NC in Focus: Proportion Foreign Born, 1900-2010

The size of the U.S. immigrant population—more than 40 million in the 2012 American Community Survey—is the largest it has ever been. But the immigrant share of the total population, just under 13%, is still less than its historic peak in 1910, when 14.8% or more than 1 in 7 individuals were foreign-born.

More than 750,000 immigrants lived in North Carolina in 2012, representing 1 of every 13 North Carolinians. Unlike the country as a whole, North Carolina received few immigrants prior to 1990. Since then, North Carolina has emerged as a new immigrant destination. Both the size and the proportion of foreign-born individuals living in the state are currently at historic levels.

Learn more:

• From Germany to Mexico: How America’s source of immigrants has changed over a century, Pew Fact Tank