Haitian Immigrants in the United States

Recent Haitian migration to the United States has been driven by Haiti’s long-term political instability, frequent economic crises, and devastating natural disasters, including a massive earthquake in 2010 that killed an estimated 300,000 and left more than 1 million people homeless.

Amid these reversals, the United States has been a key destination for many Haitians, alongside the Dominican Republic, Chile, Canada, and Brazil. As of 2024, nearly 859,000 Haitian immigrants resided in the United States, up from 587,000 in 2010. Haitians represented 2 percent of the 50.2 million immigrants in the United States as of 2024. 

Two-thirds of Haitian immigrants live in either Florida or New York, with just under one-third in the greater Miami area alone. The majority of Haitian immigrants in the United States hold legal status. Compared to immigrants overall, Haitian immigrants in the United States are more likely to:

• be employed in the health-care sector, especially as nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal care aides;
• have obtained a green card through a family-based immigration pathway; and
• have entered the United States since 2010.

The Haitian-origin population has grown significantly in recent years, including amid the power vacuum that followed President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021. During the Biden administration, more than 213,000 Haitians entered the United States through a humanitarian parole program providing temporary stay and work authorization for Haitians as well as Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.1

Trump administration actions have raised questions about the future for many of these immigrants. The administration ended that parole program shortly after taking office.2 In mid-2026, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, which had provided deportation relief and access to a work permit to approximately 353,000 individuals.3 Since then, former TPS holders who have not secured another legal protection have lost their right to work and been deemed eligible for deportation; the Trump administration expanded deportation flights to Haiti in August. The Haitian community in the United States has also found itself the target of political attacks, and at times has been a stand-in for broader debates about humanitarian and unauthorized immigration.

This Spotlight provides information on the Haitian immigrant population in the United States, detailing its size, geographic distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics. Data in this article come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) unless otherwise indicated.4

How Has Haitian Immigration to the United States Evolved Over Time?

In 1980, about 92,000 Haitian immigrants lived in the United States. The population more than quadrupled to 419,000 by 2000 and then doubled again by 2024 (see Figure 1). The number of Haitian immigrants grew by 46 percent between 2010 and 2024, much higher than the 26 percent growth rate for all immigrants.

Which States, Cities, and Counties Are the Top Destinations for Haitian Immigrants?

Forty-eight percent of Haitian immigrants in the United States resided in Florida as of the 2020-24 period. The state with the second highest concentration of Haitian immigrants was New York (17 percent).

Florida also features four of the top five counties for Haitian immigrants, which are collectively home to more than one-third of the population: Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County, and Orange County. Kings County in New York has the fourth highest concentration of Haitian immigrants. Together, these five counties were home to 43 percent of all Haitian immigrants in the United States.

As of the 2020-24 period, the following metropolitan areas were collectively home to 69 percent of Haitian immigrants (see Figure 2):

• Miami (234,000, or 31 percent of all Haitian immigrants)
• New York (165,000, or 22 percent)
• Boston (54,000, or 7 percent)
• Orlando (48,000, or 6 percent)
• Atlanta (18,000, or 2 percent)

In the Miami area, about one in every six immigrants was from Haiti.

Who Are Haitian Immigrants? Age, Education, and English Proficiency

In 2024, the median age of Haitian immigrants was 44, lower than that of the overall foreign-born population (47) yet higher than that of the U.S. born (37). About 76 percent of Haitian immigrants were of working age (between ages 18 and 64), equal to that of the overall immigrant population but much higher than the U.S. born (see Figure 3).

Haitian immigrants have relatively low rates of higher educational attainment compared to the overall foreign- and U.S.-born populations. In 2024, about 22 percent of Haitian immigrant adults (ages 25 and older) held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 36 percent of all immigrants and 37 percent of the U.S. born. Meanwhile, 22 percent of Haitian immigrant adults lacked a high school diploma (see Figure 4).

Click here for data on immigrants’ educational attainment by country of origin and overall.

About 900 international students from Haiti were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions during the 2024-25 school year, representing a tiny share of the 1.2 million international students in the United States, according to the Institute of International Education.5 Of the 12,500 Caribbean students at U.S. higher education institutions that year, Haiti was the fifth largest origin country, behind Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago.

English Proficiency

Fifty-one percent of Haitian immigrants ages 5 and older reported speaking English less than “very well” as of 2024, compared to 47 percent of the total foreign-born population. About 10 percent of Haitian immigrants reported speaking only English at home, compared to 16 percent of the overall immigrant population.

Where Do Haitian Immigrants Work and What Are Their Income and Poverty Levels?

Haitian immigrants participated in the civilian labor force at roughly the same rate (70 percent) as all immigrants (68 percent) in 2024, but higher than the native born (63 percent). Nearly one-third of all employed Haitian immigrants worked in service occupations, followed by 26 percent in management, business, science, and arts occupations (see Figure 5).

Haitians are disproportionately likely to work in the health-care sector. Twenty-two percent of the 510,000 Haitians who were employed in 2024 worked in health-care occupations, most of them in health-care support jobs such as nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal care aides (see Table 1). About 4 percent of Haitians were registered nurses. These rates were higher than those for all foreign-born workers and the U.S. born (about 10 percent apiece).

Table 1. Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older), by Select Health-Care Occupation and Origin, 2024

Haitian immigrants had a median household income of $72,500 in 2024, which was less than the median incomes of immigrant households overall ($82,400) and those led by the U.S. born ($81,400).

