About 60 percent of the 5.6 million foreign-born population who moved to the United States between 1995 and 2000 entered the country through six "gateway" states (California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey), an analysis of Census 2000 data shows.

    At the same time, three of the gateway states - New York, California and Illinois - had considerable net out-migration of their foreign-born populations to other states between 1995 and 2000. New Jersey was the only gateway state to have net out-migration of natives but net in- migration of foreign-born people.

    "One of the major findings of Census 2000 was the overall size of the foreign-born population and its presence in areas outside the traditional immigration gateways such as California, New York and Texas," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. "Like the Westward migration of immigrants in centuries past, their movements remind us that opportunities abound throughout our country."

     Among the biggest beneficiaries of secondary migration, i.e., foreign-born migrants from other states, were North Carolina (76,000) and Nevada (73,000). Nevada had more foreign-born migrants from other states than it did from abroad.

     The new Census Bureau report, Migration of Natives and the Foreign Born: 1995 to 2000 [PDF 517k], examined Census 2000 data to compare migration patterns for natives (people born in the United States) with people born abroad.

     Among the report's findings:

• Domestic migration patterns of foreign-born and native migrants were similar, with common destinations.
• Between 1995 and 2000, California's net out-migration rate to other states for its foreign-born people (30.4 people lost per 1,000 foreign-born residents in 1995) was higher than its net out-migration rate for natives (22.6 people lost per 1,000 native residents in 1995).
• California was responsible for most foreign-born migrants to Georgia, with 19,000 making the cross-country move during the five-year period.
• Nevada had the highest net migration rate of foreign-born migrants from other states, gaining 276 people for every 1,000 foreign-born residents in 1995, while Florida had the largest net migration gain of foreign-born migrants from other states: 89,000.
• Some states and counties in the Midwest had net domestic out-migration of natives but net domestic in-migration of the foreign-born population. For example, Nebraska and Kansas had native net out-migration rates of 13.1 and 5.2, but foreign-born net in-migration rates of 101.0 and 47.6, respectively.

The report and supplementary data tables, as well as previously published migration reports, are available on the Internet at <http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/migration.html>.