One in five of your new neighbors in Southern California moved here from another nation.

That’s what new U.S. Census Bureau data tell us about how people moved into and out of the region’s major metropolitan areas from 2010 to 2014, a period marked by the end of the Great Recession and the ensuing economic rebound.

The report offers a by-the-numbers look at how Southern California is being reshaped by migration from outside the United States.

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The census tracked the region as two distinct two-county metro areas, one composed of Los Angeles and Orange counties and the other composed of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. In all, the census found that 443,000 people a year moved to the four-county region from elsewhere in the state or country during the period studied, while 112,000 came from another country.

A key driver in this trend is Asia.

The L.A.-O.C. area drew 50,600 annually from Asian countries in 2010-2014. Only the New York-New Jersey metro area drew more Asians during that period. In the Inland Empire, Asians were the most common group of new, foreign-born residents during the period studied, at about 9,000 per year.

WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?

A look at the 10 top locations where new population comes from and where it goes for Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Where do they come from? Where do they go? Inland Empire 52,649 Inland Empire 87,565 Asia 50,600 Outside metro areas 18,857 Central America 16,872 San Diego 17,207 San Diego 14,299 San Francisco 16,962 San Francisco 13,949 Las Vegas 13,222 N.Y.-N.J. 12,377 Bakersfield 11,724 Outside metro areas 11,750 Ventura 11,471 Europe 11,274 N.Y.-N.J. 9,684 Ventura 9,520 Phoenix 9,218 Las Vegas 8,225 Dallas 7,041

The rest of the world combined sent about 91,000 people a year to L.A.-O.C., roughly 1 in 4 new residents. About 21,500 non-Asian foreigners a year moved to the Inland Empire during the period, or roughly 1 in 10 new residents.

The census also tracked why people moved.

The L.A.-O.C. area’s cosmopolitan flair (based on racial and ethnic diversity) is a key reason why it outdraws the Inland Empire when it comes to people moving here from around the world.

Foreigners also were active buyers of L.A.-O.C.’s high-end housing, as they saw the region as a comparatively good value in a politically more stable nation than where they lived.

This is only the second time the census produced metro-level migration data, so long-running trend lines are not easily available. But the contrast of moves involving L.A.-O.C. and the Inland Empire is noteworthy.

The report also showed that many of our new neighbors didn’t move very far, and that the Inland Empire was more attractive than L.A.-O.C. as a destination for folks moving from nearby.

• The Inland Empire drew an average 113,000 a year – or roughly one-third of its new residents – from L.A.-O.C. and the San Diego, Ventura and Bakersfield metro areas.

• L.A.-O.C. drew just 82,000 from the Inland Empire, San Diego, Ventura and Bakersfield metros, or 1 in 5 of its new residents.

• In 2010-2014, L.A.-O.C. lost on average 359,000 a year to other parts of the state and nation; the Inland Empire lost 159,408 a year.

So, where did Southern Californians go when they left town?

For people leaving L.A.-O.C., if the move wasn’t to a nearby metro area – roughly a third of the destinations – the new home was often in a small town outside a big city in another part of California or out of state. Some popular relocation sites were San Francisco (17,000 people left), Las Vegas (13,000), New York (10,000), Phoenix (9,000) and Dallas (7,000).

For the Inland Empire, where nearly half of the relocations went to nearby counties, the rest of the moves also were topped by small towns outside metros (10,400 a year), followed by Las Vegas (4,300), Phoenix (4,200), Sacramento (3,200) and San Francisco (2,800).

The influx of foreigners to the four-county region helped mitigate a wave of exits by residents to elsewhere in California or other states. Those departures are certainly tied, in part, to the high cost of living here.

The L.A.-O.C. area lost, on average, about 102,000 domestic movers a year during the four-year period, a flow of domestic out-migration that was almost, but not quite, offset by new arrivals from foreigners moving in.

The Inland Empire didn’t have that problem; more domestic residents (about 27,500 a year) moved to the region than moved out. Foreign arrivals nearly doubled its tally of new residents.

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INLAND EMPIRE MOVES IN AND OUT:

A look at where new population comes from and where it goes for Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Where do they come from? Where do they go? L.A.-O.C. 87,565 L.A.-O.C. 52,649 San Diego 21,202 San Diego 13,719 Asia 9,254 Outside metro areas 10,395 Outside metro areas 8,084 Bakersfield 5,114 Central America 6,257 Las Vegas 4,325 Phoenix 3,573 Phoenix 4,191 Las Vegas 3,329 Sacramento 3,216 Sacramento 3,329 San Francisco 2,766 San Francisco 2,725 Seattle 1,838 Bakersfield 2,327 Houston 1,799

Source: Census

Contact the writer: jlansner@scng.com