Metro Area Factsheet: Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pennsylvania MSA
| Summary Metro Area Data (and Source) | |
|---|---|
| Population(2008 CB est.): | 660,042 |
| Population(2000 Census): | 629,401 |
| Foreign-born Population(2008 FAIR est): | 28,300 |
| Foreign-born Population(2000 Census): | 20,449 |
| Share Foreign Born (2008 FAIR est.): | 4.3% |
| Share Foreign Born (2000 Census): | 3.2% |
| Immigrant Settlement 1991-98(INS): | 4,633 |
| Population Projection 2025(FAIR): | 730,200 |
METRO AREA POPULATION
The population of Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was estimated by the Census Bureau at 660,042 residents as of July 2008. That was an increase of 4.9 percent since the 2000 Census.
According to the 2000 Census, the population of the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 629,401. That was a seven percent increase from the 587,986 residents in the 1990 Census. During the previous decade, the population of the MSA increased by 5.9 percent from 555,158 in 1980.
According to the 2008 Census Bureau estimate, Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle MSA’s population has increased since July 2000 from domestic migration (an annual average of about 1,845 more native-born residents arriving than leaving), natural change (an annual average of about 1,470 more births than deaths) and net international migration (an annual average of about 780 more foreign-born residents arriving than leaving). Therefore, immigration was the smallest component of population change, and it accounted for more than one-fifth (21.1%) of the metro area’s population increase.
The metro area is composed of the counties of Cumberland (34.7% of the area's population in 2008), Dauphin (38.9% of the population), Lebanon (19.5%) and Perry (6.8%).
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
FAIR estimates the foreign-born population of the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in mid-year 2008 to be about 28,300 persons (4.3% of the population). This represents an increase of 38.4 percent from the 2000 Census and compares with a 3.7 percent increase in the native-born population.
Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. An 8.6 percent share of the metro area’s current births is large enough to account for about 655 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may be adding as many as 1,435 persons to the metro area’s population annually,which is nearly two-fifths (38.9%) of the metro area’s annual average population increase.
The 2000 census recorded 20,449 foreign-born residents in Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle metro area. That was a 3.2 percent share of the overall population, which was lower than the share for the state (4.1%). The 2000 data showed an increase of 71.6 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a 5.7 percent increase in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. That meant that immigration accounted directly for 20.6 percent of the overall population increase of the metro area.
In 2000, the Census recorded that more than two-fifths (45.4%) of the metro area's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was higher than the rate for the state overall (41.1%). Nearly half (49.8%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. This was lower than the rate for the state overall (50.6%).
Another indicator of the impact of the foreign-born population may be seen in data on residents who speak a language other than English at home. In the metro area in 2000, the share of other-than-English speakers at home (age 5 and older) was 7.1 percent. Nearly two-fifths (38.4%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.
In the 1990 Census, the foreign-born share of the metro area's population in 1990 was two percent, or 11,961 foreign-born residents. In 1990, about 3.2 percent of Pennsylvania's immigrants were located in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle metro area.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 4,633 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle metropolitan area between FY'91-'98. This number did not include persons granted legal immigrant status as a result of the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens. The ten countries that supplied the largest number of these new immigrants are as shown below.
| Immigrant Admissions FY'91-'98: Top Ten Countries | ||
| Rank | Country | No. of Immigrants |
| 1 | Vietnam ** | 933 |
| 2 | India | 498 |
| 3 | Soviet Union | 437 |
| 4 | China * | 252 |
| 5 | Korea | 232 |
| 6 | Pakistan ** | 167 |
| 7 | Philippines | 131 |
| 8 | Canada | 124 |
| 9 | United Kingdom | 110 |
| 10 | Yugoslavia ** | 102 |
* Includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. ** Partial data.
POPULATION INCREASE AND SPRAWL
A study published by NumbersUSA in 2001 that weighed sprawl factors in large metropolitan areas found that three-fifths (30.3%) of the additional 71.4 square miles consumed by the Harrisburg urban area between 1970-90 was attributable to population increase. The other factor studied was per capita land use. The Harrisburg urbanized area is larger than the city but smaller than the metropolitan statistical area (covering a population of 292,904 in 1990).
POPULATION PROJECTION 2025
The current rate of population change between 2000-06, if continued, would result in a metro area population in 2025 of 730,200. That is an increase of 11.9 percent from the 2000 population.
