The first white settlers in Tennessee, who came across the mountains from North Carolina and Virginia, were almost entirely of English extraction. They were followed by an influx of Scotch-Irish, mainly from Pennsylvania. About 3,800 German and Irish migrants arrived during the 1830s and 1840s. In the next century, Tennessee's population remained relatively stable, except for an influx of blacks immediately following the Civil War. There was a steady out-migration of blacks to industrial centers in the North during the 20th century. The state suffered a net loss through migration of 462,000 between 1940 and 1970 but gained over 465,000 between 1970 and 1990. Between 1990 and 1998, Tennessee had net gains of 338,000 in domestic migration and 27,000 in international migration. In 1998, 2,806 foreign immigrants arrived in the state, the greatest concentrations coming from Mexico (300) and India (291). Tennessee's overall population increased 11.3% between 1990 and 1998.
The major in-state migration has been away from rural areas and into towns and cities. Blacks, especially, have tended to cluster in large urban centers. The population of metropolitan Memphis, for example, was more than 42% black in 1997. In the period 1995–2000, 567,966 people moved into the state and 421,652 moved out, for a net gain of 146,314, with about 52,918 moving into the state from Florida.