Immigration Keeps Population From Declining in D.C. Region

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 27, 2007

Maryland and the District continue to lose residents to other places, but they make up for the loss by gaining immigrants, according to Census Bureau estimates to be released today.

Virginia came out a little ahead in the give-and-take with other states between July 2006 and July 2007, but it grew much more through immigration. The three jurisdictions had a net population gain of less than 1 percent for the year.

The new Census Bureau data on state populations closely mirror last year's estimates and reflect a massive ongoing shift from Northeastern and Midwestern states to the South in recent years.

In the past year, the Northeast and Midwest had a combined net loss of 558,901 residents, almost entirely to the South. At the same time, immigrants have flocked to the South and West, and the populations of some Southern and Western states have increased substantially, the estimates show.

Texas gained almost 500,000 people in the one-year period covered by the data. California, the nation's most populous state, gained about 300,000.

Nevada and Arizona were the nation's fastest-growing states, with population increases of nearly 3 percent each.

Louisiana began to rebound from its post-Hurricane Katrina population loss of about 250,000 residents, gaining nearly 50,000 people in the one-year period, for a total population of 4.3 million.

In the same period, Maryland grew by 0.3 percent, to 5,618,344, according to the estimates. It had a net loss of 36,270 residents to other states and lost 43,205 people to deaths, but it gained 17,704 immigrants and 77,910 newborns, for a net increase of 16,327 residents.

The District had a net loss of 3,141 residents to other states but gained 3,358 through immigration. Gains from immigration and births produced a population increase of 0.5 percent, to 588,292.

Virginia, which grew by 0.9 percent, to 7,712,091, managed to attract more residents from other states than it lost to them. But the net gain was 2,959 people, compared with 21,455 through immigration.

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