Sioux Falls makes Governing‘s list of 25 cities with the biggest increases in foreign-born residents compared to native population growth. From 2009 to 2014, Sioux Falls gained over 3,000 foreign-born residents, reaching a total foreign-born population of about 11,500. Over the same period, the domestic-born population increased by more than 6,000.
Americans by choice, folks born elsewhere who chose to join us, make up 7.1% of the population in Sioux Falls. If the above growth rates—36% for newcomers, 4% for those born here—held, new Americans would outnumber natives in Sioux Falls within fifty years.
Fargo posts an even bigger gap between foreign-born and native-born population growth. North Dakota’s main I-29 outpost added 60% more foreign-born residents and 17% more native-born. Newcomers make up 7.0% of Fargo’s population, close to the percentage in Sioux Falls… but the question for the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce is, “Why is Fargo growing faster in both foreign-born and domestic-born population than Sioux Falls?”