A new report indicates that the United States is close to an all-time record when it comes to the number of foreign-born Americans living in the country; however, this trend is being bucked in the Buffalo area. The Pew Research Center study, which was released on Monday, shows that there almost 59 million immigrants in the US, which is 13.9% of the overall population. This is very close to the record high of 14.8% seen towards the end of the 19th century.Statistics released recently by the US Census Bureau (USCB), however, show that the metropolitan area of Buffalo is lagging some considerable way behind. In the Buffalo metro area there are 72,123 immigrants, the 2014 American Community Survey carried out by the USCB claims, which is 6.3% of the two-county area’s overall population of 1,136,360.
The rate for Buffalo is less than 50% of the equivalent nationwide share of immigrants, at 13.9%, and trails well behind all bar seven of the 53 major metropolitan areas in the United States. A further breakdown of the local region is offered by the federal report, which states that just over half the immigrants in the Buffalo area (52.9%) do not have US citizenship, while the other 47.1% have received naturalization.
The areas with the lowest foreign-born percentage in all 53 areas are Birmingham and Pittsburgh, which are tied on 3.6%.