Tennessee

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2009 CB est.)	6,292,254
Population (2000 Census)	5,689,283
Foreign-Born Population (2009 CB est.)	265,568
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census)	159,004
Share Foreign-Born (2009)	4.2%
Share Foreign-Born (2000)	2.8%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2009 CB est.)	93,221
Share Naturalized (2009)	35.1%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 2000-2009)	71,162
Refugee Admission (HHS 2000-2009)	9,896
Illegal Alien Population (2010 FAIR est.)	120,000
Cost of Illegal Aliens (2010 FAIR)	$546,700,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR):	8,463,000

Tennessee: Extended Immigration Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2009 Tennessee’s population had increased to 6,292,254 residents, i.e., an increase of 606,971 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 1.1 percent per year. The comparable national annual rate of increase was 1.0 percent.

Tennessee Population 1900-2008

The 2000 Census found 5,689,283 persons resident in Tennessee. This was an increase of 812,098 persons above the 1990 Census. The annual average increase of 1.6 percent was higher than the national annual average of 1.2 percent population increase.

The 2000 population was about 32,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.

Between the 1980 and 1990 Censuses, the population of Tennessee grew by 6.2 percent (from about 4,591,120 to 4,877,185). That was an annual rate of increase of 0.6 percent. The national rate of change was 1.0 percent.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

Based on the ACS, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Tennessee was 265,568 persons in 2009. This meant a foreign-born population share of 4.2 percent.

Net International Migration (NIM)

Based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2009 the state’s population increased by about 91,510 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 9,840 residents, i.e., more than one-seventh (15.1%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).

Tennessee Sources of Population Change 2000-09

FOREIGN-BORN CHANGE

The amount of change since the 2000 Census found in the ACS indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 11,460 people, which is more than one-sixth (17.6%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 67 percent compared to a 9.0 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 8.4 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 6,850 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 18,305 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than one-fourth (28%) of the state’s overall population increase.

FOREIGN-BORN CHARACTERISTICS

An indicator of the change in Tennessee's immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population over five years of age that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000, the share of non-English speakers increased from 2.9 percent to 4.8 percent. More than two-fifths (42.2%) of those persons in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well. In the 2009 ACS, the share had increased to 6.0 percent and of those 42.3 percent spoke English less than very well. Spanish speakers were 56 percent of those who spoke other than English at home, and 64.4 percent of those who spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Tennessee in the 2000 Census)
Spanish	133,930
German	20,210
French	17,360
Vietnamese	6,625
Korean	6,550
Arabic	6,480
Chinese	6,290
Laotian	4,495
Japanese	4,425
Tagalog	3,385
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The chart above shows the foreign-born population increasing by 67.1 percent since 2000 and the share of that population from Latin America and the Caribbean increasing by 96.2 percent. That region’s share of the state’s immigrant population grew from 39.9 percent to 46.9 percent in 2009.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2009 ACS indicate that 93,221 residents, or 35.1 percent, of the foreign-born population in Tennessee were U.S. citizens, compared to 53,185 residents, or 33.4 percent, in 2000.

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born were U.S. citizens in 2000, and 43.7 percent in 2009.

REFUGEES

Tennessee received 9,896 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'00-'09).

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

In Tennessee overall enrollment in 2008 (964,259) was 8.9 percent above enrollment in 1999. LEP enrollment was 176.9 percent higher than a decade earlier.

FOREIGN STUDENTS

The 2009/2010 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Tennessee as 6,155. Five schools in the state are listed as having a majority of these students:

Vanderbilt U. – 1,104.
U. Tennessee-Knoxville. – 1,067
U. Memphis – 769
E. Tennessee S.U. – 324
Lee U. – 208

For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the state’s illegal alien population as of 2011 is about 120,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 12 million persons.

INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated that the illegal population in Tennessee was 46,000 in 2000. This number was 33,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 130,000 as of 2010.

