Indy is growing — thanks to immigration
Why it matters: An exodus of city dwellers rocked many U.S. metros during the COVID-19 pandemic, but most are clawing back residents (and their productivity, creativity and tax dollars), driven largely by foreign immigration.
The big picture: The number of people living in U.S. metro areas increased by almost 3.2 million from 2023 to 2024 — a gain of about 1.1% — the Census Bureau said last week.
By comparison, the total U.S. population rose 1% during that time.
Zoom in: Half of the Indianapolis metro area's growth since the pandemic has come from international migration.
The number of foreign immigrants moving to our region is far outpacing natural gains from births (minus deaths) and domestic in-migration.
Zoom out: Indy isn't the only part of the state benefiting from international migration.
Last year, Indiana added 44,144 residents — its largest population increase since 2008.
Natural population increases driven by birth rates are rebounding, yet they're still well below the pre-pandemic norm.
Growth was seen in rural, mid-size and metropolitan communities.
What they're saying: "While the size of Indiana's growth in 2024 was similar to 2008, the drivers of change in these years were drastically different," said Matt Kinghorn, senior demographer at the Indiana Business Research Center.
"Back in 2008, natural increase — or the difference between births and deaths — accounted for 77% of Indiana's growth. In 2024, by contrast, a net international migration of 30,852 residents accounted for 70% of the state's growth."
By the numbers: The metro area gained over 85,000 people from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2024.
Of those, nearly 43,000 came from international migration.
The natural change, births minus deaths during that time, was under 27,000, and domestic migration was almost 16,000.
The bottom line: The bureau bases these estimates on current data for births, deaths and migration, all of which affect the overall population.
Demographers and other researchers will closely monitor how Trump administration policies might affect immigration levels.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
22 minutes ago
- The Hill
Senate GOP readies ‘nuclear' option, set for August break after nominations deal falls apart
The Senate is set to finally begin its August recess without a deal on nominations as Republicans are intent on moving forward with a rules change to limit length of time spent on individual nominees enable President Trump's selections to be confirmed more expeditiously due to a Democratic blockade. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had been trading offers throughout Friday night and Saturday. However, they were unable to seal the deal on a package that would have allowed roughly two dozen nominees to be approved before the month-long August break, which lawmakers have been anxious for. In exchange for allowing the group of non-controversial nominees to be approved, Schumer had been pushing for billions of dollars of restored funding in foreign aid and for the National Institutes of Health. Trump, however, made clear that he would not throw his weight behind that agreement. 'Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer is demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country. This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'It is political extortion, by any other name,' Trump continued. 'Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL! Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Trump went on to tell lawmakers: 'Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' Instead, Senate Republicans are expected to go 'nuclear' on nominees once they reconvene in September by moving to change the rules with 51 votes needed. That would likely involve chopping down the time between cloture and confirmation votes to a fraction of the current time. Democrats are forcing a full two hours of consideration for many of the lower-level administration nominees and judicial choices the Senate is currently moving through. As its last action before recess, the Senate moved to process seven additional nominees, including longtime Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro to become U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and former Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) to lead the Federal Transit Administration.
Boston Globe
22 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Until Trump fired her, she was an economist with bipartisan support
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up She graduated from Bard College with a bachelor's degree in social sciences, and she obtained a doctorate in economics at Virginia Tech. Advertisement A photo provided by the US Bureau of Labor shows US Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. McEntarfer led the agency that produced key data on jobs and inflation but was fired by Trump after July's report showed a weakening economy. U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR/NYT She began her career as an economist at the Census Bureau, where she worked for six years, according to her LinkedIn profile. In 2008, she joined the Treasury Department, where she analyzed the president's budget as well as the effect of tax policy proposals on revenue. McEntarfer returned to the Census Bureau in 2010, assuming more of a leadership role. She became the head of research for the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics program, which is responsible for developing new statistics on postsecondary employment outcomes and quarterly workforce indicators. Advertisement She also served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers in the Biden administration, advising senior White House officials on labor market data. Her time on the council came as the labor market was recovering from the pandemic. McEntarfer hasn't commented on her firing publicly, and it wasn't clear what she would do next. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said Friday that William Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, would serve as acting commissioner until a replacement was found. In a statement Friday, a group called the Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, made up of former commissioners who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, denounced Trump's move to fire her. It accused the president of wanting someone to blame for the unwelcome economic news. 'The commissioner does not determine what the numbers are but simply reports on what the data show,' the group said. 'The process of obtaining the numbers is decentralized by design to avoid opportunities for interference.' McEntarfer's role as commissioner was largely about managing and overseeing the agency of more than 2,000 nonpartisan staff members. Her predecessor, William Beach, is a member of the Friends group and was appointed by Trump during the president's first term. 'The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as commissioner of labor statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the bureau,' he said Friday. This article originally appeared in .
San Francisco Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Senate confirms former Fox News host Pirro as top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital, filling the post after President Donald Trump withdrew his controversial first pick, conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, was confirmed 50-45. Before becoming the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in May, she co-hosted the Fox News show 'The Five' on weekday evenings, where she frequently interviewed Trump. Trump yanked Martin's nomination after a key Republican senator said he could not support him due to Martin's outspoken support for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Martin now serves as the Justice Department's pardon attorney. In 2021, voting technology company Smartmatic USA sued Fox News, Pirro and others for spreading false claims that the company helped 'steal' the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The company's libel suit, filed in a New York state court, sought $2.7 billion from the defendants. Last month, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send Pirro's nomination to the Senate floor after Democrats walked out to protest Emil Bove's nomination to become a federal appeals court judge. Pirro, a 1975 graduate of Albany Law School, has significantly more courtroom experience than Martin, who had never served as a prosecutor or tried a case before taking office in January. She was elected as a judge in New York's Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county's elected district attorney. In the final minutes of his first term as president, Trump issued a pardon to Pirro's ex-husband, Albert Pirro, who was convicted in 2000 on conspiracy and tax evasion charges.
