Data to understand history: Immigration evolved: 1950s to today
Decade after decade, the mix of immigrants coming to America evolves. Foreign relationships, legislation and ease of transport all affect who moves to the U.S. Since Donald Trump’s announcement speech in June, he has made immigration — and illegal immigration, specifically — a cornerstone of his campaign.
Most recently, Trump called for a ban on all Muslim travel to the U.S. Though many view his stances as radical, plenty others side with him — reinforcing the controversial nature of the topic.
Due to its complexity, immigration is forever a hot-button issue. And, unfortunately, it’s not a problem with a one-size-fits-all solution.
European colonization began as early as 1492 and immigration to European settlements on the East coast ramped up in the 1600s. Since then, Europe has been America’s primary source of immigrants. Recently, however, this has started to shift. Using data from the Census Bureau and the NHGIS, the experts at MooseRoots compared the distribution of foreign-born Americans in 1950 to that of 2010.
The locations that immigrants settle can often serve as a representation of their origins and the political climate, of both America and their home countries. As the heat maps below demonstrate, while there are consistently immigrants in the South and West, there were more immigrants in the Northern and Eastern regions during the 1950s.
However, in 2010, this concentration shifted to the Southern and Western regions. In 1950, seven of the top ten most immigrant-dense counties were on the East coast. As of 2010, six of the top ten counties were in California and Florida. And, as mentioned before, this is not random happenstance.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the advent of affordable air travel greatly influenced this change. Before 1965, the number of visas granted was set at 170,000 per year, with a per-country-of-origin quota that heavily favored Western European countries. After the act was passed, this national origins quota system was abolished.
Prior to this act, U.S. law heavily preferred Northern and Western Europeans and excluded Asians and Africans. The Immigrant Act of 1924, which introduced the quota system, restricted the immigration Africans, Southern and Eastern Europeans and outright banned Asians (their quota was set at zero). Compared to European countries, all other countries combined were only allotted 2.3 percent of the immigrant quota.
In light of this, it makes sense that the northern and eastern parts of the U.S. had larger foreign-born populations in 1950. The most direct route to America from these European regions is to cross the Atlantic — landing you on the East Coast.
Since the 1965 immigration act, the origins of immigrants have shifted from Canadian and European to Asian, Mexican and Latin American. Because the southern and western parts of the U.S. are closer geographically to these countries, immigrants tend settle in California, Florida, and Texas. By hovering or tapping over the maps, you can also see that the most immigrant-dense areas are often near “gateway” cities — those with major international airports.
As the presidential aspirants demonstrate, American immigration policy is anything but a cut-and-dry issue. With the charged political climate and upcoming elections, it seems likely that the U.S. immigration landscape will change yet again.
The experts at MooseRoots used the most recent decennial census data from 2010 to look at foreign-born populations across the U.S. Looking at counties larger than 100,000 people, they found the 25 with the highest foreign-born percentages.
#25. El Paso County, Texas
Population in 2010: 772,280
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 26.1%
Population in 1950: 194,968
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 24.4%
#24. Passaic County, New Jersey
Population in 2010: 496,204
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 27.5%
Population in 1950: 337,093
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 26.2%
#22. Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Population in 2010: 704,460
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 27.6%
Population in 1950: 896,615
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 26.3%
#23. Webb County, Texas
Population in 2010: 240,346
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 28.4%
Population in 1950: 56,141
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 37.1%
#21. New York County, New York
Population in 2010: 1,583,345
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 28.5%
Population in 1950: 1,960,101
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 32%
#20. Union County, New Jersey
Population in 2010: 529,547
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 29.1%
Population in 1950: 398,138
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 19.4%
#19. Bergen County, New Jersey
Population in 2010: 896,482
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 29.3%
Population in 1950: 539,139
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 20.1%
#18. Fairfax County, Virginia
Population in 2010: 1,048,554
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 29.3%
Population in 1950: 98,557
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 3.1%
#17. Hidalgo County, Texas
Population in 2010: 736,973
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 29.5%
Population in 1950: 160,446
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 33.1%
#16. Middlesex County, New Jersey
Population in 2010: 798,882
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 30.3%
Population in 1950: 264,872
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 21.3%
#15. Monterey County, California
Population in 2010: 407,435
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 30.4%
Population in 1950: 130,498
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 16%
#14. Orange County, California
Population in 2010: 2,965,525
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 30.5%
Population in 1950: 216,224
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 10.1%
#13. Alameda County, California
Population in 2010: 1,477,980
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 30.6%
Population in 1950: 740,315
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 13.9%
#12. Broward County, Florida
Population in 2010: 1,734,139
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 31.4%
Population in 1950: 83,933
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 8.9%
#11. Montgomery County, Maryland
Population in 2010: 947,230
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 31.8%
Population in 1950: 164,401
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 5.4%
#10. Imperial County, California
Population in 2010: 168,052
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 32.4%
Population in 1950: 62,975
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 25.3%
#9. Bronx County, New York
Population in 2010: 1,365,725
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 33.5%
Population in 1950: 1,451,277
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 36.7%
#8. San Mateo County, California
Population in 2010: 704,327
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 34.2%
Population in 1950: 235,659
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 15.6%
#7. Los Angeles County, California
Population in 2010: 9,758,256
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 35.3%
Population in 1950: 4,151,687
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 14.3%
#6. San Francisco County, California
Population in 2010: 789,172
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 35.7%
Population in 1950: 775,357
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 22.3%
#5. Santa Clara County, California
Population in 2010: 1,739,396
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 36.8%
Population in 1950: 290,547
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 16.5%
#4. Kings County, New York
Population in 2010: 2,466,782
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 37.5%
Population in 1950: 2,738,175
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 33.1%
#3. Hudson County, New Jersey
Population in 2010: 622,123
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 40.8%
Population in 1950: 647,437
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 23.3%
#2. Queens County, New York
Population in 2010: 2,199,169
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 47.7%
Population in 1950: 1,550,849
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 25.8%
#1. Miami-Dade County, Florida
Population in 2010: 2,445,374
Foreign-Born Percentage in 2010: 51.2%
Population in 1950: 495,084
Foreign-Born Percentage in 1950: 15%
Miami-Dade county was just called 'Dade County' in 1950
Learn About Your City's History on MooseRoots
This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 4:42 PM.