Historically, international migration has played an important role in the growth of Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati region. Cincinnati grew into one of the great American cities in part from German immigration in the 1830s and Irish immigration after the Great Famine beginning in 1845. Many of these immigrants settled on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and helped shape the cultural landscape of Northern Kentucky.
Today, understanding the foreign-born population in a region is key to assessing community needs. Data on the foreign-born population is tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). As a standalone survey, the ACS is designed to provide estimates of the characteristics of the population, rather than basic counts. The survey is taken by a sample of the population and the results are used to develop statistical estimates for the overall population. For most geographies, ACS data are available in the form of 5-year estimates along with an associated margin of error, reflecting 60 months of collected data.
Based on the 2022 5-Year ACS data, Northern Kentucky’s Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties are home to nearly 17,000 people born outside of the U.S., which accounts for just over 4 percent of the population. Of the three counties, the largest foreign-born population resides in Boone County. These 8,563 residents make up 6.2% of the county’s population, and include a large concentration of immigrants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reflecting this diversity, students in Boone County Schools speak more than 50 languages.
Almost one-third of NKY’s 17,000 immigrants were born in India (2,000), Mexico (1,732), or Guatemala (1,700). Zip codes with the highest concentration of foreign-born population include areas in Florence, Covington, Hebron and Burlington.
The 2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which will be released in the next couple of months, will contain data collected from Jan. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2023. The 5-year estimates are used when precision is important (i.e. larger sample size reduces the margin of error) or when analyzing small populations. It is important to note that the ACS is interpreted as “period” estimates as opposed to “point in time” estimates provided by programs like the Decennial Census. Accordingly, the estimates should not be interpreted as change over the 5-year period.
The foreign-born population is a crucial asset to the Northern Kentucky economy. Like many communities throughout the United States, Northern Kentucky is feeling the effects of a labor shortage, brought about in part by an aging population and declining birth rate. Together, these factors put the region’s economy at risk of stalling.
Population and labor force growth are major focus areas for BE NKY Growth Partnership and increasing attraction and retention rates through migration is one pathway to bolstering Northern Kentucky’s population and future workforce.
