According to the United States Census Bureau, people from Jamaica represent the largest immigrant population group in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. An article in the Washington Times found that there is a trend toward decreasing populations in the Baltimore area as well as in Maryland in general, but immigrants continue to come to the region, which helps to mitigate the state’s loss of population. The city of Baltimore is one of seven Maryland regions where immigrants prevented or reduced the rate of population loss in 2018, according to a report from Stateline that relied on US Census data. Approximately 2000 immigrants migrated to the city from July 1, 2018; the overall population numbers decreased by over 7300 people, however.

The Stateline report also determined that 20 percent of the jurisdictions in the US either increased in population or decreased less than expected as a result of immigrants. According to Noel Godfrey, president of the Jamaican Association of Maryland until May 2019, Jamaicans have been migrating to the US since the 1940s, and while the number of individuals in the Jamaican diaspora in Maryland is lower than that of Miami, Florida, or New York, the number remains impressive. Many Jamaicans moved to the city of Baltimore from more costly urban areas. The Jamaican community in Baltimore centers chiefly in the neighborhood of Park Heights in the city’s northeast, but earlier, Jamaicans tended to settle in the southeast area of Baltimore. Immigration advocates note that immigrants tend to settle where they know people. In addition to Jamaica, other top contributors of immigrants to the Baltimore area include individuals from China, Mexico. and Trinidad.

Source: Washington Times