this case, for the Laotians I think this would include perhaps 1,000-3,000 people.

In 2018, there were also 29,900 Egyptian immigrants in France (also for the most part in Greater Paris, and also not including a few hundreds or thousands of Egyptian elites not counted as immigrants because they had French citizenship in Egypt when France oversaw the Egyptian administration there before 1940).

At the 2018 census (last time we had the full list of all countries published), these were the immigrant groups with more than 20,000 people living in France for which INSEE does not individually report the countries at the Greater Paris level:
- Syria: 35,500
- Laos: 32,600
- Armenia: 31,500
- Egypt: 29,900
- Cape Verde: 29,700
- Bulgaria: 29,300
- Ukraine: 26,400
- Albania: 25,700
- Moldova: 24,900
- Suriname (this concerns essentially French Guiana): 24,500
- Togo: 22,500
- Iran: 22,000
- Afghanistan: 21,700

Very near the threshold (so quite likely above 20,000 now):
- Gabon: 19,600
- Benin: 19,300
- Philippines: 19,100
- Thailand: 18,700

Among these, Laos and Egypt are quite probably above 20,000 in Paris. For the other ones, it's hard to tell, but my educated guess would be Syrians, Ukrainians, Afghans (these last two rose a lot since 2018) are also above 20,000 in Paris. Cape Verde could possibly also be above 20,000 in Paris, and possibly also the Philippines (they are predominantly employed as housekeepers and nannies by upper-class Parisians, and have risen since 2018). Togo and Benin could also be there if they rose significantly since 2018 (these two groups are likely 90% in Paris, 10% in the rest of France). Armenians, Iranians, Albanese, Bulgarians, Moldovans should be more spread across France.

Originally Posted by Docere

The others are overseas departments.

But they are still overseas. Excluding Guadeloupe and Martinique ends up denying that there exists a Caribbean community in Paris, which, as anyone can understand, is absolutely ridiculous. It would be like excluding the Jamaicans from the London figures if Jamaica had remained an overseas territory of the UK.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

US stats do not include Puerto Rico and UK stats don't include Anguilla and Cayman Islands. I doubt the latter two would make the 5000 cut anyway.

Not including the Puerto Ricans in New York is as ridiculous as not including the Guadeloupeans and Martinicans in Paris. It's statistical blindness.

[Docere]

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 703,345

Europe 63,142
Asia 170,134
Africa 34,955
Americas 431,300

Mexico 333,523
India 42,230
Canada 31,592
Philippines 25,475
Vietnam 17,570
China 17,009
United Kingdom 12,505
Guatemala 12,157
Cuba 9,416
Iraq 9,350
Germany 8,362
El Salvador 7,978
Romania 5,554

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 3
# 10000+: 8
# 5000+: 13

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 588,966

Europe 43,080
Asia 66,808
Africa 17,033
Americas 440,713

Venezuela 76,859
Colombia 49,101
Haiti 47,524
Brazil 39,589
Cuba 36,949
Dominican Republic 35,706
Jamaica 28,505
Mexico 25,870
India 17,487
Philippines 14,027
Vietnam 13,832
United Kingdom 11,952
Peru 11,338
Guyana 11,263
Ecuador 9,630
Guatemala 8,941
Canada 8,859
Honduras 7,714
Trinidad and Tobago 7,240

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 8
# 10000+: 13
# 5000+: 19

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 512,104

Europe 74,372
Asia 101,005
Africa 18,363
Americas 315,862

Cuba 92,321
Mexico 39,579
India 28,785
Colombia 28,553
Venezuela 20,519
Canada 18,877
Vietnam 16,566
Dominican Republic 16,394
Jamaica 15,818
Philippines 13,681
United Kingdom 11,882
Haiti 10,941
Brazil 10,083
Germany 8,977
Peru 8,250
Honduras 7,842
China 7,569
Trinidad and Tobago 6,385
Guatemala 5,740
Poland 5,701
Ecuador 5,352
Russia 5,072

