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Screenshot of the interactive map published by Pew Charitable Trusts.

Mapping 30 years of immigration in the U.S.

See the states with the largest foreign-born immigrant populations, as well as those with the largest undocumented populations.

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The foreign-born immigrant population in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1980, and there's a new interactive map that visualizes the nationwide change.

The Pew Charitable Trusts published this sleekly designed dataset to show both foreign-born and undocumented populations by state. One long-term trend is clear: 35 years ago, immigrant communities were concentrated in just a few states (namely California and New York). By 2012, every state had a noticeable presence of immigrants, barring some northern states for which no data was available.

"This interactive tool illustrates the growth of the foreign-born population in the states from 1980 to 2012 and provides a snapshot of key immigration-related activities at the federal and state levels," Pew said.

In 2012, foreign-born immigrants made up 40 million (13 percent) of the U.S., while undocumented immigrants make up less than four percent of the total population.

The map is not meant to be conclusive conclusive, Pew notes, but rather provide some historical context for today's discussions about immigration. The data overview reads:

"It does not include all immigration laws, policies, and other factors that have shaped the relationship between the federal government and the states and does not draw or imply conclusions about causal relationships between population change and federal, state, and local activities."

Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited the source of the data. The map was published by "the Pew Charitable Trusts," not the "Pew Research Center."

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