Montgomery County’s Ethiopian immigrant population grew by nearly 150% in 15 years, a Banner analysis of census estimates released Thursday shows.

Estimates collected from 2005 to 2009 found that about 8,700 county residents were born in Ethiopia. According to the new figures, collected from 2020 to 2024, about 22,000 people from the East African nation call the county home.

Montgomery County also has the largest proportion of residents in the state that reported speaking a language other than English at home — 42%, compared to 21% statewide, the data revealed.

The figures come from the newest installment of the American Community Survey, an ongoing program that collects information from millions of people each year and compiles the results into demographic snapshots across a five-year period.

Ethiopians are far from the largest group of Montgomery County residents born abroad. That title belongs to Salvadorans, with nearly 43,000 people. Ethiopian-born residents are the fourth-largest group, trailing those born in El Salvador, India and China.

But those born in Ethiopia increased far more dramatically than any other group. Honduras-born residents — about 9,400 people — grew at the next-highest rate: 85% higher than their count in 2005 to 2009 estimates.

The Washington neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Shaw have often been called “Little Ethiopia.”

But Montgomery County, particularly Silver Spring, has taken over as the epicenter for much of the region’s Ethiopian community.

The Ethio-American Chamber of Commerce, headquartered in Silver Spring, hosts an annual business show in September, which draws people from across the nation.

Elilta Demissie, an Ethiopian immigrant, pediatric pharmacist and founder of Akukulu Family, a Silver Spring organization that mentors Ethiopian and other immigrants, called Montgomery County “an immigrant-friendly environment.”

She said her Ethiopian students have told her they face less discrimination in Montgomery County than other parts of the country and that they feel at home in the county’s Ethiopian restaurants, and churches and mosques that cater to the community.

Also helpful, she added, is the county’s proximity to the Ethiopian embassy in D.C.

Many Ethiopian-born residents of the county live — in addition to Silver Spring — in Takoma Park, Wheaton and Chevy Chase. In many of these neighborhoods, it’s not unusual to hear Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, spoken on the street.

Medical and other social service offices welcome Ethiopians in their native language, she said.

“They consider our language and religious practices, and that’s a draw.”

Salvadorans, Hondurans

Residents born in Central America and Latin America account for four of the 10 fastest-growing immigrant communities in the county, according to the new estimates.

Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, a Venezuelan immigrant, said she’s not surprised people from these countries continue to immigrate to the U.S. and the county, despite the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport millions.

“Thinking that Latinos are just going to disappear or stop coming to the U.S. is illogical,” Fani-González. “We’re part of the Western Hemisphere; this is our home.”