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 5
# 10000+: 13
# 5000+: 22

Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 509,336

Europe 37,229
Asia 172,606
Africa 19,018
Americas 276,680

Mexico 170,148
Philippines 83,366
Cuba 25,776
El Salvador 21,365
China 19,330
Korea 11,794
Guatemala 11,433
Vietnam 10,894
Canada 8,947
India 7,636
United Kingdom 5,989
Thailand 5,385
Germany 5,029
Colombia 5,012

# 50000+: 2
# 20000+: 4
# 10000+: 8
# 5000+: 14

Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 471,989

Europe 72,889
Asia 234,176
Africa 12,534
Oceania 15,706
Americas 136,684

Mexico 101,196
Philippines 42,787
India 35,328
Vietnam 29,337
China 26,135
Afghanistan 23,695
Ukraine 22,639
Russia 12,239
Fiji 12,012
Laos 10,867
Korea 7,152
Iran 7,097
El Salvador 6,859
Canada 6,818
Pakistan 6,766
United Kingdom 6,611
Moldova 5,412

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 7
# 10000+: 10
# 5000+: 17

[Docere]

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 404,575

Europe 35,526
Asia 148,394
Africa 118,309
Americas 100,978

Mexico 45,291
Somalia 29,027
India 28,214
Ethiopia 24,340
Laos 20,999
Thailand 16,704
China 14,107
Vietnam 14,104
Kenya 13,786
Liberia 13,980
Korea 9,862
Ecuador 9,347
Philippines 9,190
Canada 8,498
Nigeria 8,212
Burma 6,709
El Salvador 6,014
Russia 5,330

# 50000+: 0
# 20000+: 5
# 10000+: 10
# 5000+: 18

Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 396,199

Europe 33,478
Asia 133,540
Africa 20,827
Americas 206,741

Mexico 122,200
India 48,009
Honduras 17,844
Vietnam 12,969
China 12,677
Cuba 9,329
El Salvador 8,869
Korea 8,526
Venezuela 7,742
United Kingdom 7,549
Canada 7,484
Philippines 7,113
Guatemala 6,938
Nigeria 5,456
Germany 5,186

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 2
# 10000+: 5
# 5000+: 15

Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 374,111

Europe 44,099
Asia 94,467
Africa 36,045
Americas 195,765

Mexico 135,017
India 17,950
Vietnam 12,733
China 10,813
Ethiopia 9,840
Korea 9,671
Venezuela 8,942
Canada 8,252
United Kingdom 7,777
Philippines 7,101
Colombia 6,235
El Salvador 5,844
Germany 5,577
Russia 5,470

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 1
# 10000+: 4
# 5000+: 14

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 330,199

Europe 34,192
Asia 126,851
Africa 62,748
Americas 105,585

India 25,964
Nigeria 23,568
El Salvador 23,266
China 16,521
Korea 16,074
Philippines 15,547
Mexico 11,754
Honduras 10,355
Guatemala 9,464
Jamaica 8,905
Pakistan 8,611
Nepal 5,985
United Kingdom 5,941
Ethiopia 5,814
Ghana 5,436
Vietnam 5,352

# 50000+: 0
# 20000+: 3
# 10000+: 8
# 5000+: 16

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 328,237

Europe 33,181
Asia 91,262
Africa 27,327
Americas 175,571

Mexico 57,397
India 38,714
Honduras 25,909
El Salvador 13,699
Colombia 11,739
Vietnam 10,482
Guatemala 9,015
Venezuela 7,644
China 7,558
United Kingdom 6,971
Dominican Republic 6,521
Canada 5,864
Ecuador 5,846

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 3
# 10000+: 6
# 5000+: 13

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 320,290

Europe 57,924
Asia 127,807
Africa 14,889
Americas 113,178

Mexico 75,729
Vietnam 21,690
China 17,265
Ukraine 13,905
Philippines 11,999
Canada 10,362
Korea 9,986
United Kingdom 8,017
Russia 6,463
Guatemala 6,347
Germany 5,471
Japan 5,417

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 2
# 10000+: 6
# 5000+: 12

San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 308,776

Europe 16,843
Asia 57,704
Africa 9,875
Americas 222,982

Mexico 178,524
India 12,979
Philippines 9,612
Honduras 7,221
El Salvador 5,548
Vietnam 5,149

# 50000+: 1
# 20000+: 1
# 10000+: 2
# 5000+: 6

[New Brisavoine]

Here is the data for the Spanish metro areas (international definition of the FUAs).

