COUNTY POPULATION
The population of Washtenaw County was estimated by the Census Bureau at 344,047 residents as of July 2006. That was an increase of 0.6 percent from a year earlier and 6.6 percent above the 2000 Census.
Net international migration data understate the impact of immigration, because the children born to immigrants after their arrival are recorded as domestic population change -- not part of the immigrant settlement data.
According to the 2006 Census Bureau estimate, Washtenaw County's population had increased since July 2000 despite a population loss from net domestic migration (an annual average of about 1,080 more native-born residents leaving than arriving). This was more than offset by natural change (an annual average of about 2,300 more births than deaths) and net international migration (an annual average of about 2,335 more foreign-born residents arriving than leaving). Therefore, immigration was the largest component of population change, and it accounted directly for more than two-thirds (69.1%) of the County’s population increase.
The 2000 Census recorded 322,895 residents in the County. This was a 14.1 percent increase above the 282,937 residents in the 1990 Census. During the previous decade, the County population increased by 6.9 percent from 264,748 in 1980.
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
The 2000 census recorded 33,164 foreign-born residents in Washtenaw County. That was a 10.3 percent share of the overall population, which was higher than the 5.3 percent share for the state. The 2000 data showed an increase of 69.9 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a ten percent increase in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. As a result, immigration accounted for 34.1 percent of the County's population increase over the period.
In 2000, the Census recorded that more than half (57%) of the County's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was much higher than the share for the state overall (44.9%). Less than one-third (32.3%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. This was much lower than the rate for the state overall (45.8%).
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 County in 2000, the share of other-than-English speakers at home (age 5 and older) was 13.2 percent. More than one-quarter (27.7%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.
In 1990, the county's foreign-born population was about 19,415 residents (5.5% of the total state immigrant population). The foreign-born share of the county's overall population population was 6.9 percent. By comparison, the foreign-born population shares of the country and the state in 1990, respectively, were 7.9 percent and 3.8 percent.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 6,035 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in Washtenaw County 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 shown below.
