Methods and Research on Estimating Foreign-Born Immigration

Eric B. Jensen, U.S. Census Bureau
Anthony Knapp, U.S. Census Bureau

The Population Estimates Program of the Census Bureau produces annual estimates of net international migration (NIM) by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin for the nation, states, and counties. Foreign-born immigration is the largest component of the NIM estimate. In this paper, I present research on the measurement and estimation of foreign-born immigration. First, results of a change in the method used to develop characteristics of the foreign-born immigrant population from processing all immigrants together to processing immigrants from Mexico and “All Other Countries” separately are presented. Next, a new method for combining information from the Residence One Year Ago (ROYA) and Year of Entry (YOE) questions on the ACS into a single method for estimating foreign-born immigration is proposed. The new method produces higher estimates of foreign-born immigration than the ROYA method alone, in part because the new method includes more circular migrants.