Percentage of foreign-born population (this is comparable to British figures, but not comparable to French, US, and Canadian figures) in 2024:
- Palma de Mallorca metro area: 27.2% of the population was born outside of Spain
- Barcelona metro area: 23.9%
- Madrid metro area: 23.6%
- Alicante-Elche metro area: 22.6%
- Malaga metro area: 20.3%
- Valencia metro area: 19.7%
- Murcia-Cartagena metro area: 18.1%
- Saragossa metro area: 17.7%
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria metro area: 15.0%
- Bilbao metro area: 12.9%
- Granada metro area: 10.7%
- Seville metro area: 7.4%

This is the comparable figure for the Paris metro area: 27.0% in 2023 (we don't have the 2024 figure yet, but it will obviously be higher than in 2023; in 2022 it was 26.2%, so for 2024 it should be near 28%). Note: this 27.0% figure here (near 28% in 2024) is the percentage of people born outside of Metropolitan France who lived in the Paris metro area (this is similar to the above figures for Spain, and comparable to British figures; this is not the percentage of immigrants, which is lower than 27.0%).

[Docere]

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates)

Foreign born 1,018,578

Europe 38,380
Asia 247,039
Africa 25,598
Americas 688,636

Mexico 563,471
Philippines 69,196
China 38,758
El Salvador 36,725
Guatemala 27,821
Vietnam 24,309
India 21,345
Korea 18,219
Canada 14,183
Taiwan 11,799
United Kingdom 10,086
Nicaragua 9,112
Egypt 8,986
Honduras 7,831
Peru 6,975
Nigeria 6,787
Germany 5,969
Indonesia 5,941
Pakistan 5,417
Iran 5,356

# 50000+: 2
# 20000+: 7
# 10000+: 11
# 5000+: 20

[Docere]

I think that's it for US metro areas with at least 300,000 foreign born.

300,000+ foreign born (US metros)

New York 5,952,478
Los Angeles 4,241,513
Miami 2,647,319
Houston 1,805,810
Chicago 1,744,561
Dallas 1,550,531
Washington 1,535,913
San Francisco 1,481,065
Riverside 1,018,578
Boston 991,913
Atlanta 950,480
Seattle 853,800
San Jose 803,235
San Diego 749,735
Philadelphia 742,249
Phoenix 703,345
Orlando 588,966
Tampa 512,104
Las Vegas 509,936
Sacramento 471,989
Detroit 467,634
Minneapolis 404,575
Austin 396,199
Denver 374,111
Baltimore 330,199
Charlotte 328,237
Portland 320,290
San Antonio 308,776

ETA: San Antonio added (foreign born population is overwhelmingly Mexican).

[Steely Dan]

^ Man, that list really illustrates how badly the interior north has gotten passed over by immigrants these days, relatively speaking.

Yeah, Chicago, the region's lone bright spot, is still hanging on in that 2nd tier below the big 3, but such a list would've looked radically different generations ago.

Imagine telling a room full of Detroit, or St. Louis, or Cleveland civic leaders in 1950 that nothing-burgers like Orlando, Tampa, and Vegas would have more immigrants than their city 75 years later. You woulda been able to hear their laughter on the freaking moon.

[Docere]

Yup. Back in say, 1960 - when California was yet to become the most populated state and when Europe was still the main source of immigration - the ranking of cities would be very different. Philadelphia and Detroit would probably be in the top 5 cities for foreign born populations. Miami, say, would be way down the list and just at the beginning of the Cuban influx.

