Immigration from abroad is a huge driver of population growth for America's biggest cities. Even though Ellis Island closed 60 years ago, New York is the country's largest magnet for immigrants.
The U.S. Census Bureau releases an annual report on population changes across the United States. Based on their data for city-centered areas, we made the map below showing levels of net international migration over the year between July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2013.
Large cities draw the most people from abroad. In particular, New York stands in a class of its own, with a level of net international migration more than twice as high as any other city.
Most smaller cities had a negligible amount of net international migration, and only a handful of cities saw any amount of net population loss to other countries, and in those cities the loss was extremely small.
Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from U.S. Census
Here are the top twenty cities, and the net immigration for those cities between July 2012 and July 2013:
U.S. Census