Nearly 17 percent of Haitian immigrants were in poverty, compared to 14 percent of the overall foreign-born population and 12 percent of the U.S. born. (The U.S. Census Bureau defined poverty as having an income below $32,100 for a family of four in 2024.6)

What Share of Haitian Immigrants Have Health Coverage?

Haitian immigrants were less likely to hold private health insurance than the immigrant population overall as of 2024: about 53 percent versus 57 percent (see Figure 6). However, Haitian immigrants were slightly more likely to have public coverage than the overall immigrant population: 36 percent versus 33 percent, respectively.

How Did Haitian Immigrants Arrive and What Are Their Legal Statuses?

As of 2024, 55 percent of Haitian immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens, compared to 51 percent of immigrants overall.

Haitian immigrants represent a recently settled population in the United States. About 47 percent entered the United States in 2010 or later, compared to 38 percent of all immigrants. Meanwhile, 35 percent of Haitian immigrants arrived before 2000, compared to 41 percent of all immigrants (see Figure 7).

Around 10,800 Haitian immigrants became lawful permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders) in fiscal year (FY) 2024, the most recent year for which data are available.7

Family-based immigration was by far the primary pathway to obtaining legal permanent residence: About 95 percent of Haitians became green-card holders through this route, compared to 63 percent of all new LPRs. During the same period, only about 3 percent of new Haitian green-card holders arrived through employment sponsorship (compared to 13 percent of all new green-card holders) and about 3 percent obtained the status after arriving as a refugee or by seeking asylum (compared to 5 percent overall).

Unauthorized Immigrant Population

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that about 311,000 unauthorized immigrants were from Haiti as of mid-2024, accounting for 2 percent of all 15.8 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States.8

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), about 100 Haitian immigrants as of December 31, 2025 were beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary deportation relief and work authorization to unauthorized immigrants who arrived as children and met the program’s education and other eligibility criteria.9 Haitians represented a tiny share of the total 495,300 active DACA recipients.

Click here to view the top origin countries of DACA recipients and their U.S. states of residence.

How Many U.S. Residents Have Haitian Ancestry?

The Haitian diaspora in the United States was comprised of an estimated 1.4 million individuals who were either born in Haiti or reported Haitian ancestry, according to MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey.10 Of these diaspora members, about 578,000 were born in the United States or another country other than Haiti.

What Are Other Major Destinations Globally for Haitian Migrants?

Globally, about 2 million Haitians resided outside their country of birth, according to mid-2024 estimates by the United Nations Population Division.11 After the United States, the largest concentrations of Haitians were in:

• The Dominican Republic (home to 535,000 Haitian migrants)
• Chile (172,000)
• France (117,000)
• Canada (107,000)
• Mexico (92,000)
• Brazil (88,000)

Click here to view an interactive map showing where migrants from Haiti and other origins have settled worldwide.

How Much Money Do Haitian-Origin Communities Remit to the Homeland?

Migrants and other individuals worldwide sent approximately $4.5 billion in remittances to individuals in Haiti via formal channels in 2024, up from $3.8 billion in 2023.12 Remittance flows to Haiti have grown over time, roughly tripling from $1.5 billion in 2010 (see Figure 9). Remittances represented 19 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024.

Click here to view an interactive chart showing annual remittances received and sent by Haiti and other countries.

Sources

Chishti, Muzaffar and Kathleen Bush-Joseph. 2025. In First 100 Days, Trump 2.0 Has Dramatically Reshaped the U.S. Immigration System, but Is Not Meeting Mass Deportation Aims. Migration Information Source, April 24, 2025.

Chishti, Muzaffar and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto. 2026. Attacked as "De Facto Amnesty," U.S. Temporary Protected Status Is Abruptly Eroded. Migration Information Source, May 28, 2026.

Dain, Beatrice and Jeanne Batalova. 2023. Haitian Immigrants in the United States. Migration Information Source, November 8, 2023.

Gibson, Campbell J. and Kay Jung. 2006. Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850–2000. Working paper no. 81, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC.

Institute of International Education (IIE). N.d. International Students: All Places of Origin. Accessed July 31, 2026.

Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Migration Data Hub. N.d. U.S. Immigrant Population by Metropolitan Area. Accessed August 4, 2026.

Ratha, Dilip, Sonia Plaza, and Eung Ju Kim. 2024. In 2024, Remittance Flows to Low- and Middle-Income Countries Are Expected to Reach $685 Billion, Larger than FDI and ODA Combined. World Bank blog post, December 18, 2024.

Ruiz Soto, Ariel G., Julia Gelatt, and Jennifer Van Hook. 2026. Following Years of High Border Arrivals, the U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Hits New Peak. Commentary, Washington, DC, Migration Policy Institute (MPI), July 29, 2026.

UN Population Division. 2024. International Migrant Stock 2024 by Destination and Origin.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024. Press release, September 9, 2025.

---. N.d. 2024 American Community Survey — Advanced Search: S0201 Selected Population Profile in the United States. Accessed July 31, 2026.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). 2025. Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status. Federal Register 90, no. 227, November 28, 2025: 54733-9.

---. 2026. Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers: Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report to Congress October 1, 2024-September 30, 2025. Washington, DC: USCIS.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 2025. CBP Releases December 2024 Monthly Update. Press release, CBP, January 14, 2025.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS). 2024. Table 3: Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Region and Country of Birth: Fiscal Years 2014 to 2024. June 8, 2026.