Cost of Illegal Aliens

FAIR’s 2010 fiscal cost study, “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” estimated the following cost outlays and tax receipts:

Tennessee Fiscal Costs In 2009
Due to Illegal Aliens ($M)		(Pct.)
K-12 educ.	$231.8	42.4%
LEP educ.	$49.8	9.1%
Medicaid	$53.5	9.8%
SCHIP	$14.2	2.6%
Justice	$41.4	7.6%
Welfare+	$55.9	10.2%
General	$100.1	18.3%
Total	$546.7
Tax Receipts	$50.3
Net Cost	$496.4

Population Projection

We projected Tennessee’s population in 2050 likely would be between 8.36 million and 8.46 million depending on what happens with immigration policy. See “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050: Four Immigration Scenarios,” FAIR 2006.

Tennessee: Immigrant Admissions

Tennessee Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
2000	4,882
2001	6,257
2002	5,694
2003	3,373
2004	5,620
2005	8,962
2006	10,042
2007	8,942
2008	8,348
2009	9,042
Total	71,162

Recent immigrant admissions are at 12,000 percent of admissions just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 756 immigrants. During the most recent five years, admissions averaged about 9,065 persons.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 657 in FY'65 to 10,042 in FY’06. The cumulative total of admissions to Tennessee between fiscal years 1965 and 2009 was about 146,800 immigrants.

INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'93 - FY'02

The INS data below are furnished for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1993. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.

The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in Tennessee during this period.

Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
Country	FY'93	FY'94	FY'95	FY'96	FY'97	FY'98	FY'99	FY'00	FY'01	FY'02	Total
Bangladesh	-	-	-	19	31	25	12	32	-	11	130
Canada	282	177	123	198	221	96	90	155	279	198	1,819
China *	589	360	210	280	260	190	154	377	343	364	3,127
Colombia	14	12	14	24	23	30	9	41	64	52	283
Cuba	2	3	3	30	119	43	30	36	58	87	411
Dom. Rep.	3	9	9	3	11	9	7	18	14	14	97
Ecuador	1	-	5	12	8	4	6	5	14	18	73
El Salvador	17	11	11	13	13	4	22	31	39	43	204
Germany	116	99	59	-	80	54	53	74	102	116	753
Guatemala	16	10	12	21	20	29	20	54	39	92	344
Guyana	4	15	13	12	6	7	4	2	-	6	69
Haiti	4	0	101	98	12	8	2	6	9	26	266
Honduras	14	-	-	-	15	15	6	17	-	38	105
India	332	290	310	384	366	291	218	352	444	426	3,403
Iran	90	79	58	104	72	56	57	93	88	111	808
Ireland	35	45	-	-	5	4	6	8	-	5	108
Jamaica	11	11	13	17	13	19	14	26	14	18	156
Japan	-	64	-	-	43	38	29	79	103	58	414
Korea	115	95	72	96	73	72	69	127	120	111	950
Mexico	125	122	88	261	347	300	317	504	703	791	3,558
Nicaragua	-	-	-	-	3	4	11	20	34	27	99
Nigeria	-	-	42	74	68	79	47	60	-	86	456
Pakistan	53	55	38	49	65	38	34	55	94	54	535
Peru	13	26	12	27	25	15	10	18	36	47	229
Philippines	177	144	119	175	150	60	96	364	388	219	1,892
Poland	42	31	25	41	19	13	11	15	30	13	240
Sov. Un. *	217	166	147	129	232	175	158	239	295	347	2,105
Trin.& Tob.	-	11	-	-	6	11	8	34	-	14	84
U. Kingdom	190	127	107	161	115	88	64	115	172	148	1,287
Vietnam	457	354	354	400	383	118	100	148	343	249	2,906
Yugo. *	-	-	113	114	158	28	46	215	309	392	1,375
Other	1,368	1,292	1,334	1,601	1,405	883	874	1,562	2,123	1,513	13,955
Total	4,287	3,608	3,392	4,343	4,357	2,806	2,584	4,882	6,257	5,694	42,210

A dash (-) indicates that the data for that year were not published for that country in the INS Statistical Yearbook.
* China data include Hong Kong and Taiwan. Former USSR data continued since break-up (except FY'96-'97 and ‘01 include only Russia and Ukraine). Former Yugoslavia data continued since break-up.

The 31 nationalities above represent more than two-thirds (66.9%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Tennessee during this ten-year period. The largest sources of the new immigrants (Mexico, India, China, Vietnam, and former Soviet Union) together account for more than one-third (38.2%) of the ten-year total.

