Where Most Foreigners Live in Mexico

Mexico's 2010 census found that 961,121 individuals living in Mexico had been born outside the country. In 2000 there were only about half as many foreigners living here (492,617). The 2010 figure is less than 1% of Mexico's total population of 112 million. (Compare Canada where 21% are foreign-born and USA where 13% are foreign born.)

Of the total number of foreign-born residents in Mexico, 76.6% were born in the USA. Sadly, INEGI (Mexico's statistic bureau) has not released any information relating to the country of birth of current residents who were born in countries other than the USA.

As can be seen on the map, the states with most foreigners are Baja California (about 123,000), Jalisco (84,000), Chihuahua (80,000), the Federal District (72,000) and Tamaulipas. The two states with fewest are Tlaxcala and Tabasco. (These are absolute numbers, and are heavily influenced by the relative size of each state.)

Which states experienced the largest increases in foreigners between 2000 and 2010? The number of foreigners grew fastest in those states with relatively few foreigners in 2000, namely Hidalgo (up 402% over the decade), Tlaxcala (333%), Tabasco (281%), and Veracruz and Oaxaca (both with 272%.