Immigrant settlement patterns: The role of metropolitan characteristics

Immigration continues to change the social, economic, and political landscapes of urban America. Consequently, scholars, as well as the general public, are interested in the internal migration patterns of immigrants. In this research, we identify and explain the characteristics of metropolitan areas that have the strongest effects on the percentage change in the foreign-born population between 1990 and 2000. Using lagged independent variables and a sample of 150 metropolitan areas, we find that settlement patterns among immigrants are diverging from traditional patterns. That is, those metropolitan areas that had moderately high levels of globalization and lower costs of living as well as lower disadvantage indicators (e.g., percentage poverty) in 1990, had larger increases in percentage foreign-born between 1990 and 2000 compared to areas with lower levels of globalization and higher costs of living and disadvantage. These trends suggest the increasing importance of second-tier metropolises such as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas in understanding where immigrants settle.