Tennessee : Poll Data

Rasmussen Poll: Arizona Law SB 1070
July 2010

Suppose the new Arizona immigration law was being considered for your state. Would you favor or oppose passage of that law in your state?

Middle Tennessee State University Poll
November 2002

74% think U.S. immigration policies are too open.

Tennessee: Immigration Impact

ENVIRONMENTAL AND QUALITY OF LIFE PROFILE

Traffic: Tennessee highways saw a 44 percent increase in traffic between 1990 and 2008. Traffic growth over time has caused 43 percent of the state’s major urban highways to be congested.¹

The typical Memphis commuter spent about 25 extra hours in traffic in 2007 due to congestion-related delays, burning about 15 gallons of fuel to compensate. Nashville-Davidson’s delays were even more severe, with 37 hours and 23 gallons of fuel wasted per commuter, and Knoxville commuters lost 26 hours and 16 gallons. The time and fuel lost by commuters in these areas was valued at $884 million.² About 13 percent of Tennessee commuters had a commute of 45 minutes or longer in 2008.³

Vehicles in and around Knox County drive nearly 13 million miles a day — and the figure is growing about 400,000 miles annually.⁴

Unfortunately, road maintenance has not fully kept up with traffic volume. One in six (16%) of Tennessee roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 20 percent of its bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Drivers pay the cost of overdue road maintenance. The typical Tennessee driver pays $182 per year in additional maintenance and operating costs due to road conditions.⁵

Crowded Housing: An estimated 39,736 of Tennessee’s housing units were classified as crowded in 2008, defined as units with more than one occupant per room. This amounted to 1.7 percent of the state’s housing units. In addition, 6,928 were severely crowded, with at least 1.5 occupants per room.⁶ Nationwide, children in immigrant families were three times as likely to live in crowded conditions as children in native families (27 percent to 9 percent). In the state, 22 percent of children in immigrant families live in crowded housing, compared to just 7 percent of children with native-born parents.⁷

Development and Urban Sprawl: The amount of developed land in Tennessee increased by 1,398,300 acres from 1982 to 2007, growing at a pace of 43,200 acres per year over the last ten years of that period.⁸

Urban sprawl is devouring 3,000 Shelby County acres — the equivalent of about ten Overton Parks — each year.⁹ Knox County and its contiguous counties have lost more than 143,300 acres of farmland in the last 15 years — and that is roughly one-fourth the size of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In Knox County alone, 221 farms and more than 20,000 acres have been turned into home sites, shopping malls, and parking lots. More than 7,000 acres of cropland have been entirely removed from production.

Population growth and urban sprawl are the greatest threats facing Southern forests, according to the federal Southern Forest Resources Assessment. Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau and ridge-and-valley section between the plateau and the high mountains along the state's eastern border are especially susceptible to forest fragmentation.¹⁰ Tennessee ranks 8th in the nation for prime farmland acreage loss to urbanization.¹¹

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 145.5 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Memphis metropolitan area, and 39.1 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase. In the Chattanooga metro area, which crosses into Georgia, sprawl consumed an additional 140 square miles and population increase accounted for 36 percent of the increase, and population increase was attributable to 71.8 percent of 140.0 acres of sprawl in the Nashville area.¹²

Air Pollution: In 2010, every Tennessee county graded by the American Lung Association for risk of high ozone exposure received an "F." Only four other states have this distinction (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island).¹³

As population increases, pollution usually rises along with it. Residents of all four major metropolitan areas in Tennessee are breathing unhealthy amounts of air pollution according to the American Lung Association.¹⁴ The Great Smoky Mountains is the nation's most polluted national park, with air quality rivaling that of Los Angeles. Ozone levels in the Smokies have violated federal health standards more than 175 times since 1998.¹⁵

In Chattanooga, an EPA-funded study found that 17 toxic chemicals are present at levels that could cause cancer.¹⁶

Poverty: Tennessee’s immigrants are more likely to be poor than their native-born counterparts. In 2007, 20.0 percent of foreign-born households were below the poverty line, compared to 15.7 percent of native households. An additional 13.8 percent of the foreign-born and 9.8 percent of native households were not in poverty but had incomes less than 1.5 times the poverty level.¹⁷ 25.8 percent of children in immigrant families were poor in 2006, compared to 21.3 percent of native children.¹⁸

Solid Waste: Tennessee generates 1.27 tons of solid waste per capita each year.¹⁹ If this rate does not decrease, projected population growth between 2008 and 2050 will add over 2.8 million tons of solid waste to the state’s annual total.

