Immigration

The table below shows the number of persons who have obtained a legal permanent resident (LPR) status.  A legal permanent resident (LPR) or “green card” recipient is defined by immigration law as a person who has been granted lawful permanent residence in the United States.  Oftentimes, these people bring a unique skillset and diversify the workforce and business community.  Rankings are based on a percentage of the total population, to control for population size.

[Download XLS] our International data summary, which includes the tables posted below.

Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status, 25 Largest MSAs
Rank
Geographic area
2009
2010
Total Pop
% of Total Pop
1
Miami
83,936
69,420
5,547,051
1.51%
2
New York
189,860
186,086
19,069,796
1.00%
3
Washington DC
42,567
41,322
5,476,241
0.78%
4
Los Angeles
97,539
87,443
12,874,797
0.76%
5
San Francisco
32,304
31,761
4,317,853
0.75%
6
San Diego
20,779
19,769
3,053,793
0.68%
7
Seattle
20,712
16,866
3,407,848
0.61%
8
Boston
26,346
24,969
4,588,680
0.57%
9
Houston
32,022
30,844
5,867,489
0.55%
10
Minneapolis
14,958
10,434
3,269,814
0.46%
11
Dallas
29,022
26,006
6,447,615
0.45%
12
Sacramento
9,358
8,047
2,127,355
0.44%
13
Atlanta
23,344
20,447
5,475,213
0.43%
14
Riverside
17,010
14,926
4,143,113
0.41%
15
Chicago
38,840
35,109
9,580,567
0.41%
16
Tampa
10,296
8,818
2,747,272
0.37%
17
Portland
7,844
6,732
2,241,841
0.35%
18
Denver
8,468
8,214
2,552,195
0.33%
19
Phoenix
14,349
12,542
4,364,094
0.33%
20
Philadelphia
18,936
18,253
5,968,252
0.32%
21
Baltimore
8,268
8,207
2,690,886
0.31%
22
Detroit
12,856
12,682
4,403,437
0.29%
23
Cleveland
3,081
3,111
2,091,286
0.15%
24
Cincinnati
2,978
2,814
2,171,896
0.14%
25
St. Louis
3,792
3,553
2,828,990
0.13%
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Percentage based on 2009 data. 2010 Population not available. Pittsburgh N/A.