While foreign-born levels have risen and fallen over the past century and a half, each region and each historical period attracts a unique mix of migrants.

Table 2 shows the top five countries of birth for the foreign-born in 1910 and 2010.

Regional variation in 1910 shows that people born in Germany were the largest group in each region except the Northeast, where immigrants from Russia, Italy and Ireland were most numerous.

Those born in England were in the top five groups of foreign-born only in the West. Immigrants from Mexico appeared in the top five groups of foreign-born in the South but not in other U.S. regions.

The foreign-born population in each region continues to show diversity in 2010.

For example, the foreign-born from the Dominican Republic appear in the top five places of birth only in the Northeast, where they are the largest immigrant group. Cubans are among the top five foreign-born groups in the South, while the foreign-born from Poland make the top five in the Midwest.

A comparison of the top five immigrant groups living in each region in 1910 and 2010 shows that the composition of foreign-born has changed drastically.

No country of origin listed among the top five foreign-born groups in a given region in 1910 ranks among the top five countries of origin in any region in 2010, with the exception of Mexican-born in the South.

How the origin of the foreign-born changed over the course of a single century is due largely to different national policies, as well as shifting conditions in the countries of origin.