The city of New Haven was originally a destination for European immigrants, and the area's foreign-born population was primarily from Western European countries. There are still rather large European population and several enclaves located throughout the city. More recently, the ethnic landscape has begun to shift. There has been an influx of Latin American immigrants over the past couple of decades that has led to a rapidly growing Hispanic population. Due to the area's rich bio-science and tech industries, as well as the presence of Yale university within the city, the East and South Asian populations have begun to grow as well.

The largest foreign-born ethnic group in the area is Hispanic. The Hispanic population has skyrocketed since 1990 and is the fastest growing people group in the metro area over that time period. The Hispanic community comprises approximately 37 percent of the immigrant population, and among the 21 percent of people who speak a language other than English at home, over 75 percent of them speak Spanish.

The Asian population has also seen significant growth over the past decade. Since 2010 the Asian population has seen the most growth in the area. The majority of the Asian population are from South and East Asian countries, and they tend to concentrate around Yale university, and the University of New Haven.