BUFFALO, N.Y. — ​Buffalo is being dubbed as one of the nation’s most improved cities for immigrants.

The Queen City now ranks 17 in the New American Economy Index, a sizeable jump from 202 when Buffalo ranked 38 overall.

“The City of Buffalo’s leap from 38th in the 2020 index to 17th in this year’s NEA Cities Index reflects my Administration’s efforts as a welcoming city that embraces immigrants and refugees, works to help them feel at home in Buffalo, and assists them find a personal and professional path to success,” Mayor Byron Brown said.  

Buffalo received the highest possible score in nearly every policy category. Those are government leadership, economic empowerment, inclusivity, community and emergency management.

“The 2020 Census, which saw Buffalo’s population grow by 17,000, the first population increase in 70 years, quantified what I had been predicting. We could tell based on the movement of new Americans in our city, and our strategic efforts to be a welcoming city, to reach out to new Americans, to invite people of different backgrounds to come to our city, that that strategy was working,” Mayor Brown said.

The NAE Cities Index uses 59 separate metrics to assess how immigrants compare to their native-born counterparts, ranging from economically, civically, socially and politically.