Since 1980, immigrants from Mexico have been the largest national-origin group in the United States. This line chart traces the growth of this population since 1970 and a subsequent decline following the 2007-09 recession.
Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2022 American Community Surveys (ACS); 1970, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Census data were accessed from Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database] (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2010); data for 1850 to 1990, excluding 1940 and 1950, were from Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-1990" (Working Paper No. 29, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, February 1999).