Below are the top 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas that new immigrants deemed their intended areas of residence in 1998, and the number that selected each area. Together, they accounted for nearly 45 percent of immigrants that year.
| 1. New York | 81,417 |
| 2. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif. | 60,220 |
| 3. Chicago | 31,033 |
| 4. Miami | 29,242 |
| 5. Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va. | 25,639 |
| 6. San Francisco | 14,553 |
| 7. Orange County, Calif. | 14, 291 |
| 8. Oakland, Calif. | 13, 499 |
| 9. Houston | 13, 189 |
| 10. Boston-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, Mass. | 12,854 |
SOURCE: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1998 Statistical Yearbook.
