{"id": 1305918, "name": "Average annual change in the foreign-born population of the United States, by decade", "unit": "people", "createdAt": "2026-09-02T13:48:09.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-09-02T13:48:09.000Z", "coverage": "", "timespan": "1850-2029", "datasetId": 8144, "shortUnit": "", "columnOrder": 0, "shortName": "annual_change", "catalogPath": "grapher/migration/2026-07-22/us_foreign_born_population/annual_change_by_decade#annual_change", "descriptionShort": "Average change per year in the number of people living in the United States who were not US citizens at birth. The value for the 2020s covers 2021 to 2024.", "descriptionProcessing": "We calculated the change between each pair of consecutive censuses or surveys, divided it by the number of years between them, and averaged these annual values within each decade. The 1850s value covers the change between the 1850 and 1860 censuses; the value for the current decade only averages the years available so far.", "type": "float", "patchConfigIdETL": "01a06260-8bec-776e-8ba2-f2eedc25d12b", "datasetName": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000", "updatePeriodDays": 365, "datasetVersion": "2026-07-22", "nonRedistributable": false, "display": {"unit": "people", "timeInterval": "decade", "numDecimalPlaces": 0}, "schemaVersion": 2, "processingLevel": "major", "presentation": {"attribution": "US Census Bureau (2006, 2025)", "topicTagsLinks": ["Migration"]}, "descriptionKey": "This indicator shows how much the foreign-born population grew or shrank each year. The change combines people arriving, people leaving, and deaths among the foreign-born, so it is not a count of new immigrants.\n\nEach value is the average annual change during one decade: the 1850s value covers the change between the 1850 and 1860 censuses. The value for the current decade only averages the years available so far.\n\nThe foreign-born population covers everyone living in the United States who was not a US citizen at birth, whatever their current legal status. People born in the United States, in its territories such as Puerto Rico, or abroad to American parents count as native-born.\n\nThe data comes from two sources with the same definition of foreign-born:\n- **1850\u20132000:** the decennial census. Figures up to 1940 come from a full count of the population; figures from 1950 to 2000 are based on large census samples (between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 people).\n- **2005 onward:** the American Community Survey, an annual survey of about 3.5 million households. Survey estimates are less exact than a census count.\n\nThe value for the 2000s mixes the two sources: it combines census counts (used up to 2000) with survey estimates (used from 2005 onward), so part of the measured change may reflect the switch in method rather than a real change in the population.\n\nTwo things changed over the course of the series:\n- The population included: Alaska and Hawaii are included from 1960 onward. The 1890 figures exclude about 325,000 people living in the Indian Territory and on Indian reservations, who were not asked about their place of birth.\n- The list of US territories: people born in a territory count as native-born, so when a territory's status changed, so did their classification. For example, people born in the Philippines counted as native-born until it became independent in 1946, and as foreign-born after.\n\nPeople living in the country without authorization are included in the definition, but censuses and surveys are known to miss part of this group. Other sources that try to adjust for this can find a slightly higher foreign-born population.", "dimensions": {"years": {"values": [{"id": 1850}, {"id": 1860}, {"id": 1870}, {"id": 1880}, {"id": 1890}, {"id": 1900}, {"id": 1910}, {"id": 1920}, {"id": 1930}, {"id": 1940}, {"id": 1950}, {"id": 1960}, {"id": 1970}, {"id": 1980}, {"id": 1990}, {"id": 2000}, {"id": 2010}, {"id": 2020}]}, "entities": {"values": [{"id": 13, "name": "United States", "code": "USA"}]}}, "origins": [{"id": 21203, "titleSnapshot": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States - Table 1", "title": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000", "descriptionSnapshot": "Table 1 of the report, which gives the total population and the foreign-born population of the United States at each census from 1850 to 2000. The foreign-born population covers everyone living in the United States who was not a US citizen at birth, whatever their legal status.", "description": "A report by the US Census Bureau that brings together statistics on the foreign-born population of the United States from every census between 1850 and 2000. Its tables cover nativity, citizenship, place of birth, language, age and sex, race and Hispanic origin, length of residence, and place of residence.", "producer": "US Census Bureau", "citationFull": "Gibson, Campbell and Kay Jung. 2006. Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000. Population Division Working Paper No. 81. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.", "urlMain": "https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2006/demo/POP-twps0081.html", "urlDownload": "https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2006/demo/pop-twps0081/tab01.xls", "dateAccessed": "2026-07-22", "datePublished": "2006-02-02", "license": {"name": "Public domain"}}, {"id": 21204, "titleSnapshot": "American Community Survey - Nativity of the population", "title": "American Community Survey", "descriptionSnapshot": "This file contains the total population and the foreign-born population of the United States for each year from 2005, from the ACS 1-year estimates (table B05002, \"Place of Birth by Nativity and Citizenship Status\"), retrieved through the Census Bureau data API. The foreign-born population covers everyone living in the United States who was born in another country, whatever their legal status. There is no value for 2020: the Census Bureau did not release standard 1-year estimates for that year because of data-collection problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.", "description": "The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual survey run by the US Census Bureau. It samples about 3.5 million housing unit addresses each year and measures the demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics of the US population. Since 2005, it has replaced the long-form questionnaire of the decennial census.", "producer": "US Census Bureau", "citationFull": "U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05002 (Place of Birth by Nativity and Citizenship Status).", "urlMain": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs", "urlDownload": "https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs1", "dateAccessed": "2026-07-22", "datePublished": "2025-09-11", "license": {"name": "Public domain"}}]}