Montgomery County — the most diverse county in Maryland — is home to one of the largest proportions of immigrants of any county in the United States, according to a Banner analysis of American Community Survey data released last Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2024, more than 1 in every 3 county residents was born outside the U.S. That ranks 15th out of 841 counties included in the data, above New York County, New York — Manhattan.

Montgomery had about 1.1 million residents in 2020, the last time the census was conducted.

Immigrants have flocked to Montgomery County for the same reasons it attracts non-immigrants, including job opportunities and sought-after schools. And immigrants here also find that their neighbors, and state and county officials, are generally welcoming.

While the county is not officially designated as a sanctuary county where local authorities vow not to cooperate with immigration enforcement agents, “people feel safe calling the police and the sheriff, knowing that they will not be going after their immigration status,” said Mauricio Vasquez, executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery County.“

But in the current moment, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are targeting immigrant populations nationwide, no county may feel safe for people born abroad, even those here legally.

“People are under scrutiny just because they are Latino or look Latino,” Vasquez said. The heightened enforcement, he said, is leading people to leave voluntarily or stay home out of fear of being targeted.

Here are some other takeaways from the new 2024 Census data — which measures proportions within population groups — and previous Census data from the 2023 five-year American Community Survey, which provides raw population numbers.

Latin Americans are county’s largest share of immigrants

• The largest contingent of immigrants — about 37% of all foreign-born residents — comes from Latin America.
• There are about 131,000 Latino immigrants in Montgomery County.
• The largest proportion of Latin American immigrants come from El Salvador, who represent 12% of Montgomery County immigrants, making the county home to one of the largest Salvadoran immigrant communities in the nation.
• There are about 41,000 Salvadoran immigrants in Montgomery County.
• About 18% of county residents primarily speak Spanish at home.

Chinese immigrants are now the largest subgroup of Asian population

• The second largest immigrant population in the county comes from Asia, representing 36% of the county’s immigrants.
• There are about 126,000 Asian immigrants in the county.
• Among Asian immigrants, the largest group is Chinese, who represent about 8% of the immigrant population and live primarily along the I-270 corridor, in and around Germantown and parts of Potomac.
• There are about 22,000 Chinese immigrants in the county.
• The number of Chinese immigrants has recently overtaken the number of immigrants from India.
• There are about 25,000 Indian immigrants in the county.

Largest Ethiopian population in the country

• The county is home to the largest Ethiopian immigrant population in the U.S., comprising approximately 20,000 people.
• They represents about 7% of the county’s total immigrant population.
• Nearly 1 in 4 of the county’s Ethiopian immigrants lives in Silver Spring, with much of the remainder spread around that city and elsewhere in the southern part of the county.
• West Africa is also well-represented in the county. After Ethiopia, the next largest groups of African immigrants come from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Shawn Ellis, director of the County’s Office of Community Partnerships, says the impact on the federal crackdown on immigration won’t be clear until next year’s results from Census surveys of U.S. households.

Immigrants are also grappling with layoffs, a rising cost of living, high rents and home prices and other economic pressures felt countywide.

While the county is considered to be welcoming by its immigrant communities, Ellis said, “we have to continue to work really hard to make sure that we are not allowing anyone to get left behind.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Langley Park as part of Montgomery County. It is part of Prince George’s County.