Census Bureau: 31 percent of Bellevue residents are foreign-born

Bellevue continues to have the largest percentage of foreign-born residents of any city in Washington, the latest U.S. census figures show.

About 31 percent of Bellevue's population, or more than 36,000 residents, is foreign-born, and one in every three residents speaks a language other than English at home, according to the figures from the American Community Survey 2006-2008 three-year estimates of the population, which were released Tuesday.

The next-closest city is SeaTac, where 30 percent of residents are foreign-born.

Redmond comes in sixth among Washington cities — 27 percent of residents there were born in another country.

And Seattle? Because it's a larger city, Seattle's overall number of foreign-born residents is larger, about 101,000. But as a percentage of the population, Seattle's foreign-born residents make up just 18 percent of the city.

The percentage of foreign-born residents in Bellevue has ticked up slightly since the last American Community Survey estimate in 2005-2007, when the number was 29.8 percent.

Bellevue's changing demographics have been reflected in Bellevue School District enrollment numbers this year, as well. According to the district's blog, white elementary-school students are, for the first time, a minority in Bellevue, making up 48.4 percent of the population. Last year, white students made up exactly 50 percent of the elementary-school population.

And the diversity of languages is growing, too. Last year's students spoke 72 different languages; this year, the number jumped to 81.

According to census figures, more than 60 percent of Bellevue's foreign-born residents come from Asia. A more detailed breakdown will be available next year, after the results of the 2010 U.S. Census are released.