The Contributions of New Americans in South Dakota

While today only 2.7 percent of South Dakota’s residents are foreign-born, the state has begun attracting more immigrants in recent years. As recently as 1990, only 1.1 percent of South Dakota’s population was made up of immigrants. By 2010, that share had more than doubled, reaching 2.6 percent. Between 2010 and 2014, South Dakota’s foreign-born population increased by an additional 2,000 people. Although that number sounds smalls on its face, it actually represents a meaningful increase to this sparsely populated state. Between 2010 and 2014, the number of immigrants living in South Dakota increased by 9.4 percent—a far greater rate than the jump in the number of immigrants living in the United States more broadly

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