Census 2000 showed that the foreign born population in the United States was 31.1 million, a 57-percent increase from the 1990 figure of 19.8 million. This group constituted 11.1 percent of the population in 2000, the highest percentage since 1930, when they composed 11.6 percent of the total population.1 As the country’s foreign-born population— already the largest in history—continues to increase in size, understanding how its migration and mobility patterns fit into, and partially shape, the overall migration patterns within the United States will be increasingly important. 

This Census 2000 Special Report examines migration patterns of natives and the foreign born, aged 5 years and over. The report’s first section focuses on overall mobility patterns by nativity. The next section examines migration from abroad, while the final section looks at patterns and differences between natives and the foreign born in state-to-state and county-to-county migration. Particular attention is given to the redistribution of the foreign-born population within the United States.