[craigs]

The Census Bureau estimated that California overtook New York in 1962, but your larger point stands.

[Docere]

The US cities can be placed into the following groupings/clusters:

Global Gateways: New York, Los Angeles, Miami

All have well over 2 million foreign born, several very large immigrant communities (say 150,000 or 200,000+)

Major Immigration Hubs - Tier 1: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco/Bay Area, Washington

Clustering around 1.5-2 million, nationally important cities with significant global links, and several large diasporas

Major Immigration Hubs - Tier 2: Atlanta, Boston

Smaller than tier 1, around or approaching 1 million

Large Regional Immigration Centers: 500,000-900,000 foreign born

Mid-Size Regional Immigration Centers: 300,000-500,000 foreign born

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Here is the data for the Spanish metro areas (international definition of the FUAs).

Percentage of foreign-born population (this is comparable to British figures, but not comparable to French, US, and Canadian figures) in 2024:
- Palma de Mallorca metro area: 27.2% of the population was born outside of Spain
- Barcelona metro area: 23.9%
- Madrid metro area: 23.6%
- Alicante-Elche metro area: 22.6%
- Malaga metro area: 20.3%
- Valencia metro area: 19.7%
- Murcia-Cartagena metro area: 18.1%
- Saragossa metro area: 17.7%
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria metro area: 15.0%
- Bilbao metro area: 12.9%
- Granada metro area: 10.7%
- Seville metro area: 7.4%

This is the comparable figure for the Paris metro area: 27.0% in 2023 (we don't have the 2024 figure yet, but it will obviously be higher than in 2023; in 2022 it was 26.2%, so for 2024 it should be near 28%). Note: this 27.0% figure here (near 28% in 2024) is the percentage of people born outside of Metropolitan France who lived in the Paris metro area (this is similar to the above figures for Spain, and comparable to British figures; this is not the percentage of immigrants, which is lower than 27.0%).

The Spanish statistical office doesn't publish detailed foreign-born data at the metro area (FUA) level, but here are the results for the province of Madrid and the province of Barcelona, both of which approximate quite well the metro area.

Province of Barcelona:

Foreign-born population at the 2025 census: 1,492,633

Europe: 265,588
Middle East and North Africa: 205,780
Sub-Saharan Africa: 52,236
Asia: 189,719
Oceania: 1,892
US-Canada: 16,129
Latin America: 761,289

Number of countries with 20,000+ foreign-born: 21

- Morocco: 178,759
- Colombia: 115,183
- Argentina: 92,897
- Peru: 88,994
- Ecuador: 85,583
- Venezuela: 75,214
- Pakistan: 65,046
- Honduras: 56,930
- China: 51,044
- Bolivia: 46,026
- Dominican Republic: 41,966
- Italy: 34,812
- France: 34,193
- Brazil: 32,860
- Russia: 29,051
- India: 28,550
- Romania: 27,902
- Paraguay: 26,522
- Ukraine: 24,316
- Cuba: 21,674
- Chile: 21,541

Province of Madrid:

Foreign-born population at the 2025 census: 1,769,811

Europe: 306,278
Middle East and North Africa: 123,695
Sub-Sahara Africa: 41,336
Asia: 115,050
Oceania: 1,975
US-Canada: 23,187
Latin America: 1,158,290

Number of countries with 20,000+ foreign-born: 19

- Venezuela: 210,408
- Colombia: 199,760
- Peru: 164,786
- Ecuador: 140,794
- Romania: 111,309
- Morocco: 100,939
- Dominican Republic: 69,747
- Argentina: 65,320
- China: 56,812
- Honduras: 55,010
- Paraguay: 47,602
- Cuba: 42,236
- Bolivia: 40,202
- Brazil: 31,013
- Ukraine: 27,827
- France: 27,332
- Mexico: 27,259
- Philippines: 24,984
- USA: 21,233

[Docere]

The "next tier" of Canadian cities, 300,000-500,000 foreign born.

