Kristie Sov, 10, from Cambodia, left, Shivan Aboubakri, 11, from Iran, Kathryn Morris, 11, from England, and Tiffany Morillo, 10, from Peru, line up for food at the Coming to America dinner at Mosby Woods Elementary in Fairfax. (Andrea Bruce Woodall - The Washington Post) _____ Population Shift _____ Roll your mouse over each location to get general demographics based on 2000 census data. _____ Side by side _____ Compare... The District Maryland    Anne Arundel    Calvert    Charles    Frederick    Howard    Montgomery    Prince George's Virginia    Alexandria    Arlington    Fairfax    Fairfax City    Falls Church    Fauquier    Loudoun    Manassas    Manassas Park    Prince William    Stafford With... The District Maryland    Anne Arundel    Calvert    Charles    Frederick    Howard    Montgomery    Prince George's Virginia    Alexandria    Arlington    Fairfax    Fairfax City    Falls Church    Fauquier    Loudoun    Manassas    Manassas Park    Prince William    Stafford Select two locations from the drop-down menus to compare the racial breakdowns of the two. Select from only one drop-down to view one location at a time. _____Special Reports_____ * Washington Area Census * National Census _______ Virginia Graphics _______ * Growth in Virginia * Alexandria and Arlington Census * Fairfax Census * Fauquier and Loudoun Census _______ Regional Graphics _______ * The Region * Mapping the Changes * How We Are Growing * How the Region Compares Nationally * How We Identify Ourselves E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post

By Peter Whoriskey and Sarah Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 23, 2001; Page B01

The '90s immigration boom in metropolitan Washington left profound marks on the region's most prosperous suburbs, according to new census figures, which show that nearly one in three people in Fairfax and Montgomery counties lives in a household where a foreign language is spoken.

Over the last decade, immigrants settled in Fairfax and Montgomery at a rate of more than 10,000 a year each, defying historical patterns from the Ellis Island-era of immigrants flocking to poor urban centers.

"That two of the wealthiest counties in America have such large immigrant communities is remarkable," said Audrey Singer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who published a major study of Washington immigration this year. "The language figure is a standout. It's significant for the schools, it's significant for the workplace and it's significant for everyday life."

Earlier census figures on race and Hispanic origin hinted at the massive influx of immigrants to the region, particularly the suburbs. But the figures released this week offer much finer detail, including the immigrants' region of origin and languages spoken at home.

The figures come from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, a national sample of households taken last year along with the census. The survey, considered the best demographic snapshot until more complete data are released next year, shows that immigration altered life across the capital region during the '90s.

Montgomery and Fairfax counties, for example, rank near the top nationally for the share of households where foreign languages are spoken.

Unlike in many other regions with large immigrant populations -- California, Texas and Florida -- the immigrants in the Washington area represent a much broader swath of the world's geography and wealth.

Compared with places like Miami and El Paso, where English and Spanish predominate, the Washington area features a mix of languages drawn from around the world: English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Farsi, Urdu.

Even for immigrants, the area's international nature comes as a surprise.

"It was shocking to see people from all over the world here, really," said Jaya Gangele, an immigrant from India who attended a Coming to America Thanksgiving dinner this week at her son's Fairfax school, where sushi and tacos were among the potluck dishes. "When we lived in India, we didn't have that picture of the U.S."

The new figures, available only for counties of 250,000 people or more, bolster other studies suggesting that a significant percentage of immigrants in the Washington area come with more education and higher skill levels than those settling in other regions.

Many of those educated immigrants have positions in the federal bureaucracy or in the region's high-tech industry, which grew rapidly during the '90s.

The same survey showed that median household incomes in Fairfax and Montgomery rank among the top 10 for large counties in the nation.

"What you are seeing is atypical of foreign populations in the U.S." said Donna J. Tolson, a demographer with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. "What we have seen in Northern Virginia was a large portion of foreign-born workers in high-skilled jobs, along with a lower-skilled group in the service sector."

About half of the foreign-born residents in the region are recent arrivals, entering this country during the '90s, the census numbers showed. In Montgomery and Fairfax counties, about one in four residents is now foreign-born, up from 18 percent in Montgomery and 15 percent in Fairfax a decade ago. In both counties, the largest group comes from Asia, followed by Central America.

"The big story about Washington immigration is that no one country dominates," Singer said. "There is also little clustering geographically. People are just settling all over the place."

Nationally, the number of foreign-born people has risen steadily from 4 percent in 1970 to 11 percent today. Until the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, many demographers had expected a continuing large volume of immigration. But with congressional leaders talking about tightening immigration restrictions and a sagging economy diminishing the country's allure for immigrants, immigration experts have said predictions are nearly impossible.

"All bets are off now," said Tolson, of the University of Virginia.

Locally, immigration has raised a slew of questions, most of them revolving around how courts, hospitals and other public facilities can cope with such a variety of languages. But it is in the classrooms that the most costly and intimate effects of the immigration wave are taking hold.

School leaders have long highlighted the expense of educating many foreign students: English as a second language classes boost per-pupil costs from $7,645 to $10,167, according to Fairfax statistics. But some have also argued that the diversity creates a richer educational environment.

At Mosby Woods Elementary School in central Fairfax County, the fifth grade put on the Coming to America dinner this week in the school cafeteria, with more than 20 countries. Few students at the school have U.S.-born parents.

On the walls were posters, where children described why their parents had come to this country. An Indian family came for a job at the Indian Embassy. A Chilean family came so the parents could study. A family from Uzbekistan arrived for a World Bank job.

"Why did [my mother] move here with her family?" Dasha Nesterova, from Uzbekistan, wrote in an essay. "Well that is simple. She got more money in America."

The students appear to take their language differences in stride and find common allegiance in U.S. pop culture.

"Everybody at least knows a little bit of English," said fifth-grader Felipe Varela. "Most people like P. Diddy and Limp Bizkit."

"Everybody says 'The One' is cool," said his brother Cristobal, who prefers to be called Chris, because "in America, it's a more popular name."

Alysia Berman, one of the few U.S.-born parents at the cafeteria, said she welcomed the variety in her son's school and in her neighborhood. Her neighbors include two families from Saudi Arabia, one from South Korea and one from China.

"I wouldn't say we're close -- as in, we hang out in each other's kitchens," said Berman, a patent examiner. "But we do talk."