Demographics

Increasing


Foreign-Born Population

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What does this measure?

The percentage of the population in a region that is foreign-born, which includes anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. People who become U.S. citizens through naturalization are considered foreign-born.

Why is this important?

Foreign-born Americans and their descendants have historically been a main driver of population growth, and that role will only increase in the future. The Pew Research Center projects the population will grow to 441 million in 2065, with 88% of the increase is linked to future immigrants and their descendants. This measure also is a reflection of the composition of a community, which can offer insight into its levels of diversity.

How does our county compare?

In 2017-21, 6% of Lancaster County's population was foreign-born, up 3 percentage points from 2000. This was slightly lower than Pennsylvania, at 7%, and 8 percentage points lower than the nation, at 14%.

Among neighboring counties, there were smaller foreign-born populations in Lebanon and York (both 4%). There were larger foreign-born populations in the City of Lancaster (13%) and the counties of Chester (10%), Berks and Dauphin (both at 8%) and Cumberland (7%). The largest increases in this population from 2000 to 2017-21 were in the City of Lancaster and Chester County (up 6 and 5 percentage points respectively), with the other counties increased by 4 percentage points or less in the same time period.

Notes on the data

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.

Foreign-Born Population
20002007-112012-162017-21
Pennsylvania4%6%6%7%
Lancaster County3%5%5%6%
Lancaster City7%10%10%13%
Lancaster County Boroughs
Adamstown borough1%3%***5%***3%***
Akron borough5%4%***8%***3%***
Christiana borough4%0%***3%***1%***
Columbia borough1%5%**2%**4%***
Denver township2%2%***2%***7%**
East Petersburg borough2%6%***4%***6%***
Elizabethtown borough4%2%***3%**5%***
Ephrata borough5%8%**3%*7%**
Lititz borough2%1%***4%**3%***
Manheim borough2%2%***0%***1%***
Marietta borough1%0%***0%***1%***
Millersville borough3%3%***5%***10%***
Mount Joy borough2%3%***2%***4%***
Mountville borough3%9%***11%***0%***
New Holland borough7%11%**9%**1%***
Quarryville borough1%5%***4%***8%***
Strasburg borough3%4%***3%***1%***
Terre Hill borough3%4%***2%***1%***
Lancaster County Townships
Bart township0%0%***4%***1%***
Brecknock township4%2%**3%***1%***
Caernarvon township1%1%***0%***1%***
Clay township1%3%***4%***5%***
Colerain township1%0%***1%***0%***
Conestoga township1%5%***1%***1%***
Conoy township1%4%***2%***0%***
Drumore township1%1%***1%***0%***
Earl township2%4%***3%***2%***
East Cocalico township4%3%**4%**7%***
East Donegal township2%3%***1%***1%***
East Drumore township2%1%***0%***2%***
East Earl township0%3%***2%***5%***
East Hempfield township4%4%*6%*6%*
East Lampeter township5%6%*6%*12%*
Eden township1%0%***0%***1%***
Elizabeth township1%3%***1%***3%***
Ephrata township2%4%**6%**3%**
Fulton township1%0%***3%***2%***
Lancaster township5%6%*9%*10%*
Leacock township0%1%***4%***0%***
Little Britain township0%1%***1%***2%***
Manheim township5%8%8%10%
Manor township2%5%*3%**5%**
Martic township3%1%***1%***2%***
Mount Joy township1%3%***3%**5%***
Paradise township1%0%***1%***3%***
Penn township2%7%***1%***3%***
Pequea township1%2%***3%***1%***
Providence township1%1%***1%***0%***
Rapho township1%1%***2%***1%***
Sadsbury township2%1%***0%***4%***
Salisbury township1%0%***2%**1%***
Strasburg township0%3%***1%***0%***
Upper Leacock township5%6%**6%*6%**
Warwick township2%3%**5%**2%**
West Cocalico township1%2%***0%***2%***
West Donegal township1%2%***3%***1%***
West Earl township2%4%***5%***6%***
West Hempfield township3%4%**4%***6%*
West Lampeter township2%2%**1%**6%*
Berks County4%6%7%8%
Chester County5%8%9%10%
Cumberland County3%5%6%7%
Dauphin County4%6%7%8%
Lebanon County2%3%4%4%
York County2%4%4%4%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Notes: Multiyear results are from rolling American Community Survey. * Margin of error between 20% & 35% of estimate; ** margin of error between 35% & 50%; *** margin of error greater than 50%.




Number of Foreign-Born People
20002007-112012-162017-21
Pennsylvania508,291723,426818,363924,624
Lancaster County15,03723,27424,37830,438
Lancaster City3,7385,9746,1447,393
Lancaster County Boroughs
Adamstown borough746***114***79***
Akron borough219174***325***129***
Christiana borough423***31***6***
Columbia borough146504**224**370***
Denver township6194***78***265**
East Petersburg borough73254***168***267***
Elizabethtown borough473288***402**619***
Ephrata borough6141,016**376*949**
Lititz borough17294***395**251***
Manheim borough115116***15***72***
Marietta borough166***10***34***
Millersville borough258268***377***772***
Mount Joy borough149195***187***324***
Mountville borough61256***304***0***
New Holland borough380605**503**79***
Quarryville borough19137***102***225***
Strasburg borough80103***81***42***
Terre Hill borough3245***26***11***
Lancaster County Townships
Bart township155***125***20***
Brecknock township300160**252***78***
Caernarvon township3457***9***39***
Clay township55195***289***352***
Colerain township2516***30***16***
Conestoga township41174***46***51***
Conoy township38122***55***0***
Drumore township1437***24***0***
Earl township101255***209***134***
East Cocalico township426304**380**719***
East Donegal township95251***66***89***
East Drumore township6042***9***76***
East Earl township20223***110***313***
East Hempfield township8531,018*1,566*1,553*
East Lampeter township740997*986*2,048*
Eden township137***6***12***
Elizabeth township31100***26***123***
Ephrata township167348**589**294**
Fulton township319***97***73***
Lancaster township632919*1,491*1,809*
Leacock township2036***235***8***
Little Britain township741***43***79***
Manheim township1,6992,8873,0564,292
Manor township383992*522**1,140**
Martic township13670***60***97***
Mount Joy township104309***359**496***
Paradise township5913***65***146***
Penn township158579***106***329***
Pequea township4782***122***49***
Providence township8792***73***29***
Rapho township12198***252***80***
Sadsbury township5029***14***131***
Salisbury township11331***200**153***
Strasburg township7127***30***0***
Upper Leacock township419545**514*516**
Warwick township313463**878**420**
West Cocalico township66159***18***120***
West Donegal township62136***254***100***
West Earl township147311***440***498***
West Hempfield township380608**675***1,059*
West Lampeter township313249**235**1,010*
Berks County16,03225,75329,20233,509
Chester County23,77042,04447,12850,710
Cumberland County6,92312,09414,32217,129
Dauphin County10,21415,54419,56023,395
Lebanon County2,9074,0655,2076,047
York County8,28015,40115,85818,934

Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Notes: Multiyear results are from rolling American Community Survey. * Margin of error between 20% & 35% of estimate; ** margin of error between 35% & 50%; *** margin of error greater than 50%.




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