Why Immigrants Leave New Destinations And Where Do They Go?

Immigrants have a markedly higher likelihood of migrating internally if they live in new estinations. This paper looks at why that pattern occurs and at how immigrants’ out-migration to new versus traditional destinations responds to their labor market economic and industrial structure, nativity origins and concentration, geographic region, and 1995 labor market type. Confidential data from the 2000 and 1990 decennial censuses are used for the analysis. Metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas are categorized into 741 local labor markets and classified as new or traditional based on their nativity concentrations of immigrants from the largest Asian, Caribbean and Latin American origins. The analysis showed that immigrants were less likely to migrate to new destinations if they lived in areas of higher nativity concentration, foreign-born population growth, and wages but more likely to make that move if they were professionals, agricultural or blue collar workers, highly educated, fluent in English, and lived in other new destinations. While most immigrants are more likely to migrate to new rather than traditional destinations that outcome differs sharply for immigrants from different origins and for some immigrants, particularly those from the Caribbean, the dispersal process to new destinations has barely started.