Big Wave of City’s ‘Immigrants’ Were Born in Other States
In the presentation by the director of the City Planning Department’s Population Division, Joseph Salvo, that we saw at the beginning of the semester, we learned that New York has become a major destination for internal migrants within the United States, which helped to account for the population growth in the city. In the year 2000, 60,000 people migrated to NYC from the other states; by 2010, that number had grown to 80,000 migrants. Additionally, the number of people who migrate from the city has dropped from 360,000 to 205,000 within this same time span. Both of these facts have contributed to the population increase to over 8.4 million in the past few years. In contrast, the number of immigrants has decreased by 6,000 annually in the same time span.
These internal migrants are different than the immigrant population in that they are generally younger and tend to live in “non-family” households more often–that is, they live alone or with unrelated roommates. Immigrants whom they interviewed for this article (one of whom moved specifically to Astoria) expressed that the city has more opportunity than other parts of the country. They tend to come from other parts of New York, New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania. Though the focus of our class is on immigrants from other countries, who have so determined the cultural, ethnic, and political diversity of the city, it is interesting to examine the motivations and situations of those who elected to come from other parts of the United States.
I’d think that most New Yorkers wouldn’t actually know that many of our migrants just come from other states, and assume that New York City’s migrant population is increasing from actual immigrants. This could be due to that issue we discussed in class, about some people assuming a non-white person must be a foreigner. If people actually spoke to some of these new people and took the time to know a few of them, maybe New Yorkers would realize that not every new person around here just moved from another country. It’s true that New York City has plenty of opportunity compared to other parts of this country—it’s one of the reasons Manhattan for example is always so busy: there’s always work to be done. If people think about that fact, they may realize that more than just foreigners would benefit from moving here.
I remember being surprised when Joe Salvo mentioned how frequently domestic migration occurs, even outside of New York. But it isn’t surprising that more and more people are choosing to come to NYC. People are attracted to the experiences, the jobs, the lifestyle, etc. that it offers, but then there are those who probably are tired of the hype, leave, and balance out population growth a bit.
And then there is the Sex in the City effect (and Friends effect before that)!
No doubt this trend has further intensified the need for more affordable housing in NYC.