Estimating the Demographic Characteristics and Geographic Distribution of Foreign-Born Immigrants and Emigrants

Melissa Scopilliti, U.S. Census Bureau
Renuka Bhaskar, U.S. Census Bureau
Eric B. Jensen, U.S. Census Bureau

The demographic characteristics and geographic distribution of foreign-born migrants entering and leaving the United States each year are not constant over time. The Census Bureau currently uses information from Census 2000 to distribute annual estimates of foreign-born immigration and emigration by county of residence and demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin). A limitation of using a Census-based distribution is that it does not reflect demographic and geographic shifts that have taken place in the past nine years. This poster describes an evaluation of the American Community Survey (ACS) 2005-2007 multiyear file as a source of information on the demographic characteristics and geographic distribution of foreign-born immigrants and emigrants in the post-2000 period. We discuss how the ACS can be used to update the distribution of foreign-born immigrants and emigrants, and describe the resulting affects on estimates of immigrants and emigrants by demographic characteristics and county of residence.