New Data Show Bellevue Population 39% Foreign Born

BELLEVUE, WA - The Planning and Community Development department recently present the City Council with new data on demographic trends in the city, which reveal that 39 percent of the city's population is foreign born - almost double the amount in King County as a whole, and nearly triple that of Seattle.

The data, first presented to the council in mid-January, has taken on a new meaning in the wake of an executive order signed on Friday by President Donald Trump because it shows how many locals may be affected. The order places a three-month ban on non-citizens entering or reentering the U.S. from seven countries - Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The order also bans Syrian refugees indefinitely, and refugees from all other countries are banned for at least 120 days.

Meantime, Bellevue-based Expedia and Amazon are helping the state of Washington sue the Trump administration to block the executive order, and Microsoft leaders have said the company will provide legal assistance to some 76 employees who may be affected by the order.

Here are some of the data the Planning and Community Development department presented to the council:

• Bellevue has the 14th largest Asian population of any city in the U.S. with 34.1 percent of residents from that large region
• 39.1 percent of residents are foreign born - an increase of almost 15 percent since 2000
• Nearly 2 percent of Bellevue's foreign born population are from Iran
• The fastest growing Asian populations in Bellevue are Chinese and Indian
• Bellevue has the 5th largest minority population in Washington at 50 percent, behind only Federal Way, Yakima, Renton, and Kent
• By comparison, Seattle's minority population is 34 percent
• 93 percent of Bellevue's population growth since 2000 has come from foreign born residents

To read the full report, you can view it on the city's website.

Image via Patch.com