New Drums Along the Mohawk: International Migration, Refugee Settlement and Changing Demography of Utica, New York

• Activity Number: 369
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 15, 2002 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics*
• Author(s): Ellen Percy Kraly*+
• Affiliation(s): Colgate University

Abstract

As most cities in upstate New York, Utica experienced absolute and large population loss during the 1990s, declining from 68,637 to 60,651, a 12 percent loss. Utica's population loss would have been a great deal worse, however--perhaps a decline of 20 percent--had it not been for the influx of over 7,000 refugees during the same ten-year period, a characteristic Utica holds in common with New York City. This paper uses a multi-method approach to consider the role of a specific flow of international migrants, refugees, in the demography and population geography of Utica. We consider specifically: 1) the role of international migration in the population dynamics of Utica metropolitan area during the past decade; 2) the effect of refugee resettlement on Utica's residential patterns, neighborhoods, and housing; and 3) the role of refugees in the regional economy--in particular, in the emergence of immigrant businesses.