Calgary Census Metropolitan Area

Foreign born 488,750

Americas 53,520
Europe 80,345
Africa 56,705
Asia 293,890

Philippines 70,970
India 68,215
China 39,430
United Kingdom 25,160
Pakistan 19,795
Vietnam 16,995
Nigeria 14,370
United States 13,555
Hong Kong 11,385
South Korea 10,095
Ethiopia 7,225
Colombia 6,730
Mexico 6,545
Poland 6,440
Iran 6,430
Germany 5,705

# 50000+: 2
# 20000+: 4
# 10000+: 10
# 5000+: 16

Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area

Foreign born 389,485

Americas 37,565
Europe 64,250
Africa 52,985
Asia 229,960

Philippines 64,780
India 61,450
China 24,990
United Kingdom 16,930
Vietnam 11,140
Pakistan 9,590
United States 9,275
Poland 7,595
Hong Kong 7,485
Nigeria 6,775
South Korea 6,345
Germany 6,075
Somalia 5,965
Ethiopia 5,800

# 50000+: 2
# 20000+: 3
# 10000+: 5
# 5000+: 14

Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area

Foreign born 349,005

Americas 51,800
Europe 71,360
Africa 72,970
Asia 151,455

China 25,860
India 23,305
United Kingdom 17,785
Lebanon 14,885
Philippines 12,180
United States 11,615
Haiti 10,155
Iran 7,690
Vietnam 7,525
Congo (DR) 7,375
Syria 7,220
Nigeria 6,415
Pakistan 6,075
France 5,935
Egypt 5,395
Italy 5,125

# 50000+: 0
# 20000+: 2
# 10000+: 7
# 5000+: 16

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Docere

How did you end up with 11,000 fewer Brazilians than the London proper figures? Is this from 2021 census?

Source for post #1: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/country-of-birth-2021-tool-29yp1

And 30,000 fewer Jamaicans?

[New Brisavoine]

And here is why it's important not to compare apples (US, Canada, France) and oranges (UK, Spain). The former count immigrants only, while the latter count foreign-born people (immigrants + children of expats born abroad).

In the case of the Paris Region (which is slightly smaller than the Paris metro area), INSEE has published the detail for a few select countries and group of countries. Here it is summed up. It's complex because it's a legacy from 400 years of colonization. Britain's ONS dumps everything as "foreign-born" (even someone from the Channel Islands is "foreign-born" for ONS). In France it's more multi-layered, and INSEE publishes only the green figure for the general public. The blue and yellow figures (and red which is the sum of blue and yellow) you have to know the INSEE website well and manipulate complex files to retrieve it. Here it is from the 2023 census. Green is a subset of blue. Yellow is a separate set from blue (someone from the Comoros for instance, which decided to secede from France in 1974, is counted in blue, but someone from the Mayotte island of the Comoros, which decided to stay with France in 1974, is counted in yellow; ditto: Haiti, which seceded from France, is blue, whereas Guadeloupe/Martinique, which stayed with France, are yellow).



For some countries, you can see that the difference between foreign-born and immigrants (which is a subset of foreign-born) can be very large, in the tens of thousands, reflecting the long colonial history of these countries.

That's why compared to London, which uses "foreign-born" stats, we would have several countries that have less than 20,000 immigrants in the Paris Region, but more than 20,000 foreign-born, so that would add several more 20,000+ countries for Paris, but INSEE publishes the foreign-born figures only for the countries in my table.

[mrnyc]

i was way out there in ozone park/cypress hills queens yesterday in the blazing haze and heat for reasons, ugh my lungs, but anyway i could not help but notice all the guyanese.

turns out its the fifth biggest immigrant group in town around 150k.

https://documentedny.com/2023/06/30/guyanese-immigrants-little-guyana-caribbean/

[New Brisavoine]

Guyanese as in French Guyanese or British Guyanese?