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The 9-county Chicago PMSA (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area) picked up 640 new residents per day in 2001, nearly two-fifths of them from abroad, second after the Los Angeles area in a ranking of 152 large metropolitan areas covered by a new survey, the Census Bureau reported on May 21, 2003. The data come from the experimental American Community Survey (ACS), which the Census Bureau hopes will replace the once-a-decade census long form.

Together, the 233,690 people who moved to the Chicago metropolitan area in 2001 formed a population that was larger than any city in Illinois other than the city of Chicago.

Los Angeles and Chicago ranked first and second in the number of in-migrants followed by New York, Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., and Atlanta (Table 1, below). Chicago was also home to the third highest number of in-migrants from abroad, finishing narrowly behind New York and ahead of Miami (Table 2, below).

The Census Bureau plans to phase in the ACS over the next several years, with annual data on demographic changes replacing the long form in the 2010 census. The ACS currently provides information on metropolitan areas of 250,000 or more people. Eventually, it will produce yearly long-form-like data on topics such as household income and commute time to work for areas as small as census tracts (4,000 average population).

The data on in-migrants are for large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs) of at least 250,000 people. Full definitions are at the Census Bureau's internet site (http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/aboutmetro.html). About 30 large metropolitan areas are not included in the rankings released in May 2003 because some MSA and PMSA counties were not part of the ACS, which is still in development. The ACS sampled about 820,000 households nationwide. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.

Table 1. Metro Areas with Highest Number of In-Migrants

Metro Area                 Household     Total      Per-Day
                          Population  In-migrants   Average

Los Angeles-Long Beach     9,462,246    285,457       782
Chicago                    8,192,579    233,690       640
New York                   9,112,687    222,282       609
Riverside-San              3,322,803    203,127       557
     Bernardino, Calif.
Atlanta                    4,187,003    183,143       502


Table 2. Metro Areas with Highest Number of In-Migrants from Abroad

Metro Area              Household      Total       From     Percent From
                       Population   In-migrants   Abroad        Abroad
				
Los Angeles-Long Beach  9,462,246    285,457      91,131           32
New York                9,112,687    222,282      87,683           39
Chicago                 8,192,579    233,690      87,567           37
Miami                   2,243,712    102,842      61,083           59
Houston                 4,218,012    181,649      54,241           30