Immigration, Domestic Migration, and Demographic Balkanization in America: New Evidence for the 1990s

The recent scrutiny given to the impact of post-1965 immigration to the United States has largely overlooked an important long-term consequence: social and demographic divisions, across regions, that are being created by distinctly different migration patterns of immigrants and domestic, mostly native-born migrants. Evidence for 1990-95 shows a continuation of: highly focused destinations among immigrants whose race-ethnic and skill-level profiles differ from those of the rest of the population; migration patterns among domestic migrants favoring areas that are not attracting immigrants; and accentuated domestic outmigration away from high immigration areas that is most evident for less educated and lower-income long-term residents. These separate migration patterns are leading to widening divisions by race-ethnicity and population growth across broad regions of the country. These patterns are likely to make immigrant assimilation more difficult and social and political cleavages more pronounced.