St. Louis named Top Metro in Foreign-Born Population Growth

St. Louis surges in diversity among top 30 metro areas

In exciting news, the St. Louis metro area had the highest percentage increase in foreign-born population in the United States from 2022-2023. St. Louis placed first among the 30 largest metro areas in the U.S. The foreign-born population increased by 23.2%, going from 129,604 in 2022 to 159,710 in 2023.

Increasing the St. Louis foreign-born population has long been the objective for the St. Louis Mosaic Project, a regional initiative within the World Trade Center St. Louis (WTC) and the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (STL Partnership). The organization’s focus is making St. Louis a welcoming place for immigrants and people from all backgrounds.

“This growth reflects regional collaboration for attracting and retaining corporate leaders, international students, entrepreneurs, families reuniting and refugees,” said Betsy Cohen, executive director of the Mosaic Project. “It is so exciting to hit the goal of being the fastest growing major metropolitan region for immigration with 2023 results when our target had been 2025!”