Press Release
December 15, 2008
Contact: Michelle Mittelstadt
202-266-1910
mmittelstadt@migrationpolicy.org

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants in the United States - Updated Figures Now Available Online

WASHINGTON – The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) today released updated statistics on immigrants in the United States, compiling some of the most sought-after data on historical immigration trends, the current size of the foreign-born population, employment rates, geographic concentrations and more.

The Spotlight article in the Migration Information Source, MPI’s online journal, provides data to answer the following questions and more:

• How many immigrants are in the United States today?  
• What are the historical numbers of immigrants in the United States?
• How many unauthorized immigrants are here?  Where are they from?
• What percentage of the immigrant population is college educated?
• How many immigrants work in the labor force?
• What kinds of jobs do they have?
• What is the unemployment rate among immigrants?
• Which states and counties have the largest and fastest-growing foreign-born populations?
• Which states have the highest/lowest percentages of Mexican-born immigrants?
• How many of the foreign born came as refugees and asylees?
• How many visa applications for green cards are backlogged?

The Spotlight draws on data from MPI, the Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey (ACS) and decennial Census, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Technology.

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national and international levels.