Immigrants' First Stop: Suburbia

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that new immigrants have been heading to small towns and suburban areas rather than big cities over the past decade.

1 minute read

December 15, 2010, 11:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"Following jobs to rural and suburban areas, in industries like construction and the food business, immigrant populations rose more than 60 percent in places where immigrants made up fewer than 5 percent of the population in 2000. In areas that had been home to the most immigrants, the foreign-born population was flat over that period.

In Los Angeles County, long a major destination for new immigrants, the foreign-born population remained largely unchanged for the first time in several decades. In contrast, it quadrupled in Newton County, in central Georgia outside Atlanta."

The trends are based on estimates from the American Community Survey, collected over the course of five years from roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 in The New York Times

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

A road in north eastern Nebraska with power lines on either side, and grassy fields.

Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity

Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.

November 6, 2026 - Grist

A rendering of a mall turned living space. People walk around a green space surrounded by apartments.

Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future

Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.

October 29, 2026 - Ben Schneider

A car drives through a puddle in NYC

NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project

New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.

November 9 - Smart Cities Dive

Members of the Smoketown CLT gather for a photo

One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing

The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.

November 9 - Reasons to Be Cheerful

Two people stand under mesh coverings shaped like petals

Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’

The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.

November 9 - De Zeen

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.