Where We're From

Where people living in the Mid-Atlantic were born

The Mid-Atlantic is one of the most diverse geographic regions of the nation, with residents of many different backgrounds, races, and cultures. While a small majority of the region's residents are native to the region, a large proportion of residents are transplants from other regions of the country or immigrated here from other countries. Last month, the New York Time's The Upshot blog published interactive graphs detailing where the residents of all 50 states and D.C. originated from (and migrated to) using recent US Census data. (NOTE: Click "Switch to Migration" button above graph to see origination data).

Using the data from the graphs and the Census site, I decided to focus specifically on the Mid-Atlantic states and created my own graphs (above). As you can see, approximately 62% of people living in the Mid-Atlantic are native to their current state of residence, while approx. 20% where born in another state (including another Mid-Atlantic state), and a significant 18% were born overseas. Although, these numbers only focus on one aspect of diversity, place of origin, they really underscore the fact that the Mid-Atlantic is a very cosmopolitan region. Glancing at the detailed tables on the NY Times page also reveals that this diversity has been steadily increasing over time, and it won't be surprising if Mid-Atlantic residents native to their home state are in the minority at some point in the next few decades.

Of course, there's a large demographic variation between the Mid-Atlantic states. For instance, in Pennsylvania, a whopping 74% of the population was born in that state, while only 37% of Washington D.C. residents were born in the District. As for immigrants from overseas, a very sizable 25% of New York state residents were born in another country, while a paltry 2% of West Virginia residents were born outside of the U.S.

Although these figures do tell a lot about how indigenous Mid-Atlantic residents are, they don't tell the whole story and can be deceiving because of the uniquely compact nature of the region. For instance, many Washington D.C. residents were born in nearby Maryland or Northern Virginia, and some Delaware residents were born in SE Pennsylvania, but never actually lived in either of those jurisdiction. The graphs above also groups migration within the Mid-Atlantic with migration from New England ("Elsewhere in the Northeast") instead of splitting it out. This is because it was more logical to compare the parent Northeast region with the other major regions of the country.

In any case, I've created my own informal poll (below) to see where readers hail from. The poll was designed just for Mid-Atlantic residents, but other readers are able to examine the poll results.