Duval County’s immigrant population has grown significantly since 2010, according to new U.S. Census numbers.
More than 20,000 people resettled in Jacksonville over that period — most of them from outside the U.S.
Jacksonville doesn’t have the fastest growing population, but it isn't the slowest either — it’s 53rd out of 388 metro areas. Over five years, more than 70,000 people moved into the area.
Since 2010, most of Jacksonville’s new transplants were international. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Ben Bolender said that explains the relatively quick population boost.
“Birth and death tend to change more slowly over time in response to cultural and medical kinds of issues. Migration can change much more rapidly with people moving in from other parts of the country or people moving in from other countries,” Bolender said. “That can change the area’s population quite quickly.”
But, Bolender said, in the last year, the bulk of people moving to Jacksonville — around 17,000 – came from the U.S., with about 4,800 people from abroad.
Though the Census Bureau doesn’t make determinations about why migration occurs, Bolender said a recent influx of Puerto Rican immigrants and the migrant crisis from Central America and the Middle East could be contributing factors.
