Doing Research? : Immigration in Your Backyard

Immigration Impact: Washington D.C.

State Population (2006 CB estimate) 581,530 State Population in 2000 572,059 Average Annual Change 2000-2006 0.3% Foreign Born Population 20061/ 94,865 Foreign Born Share 2006 16.3% Foreign Born Population 2000 73,561 Foreign Born Share 2000 12.9% Average Annual Change 2000-2006 4.6% Population Projection 2010 529,785 Population Projection 2025 455,108 Population Projection 2050 (FAIR) 1.1 million All numbers are from the U.S. Census Bureau unless otherwise noted. Additional Census Bureau, INS, and other immigration-related data are available for District of Columbia.

Population Profile

While the District of Columbia has lost population or remained steady over the past three decades, its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia have experienced staggering population growth. As a result, the metro area is struggling with sprawl, crowded schools, traffic gridlock, and a rising burden on taxpayers as communities struggle to meet the increased demand for public services.

The D.C. metro area's foreign-born population increased 70 percent during the 1990s, and accounted for 49 percent of the metro area's overall population increase during the decade.

Foreign-Born Population 

The District of Colombia’s foreign-born population increased by almost 29 percent between 2000 and 2006. During that period the District of Colombia gained almost 21,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to over 94,000.

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for D.C. metro area residents increased by 54 percent in the last ten years, from 22 minutes in 1991 to 34 minutes in 2001.5/ In 2003, 20 percent of DC workers had a commute of at least 45 minutes, ranking 5th in the nation. 6/

The D.C. area also has the third worst crowded roads in the nation and second worst traffic for the morning and evening hours. More than one-third, or 36 percent, of all urban interstate miles within Washington, D.C. are severely congested.7/ Traffic delays caused the average resident to spend two full workweeks a year stalled in traffic.8/ A study by a local planning board task force predicted the weekday rush hour on the Beltway around Washington could total 14 hours by 2020.9/

Even subway passengers can't escape the congestion. The area's population has grown so large that a five-minute train delay during rush hour leaves 3,000 or more people waiting on the platform.10/

Crowded Housing: In 2005 over 11,000 District of Colombia residents lived in either crowded or severely crowded housing.11/ Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.12,13/

Poverty: 15.1 percent of immigrants in the District of Colombia had incomes below poverty level in 2005.14/  Analysts say that high immigration is one of the reasons for D.C.'s increase in poverty over the last decade.15/

Air Quality: The District of Colombia received a grade of “F” from the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2005” report.16/

Water: The region's surging population eventually will strain the limits of its water supply, and a severe drought could force homes and businesses to restrict tap water use in less than two decades, says the League of Women Voters.17/ Increasing demand generated by population growth already has begun pitting neighboring states against each other for water rights,18/ and many Maryland suburbs have enacted mandatory water restrictions.

The 343,300 acres developed to keep up with Washington's population increase from 1982 to 1997 send an additional 23.8 billion to 55.6 billion gallons of polluted runoff into lakes, streams, and rivers each year.19/

Disappearing Open Space: From 1982 to 1997, the developed area of the Washington region increased by 47 percent.20/  The Sierra Club named Washington the third most sprawl-threatened large city in the U.S.21/

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 450.1 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Washington metropolitan area, with spillover into Maryland and Virginia, with 47% percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase.22/

If current trends continue, the metro area will see an 80 percent increase in developed land (over 800,000 acres) by 2030. Much of the newly developed land will be in areas that are currently rural, resulting in a loss of almost 700,000 acres of farm and forest land.23/

Illegal Residents: An executive order prohibiting police from asking about immigration status has allowed many area gang members and other criminals to gain sanctuary from immigration laws.24/ In the summer of 2003, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey held a news conference to reiterate that the city's officers are not permitted to ask about immigration status during routine police procedures.25/

Endnotes

1. FAIR estimate based on the 2006 Current Population Survey.
2. "Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for
3. States based on the March 2005 CPS", Pew Hispanic Center.
4. Martin, Jack. “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red,” A Report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
5. 2003 Urban Mobility Study, Texas Transportation Institute, September 30, 2003.
6. “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
7. 2003 Urban Mobility Study, Texas Transportation Institute, September 30, 2003.
8. Urban Interstate Traffic Congestion, The Road Information Program, January 2003
9. "Federal Incentives Could Help Land Use That Protects Air and Water Quality," United States General Accounting Office, October 2001
10. "Duncan Calls for $1B in Transportation Spending, ICC Restart," Associated Press, June 25, 2002.
11. Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
12. Haya Nasser, "U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded," USA Today, July 7, 2002.
13. Randy Capps, "Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families," Urban Institute, 2001
14. “District of Colombia State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
15. At Home in the Nation's Capital: Immigrant Trends in Metropolitan Washington, The Brookings Institution, June 2003.
16. “State of the Air 2005: District of Colombia”, American Lung Association.
17. Daniel A. Domenech , "Without Sales Tax, Schools Can't Keep Up," Washington Post, August 30, 2001.
18. D'Vera Cohn, "Report Warns That Region Could Run out of Water: Surging Population Will Strain Supply,"Washington Post, March 10, 1999.
19. Ken Ward Jr., "W.Va. Water Already Siphoned by Neighbors," Charleston Gazette, December 22, 2002.
20. Editorial, Baltimore Sun, December 2, 2002.
21. Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, “Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities,” NumbersUSA, March 2001
22. Sierra Club Sprawl Report: 30 Most Sprawl-Threatened Cities," Sierra Club, 1998.
23. "Future Growth in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area," Land and the Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
24. "Gang Wars," Washington Times, August 3, 2003.
25. Metro: In Brief," Washington Post, July 29, 2003.