Immigration to the US has not succeeded in making up for the sheer number of residents leaving cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, which are the largest metropolitan areas in the country. According to Bloomberg, among as many as 100 metro areas, Chicago, a city beset by budgetary and economic woes, high taxes and crime, is the net exodus leader.
The study was conducted by Bloomberg using data collected through to 1 July last year by the Census Bureau. An average of 245 residents left the city every day, compared with the arrival of 71 outsiders, although citizenship status is not part of Census inquiries. Illinois is likewise struggling, with the Prairie State’s net number of business establishments in 2016 falling by 1235 from the previous year, the worst figure of any state, as shown by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The founder and chief executive of DS Economics, Chicago, says foreign immigration is the sole offset the city has and that losing it would be tragic for the third most populated metropolitan area in the US. In New York, while the city’s financial hub, Manhattan, continues to prosper, old factory towns like Paterson in New Jersey, and Waterbury in Connecticut are languishing, with 394 foreigners gained on average compared to 548 local residents lost daily.
Although over 54,000 international immigrants were gained by Los Angeles, over 87,000 were lost because of domestic immigration, the country’s third worst outflow.