Riverfront Times: St. Louis Shows Biggest Gain in Foreign-Born Population of 20 Largest Metros
They're coming to America — and then they're coming to St. Louis.
St. Louis notched an 8.9 percent increase in foreign-born residents from 2014 to 2015, according to data released from the U.S. Census Bureau late last week. That's larger percent increase than any of the nation's other twenty largest metro areas.
No. 2 was Minneapolis-St. Paul, with a 6 percent increase. Third place was the Seattle area, with a 5.3 percent increase, followed closely by San Diego and Houston, with 5.2 and 5.1 percent increases, respectively.
For St. Louis, the foreign-born gains reflect an increase of about 10,623 new residents. The region as a whole is home to 2.8 million residents; just 129,559 of them are foreign-born. So while our numerical gains weren't nearly as high as many other large cities, the percentage increase shows a very real jump.