August 17, 2006 -- Census Bureau Cites Growing Immigrant Population

In a report issued August 15, the U.S. Census Bureau said the United States population at the end of 2005 was an estimated 288,378,137 persons, with more than 12.4 percent of the population foreign-born. The report, which focuses on the demographics of communities, including some of the largest and smallest cities and towns in the country, notes that the percentage of persons who were not born in the United States was much higher in some cities, such as Los Angeles and New York, where as many as one-third of the population were not U.S. citizens at birth. Some other localities had much smaller immigrant populations, Lynchburg, VA, for example, where only 2 percent of the population is foreign born, and Muncie, IN, with 2.8 percent. The exact figures for specific towns and cities are available online at American FactFinder on the Census website, www.census.gov. The report, which is intended to help communities plan for future development, including schools, notes that slightly more than 20 million of the 2005 population were under five years of age. The median age of the U.S. household population was 36.4 years.