Schools: Between 1990 and 2009, public school enrollment in Tennessee increased by an estimated 181,405 students, or 22.0 percent. ²⁰ Enrollment is projected to grow by an additional 91,037 students between 2009 and 2018.²¹ Tennessee's student-teacher ratio of 16 ranks 37th in the U.S.²²

In Polk County, student enrollment increases have pinched the school budget, requiring additional bus drivers, teachers, and equipment. In Bradley County, schools are adding temporary classrooms.²³ Enrollment projections for Shelby County schools, where schools are already well over capacity, show steady growth.²⁴ "In the southeast, all we see is all this development. No one cares whether or not we have the space to put the kids," says one school board member.²⁵

Illegal Immigration in Tennessee

Tennessee has some of the nation's leading meat processors, several of which are owned by Tyson Foods, which has been charged with conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens to work at poultry plants. A 36-count indictment in Chattanooga charged Tyson Foods with violation of immigration laws in the hiring of illegal aliens. Fifteen plants in nine states, including ones in Shelbyville and Union City, have been implicated in the conspiracy.²⁶

While Immigration and Naturalization Services arrests of illegal aliens have risen since September 11, 2001, the agency says it is unlikely to arrest "the average individual with no arrest record and no prior run-ins with INS," due to lack of manpower. The INS has only 20 agents to cover Tennessee, the east half of Arkansas, and the top half of Mississippi.

A flood of illegal aliens took advantage of a law passed in 2001 that allowed anyone who could prove Tennessee residency, whether they are in the country legally or not, to get a driver's license. That loophole has been closed.

Endnotes:

The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Tennessee’s Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
Texas Transportation Institute, "Urban Mobility Report 2009."
American Community Survey, 2008 Estimates, Custom Data Table.
Fred Brown, "Keeping the Farms," Knoxville News-Sentinel, November 4, 2001.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Tennessee’s Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
American Community Survey, Three-Year Estimates 2006-2008. Data retrieved using ACS Custom Table tool.
Kids Count Data Center, Kids Count Data Center, 2008 American Community Survey Data.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Summary Report: 2007 National Resources Inventory."
Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
Morgan Simmons, "Development Looms as Biggest Threat to Southern Forests," Knoxville News-Sentinel, November 27, 2001.
American Farmland Trust, "Farming on the Edge"
Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, "Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities," NumbersUSA, March 2001.
The American Lung Association, "State of the Air 2010."
Stephanie Gaskell, "Study Ranks Tennessee Cities Among Those With Most Polluted Air," Associated Press, May 1, 2002.
Duncan Mansfield, "Smoky Mountains Air as Bad as L.A. Smog," Chicago Sun-Times, September 24, 2002.
Kathy Gilbert and Dave Flessner, "City's Pollution Comes from Cars," Chattanooga Times, January 16, 2002.
Migration Information Source State Data (Migration Policy Institute)
Urban Institute, Children of Immigrants Data Tool.
Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers
"Table 34. Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by state or jurisdiction: Selected years, fall 1990 through fall 2009," Digest of Education Statistics, Department of Education.
"Table 4. Actual and projected numbers for enrollment in grades PK12 in public elementary and secondary schools, by region and state: Fall 2000 through fall 2018," National Center for Education Statistics, Department of Education.
"Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment, High School Completions, and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005-06', National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, June 2007.
"Higher School Enrollments Concern Some Area Officials," Chattanooga Times, August 21, 2002.
Katherine Cromer, "Projections Show Steady Growth for County Schools in 2002-2003," The Commercial Appeal, March 1, 2002.
Katherine Cromer, "New School Urged for Southeast Shelby," Commercial Appeal, May 26, 2002.
Linday Riddell, "INS Arresting More Illegals," Chattanooga Times, January 13, 2002.

Other Resources

State Local Reform Organizations

State Representatives Voting Record

Updated December 2011

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