More people are moving out of Jefferson County than are moving in. It’s one of the reasons the population of Jefferson, the most populous county in Alabama and the home of Birmingham, has been stagnant since 2010. And that makes Jefferson County a fairly good stand-in for the trends in the state as a whole.

Around 18,000 more people moved away from Jefferson to somewhere else in the United States during that time. Yet Jefferson isn’t shrinking. It’s grown slightly since 2010. In part, that’s because around 14,000 more people have been born in Jefferson County than died there.

But international migration has propped up the population of Jefferson County, same as it has helped maintain the population of the state. More than 5,000 people moved from outside the U.S. to Jefferson County between 2010 and 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. That’s the highest net total in the state.

Four Alabama counties would be losing population if it weren’t for foreign migration. Those include the state’s two largest counties, Jefferson and Mobile, as well as two smaller counties, Pike and DeKalb.

Some of the state’s growing counties, including Madison, Lee and Tuscaloosa, also see an uptick from international arrivals.

More than 5,000 people moved to Jefferson County from outside the U.S. between 2010 and 2018. | Graphic by Ramsey Archibald

According to that data, Alabama has gained more population from international migration than domestic migration since 2010. That’s important for a state like Alabama, which come 2020 will be trying to have a high a population count as possible. If everything unfolds how it’s expected to, the Yellowhammer State is in line to lose a congressional seat, and the electoral college vote that comes with it.

Click here to see what’s at stake in 2020 and how Alabama stacks up against other states.

Like Jefferson County, Alabama isn’t losing people overall, though most counties are. Alabama grew by a little more than 100,000 people since 2010, just a little more than the capacity of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. And much of that can be attributed to a small handful of counties.

Four counties -- Baldwin, Madison, Lee and Shelby -- have grown by more than 110,000 people since 2010. That’s more than the net total for the entire state. If you take away those four counties, the state overall would be shrinking.

Click below to see population change by county.

Baldwin and Madison are the two areas where Alabama is growing the most. Baldwin is the fastest-growing county in Alabama, and is home to the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley Metropolitan Area, which is also booming. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the state, more than 110 people per week are moving to the Huntsville Metro, which includes Madison and Limestone counties.

Huntsville proper recently passed Montgomery to become the second largest city in Alabama, and is on pace to become the largest.

Growth also continues in suburbs, in Shelby and Limestone counties, and around college campuses, in Tuscaloosa and Lee counties.

Huge swaths of Alabama, especially the rural parts of the state, including the Black Belt, are losing people. Forty-three of Alabama’s 67 counties are losing people.

Thirty-nine counties are seeing more people die than are born - a graying out of rural areas that can be seen all over the South. Click here to see how other Southern states are doing.

Natural growth remains Alabama’s biggest source of new population, more so than international migration. That means more births than deaths.

But the rate is slowing. The state saw a net natural increase of nearly 66,000 people between 2010 and 2018. Many of Alabama’s largest and suburban counties are the sources of the most births, while the population is growing older on average in most rural areas. Interestingly Baldwin, which attracts retirees as well as families from around the country, is not among the leaders in natural increase.

It’s one of the only growth categories where Baldwin isn’t in the top 10 in the state.

Most of Alabama's counties see more people die than are born. | Graphic by Ramsey Archibald

Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald.