Rural Laws: April, 1998 - Number #4

Foreign-born Residents. The US had almost 26 million foreign-born residents in 1997, and one-third of these foreign-born residents had become naturalized citizens by March 1997. About seven million, or 27 percent of the foreign-born were born in Mexico; half of the foreign-born were from the Western Hemisphere.

Almost two-thirds of the foreign born arrived since 1980. By period of entry, 18 percent of the foreign born arrived before 1970, 19 percent in the 1970s, 33 percent in the 1980s, and 29 percent in the 1990s. Among foreign-born Hispanic residents, 14 percent of the foreign born arrived before 1970, 20 percent in the 1970s, 37 percent in the 1980s, and 29 percent in the 1990s.

About 11 million or 44 percent of the foreign born were Hispanic, six million or 23 percent were Asian, and two million, or 8 percent, were Black. Among the foreign born aged five to 15, there were almost one million Hispanic and 850,000 non-Hispanic children. Among foreign-born Hispanics, 22 percent were naturalized US citizens in March 1997.

Across the US, about 10 percent of residents were foreign-born. In five US states, the foreign-born percentage was considerably higher: California (25 percent); New York (20 percent); Florida (16 percent); New Jersey (15 percent) and Texas (11 percent). About 45 percent of US Hispanics, and 48 percent of the foreign-born Hispanics, lived in the western states.

The foreign-born are concentrated at the extremes of the education distribution. About 25 percent of the foreign-born adults, and 25 percent of US-born adults, had four or more years of college (nine percent of the foreign born and eight percent of the US born had graduate or professional degrees). A surprising 11 percent--one in nine--foreign-born naturalized US citizens had graduate or professional degrees.

About 35 percent of the foreign born 25 and older, and 16 percent of US born, had not completed high school in 1997. About one-fourth of all adults without high school diplomas were foreign born; 44 percent of the foreign born who were not US citizens in 1997 were not high school graduates. Among Hispanics 25 and older in 1997, 31 percent of the US born, and 57 percent of the foreign born, were not high school graduates.

Among the seven million foreign-born adults without a high school diploma in the US in 1997, 21 percent arrived before 1970, 22 percent arrived in the 1970s, 36 percent arrived in the 1980s, and 20 percent arrived in the 1990s.

About 27 percent of foreign-born non-US citizens had incomes below the poverty line in 1996, versus 13 percent of the US born. About 1.3 million or 5 percent of the foreign-born, and 3 percent of the US born, received public assistance in March 1997. A disproportionate share of the foreign born who arrived in the 1980s received public assistance: about 33 percent of the foreign born arrived in the 1980s and 40 percent of those receiving public assistance in 1997 arrived in the 1980s.

Hispanics had lower than average incomes, but only five percent of US-born Hispanics, and six percent of foreign-born Hispanics received public assistance. However, 23 percent of US-born Hispanics and 14 percent of foreign-born Hispanics, received Food Stamps.

Shifts. The US has 273 metropolitan areas, and in three of the ten fastest-growing metro areas immigration plays a critical role-- McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas; Laredo, Texas, and Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, Texas. Eight of the ten largest US metro areas-- Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle--have also received large numbers of immigrants.

There were 2,304 counties classified as nonmetropolitan in 1993, and they gained about three million additional residents between 1990 and 1996, compared with a gain of 1.3 million between 1980 and 1989. About one-fourth, 556, of the nonmetro counties are based on farming and another fourth, 535, are considered to be in chronic poverty, such as the counties in the Mississippi delta. The third-largest group, 506, of nonmetro counties are based on manufacturing and include counties such as those in Nebraska where IBP opened new facilities, spurring population growth.

Some 407 nonmetro counties are very sparsely populated, with fewer than six residents per square mile. There are 381 counties that are within commuting distance of major cities, and 242 in which the economy is dominated by government, home to military bases or prisons. Finally, there are 285 counties based on recreation, such as ski-based counties in the Rockies, and 190 based on retirement.

Between 1990 and 1995, rural counties gained a net 1.6 million residents through migration, mostly due to the movement of US residents from urban to rural areas. During the 1980s, by contrast, rural counties lost 1.4 million residents through migration.

Most of those moving into rural counties are non-Hispanic whites who are leaving cities that are attracting immigrants. For example, between 1990 and 1996, both the New York and Los Angeles metro areas lost 1.3 million residents through domestic migration. The rural counties to which whites are moving are over 70 percent non-Hispanic white, leading some to call domestic migration to rural counties "white flight."

If the US population segregates by race, then even as the minority share of the US population rises, many US residents may live with others of the same race and ethnic group. By 2025, non-Hispanic whites are projected to be a majority of residents in four states--California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas. Hawaii and New Mexico already have a majority of their population composed of minorities.

The New York Times on October 18,1997 reported that Minneapolis is attracting more poor blacks than any other northern US city. Black migration and immigration are leading to tensions in traditionally liberal and wealthy Minneapolis. Minneapolis was 88 percent non-Hispanic white in 1980, and 78 percent non-Hispanic white in 1997, but its K-12 school-aged population in 1997 is 68 percent non-white. About 70 percent of those in the county jail were born outside Minnesota.

Minority residents of Minneapolis are more likely to be poor than minority residents in any other area of the US. Minnesota in 1997 enacted legislation that permits those who migrate to Minnesota and apply for welfare to collect only the level of payment they would have received in the state they came from.