E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
U.S. Data

U.S. Data

U.S. Immigrant Population Spotlights
Immigration_History

More than 43 million people living in the United States—whether as naturalized citizen, legal permanent resident, temporary resident, or unauthorized immigrant—were born in another country, representing 13 percent of the U.S. population. Immigration has ebbed and flowed throughout U.S. history, peaking at nearly 15 percent of the population in 1890 and plummeting to 5 percent in 1970. The data-rich research offered here traces the U.S. immigrant population by size, educational and workforce characteristics, English language proficiency, and more.

For information on U.S. immigrants by state, check out the State Immigration Data Profiles tool. And for detailed profiles on unauthorized immigrants nationally and by state, visit this tool.

Recent Activity

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Articles
October 1, 2015
Green-Card Holders and Legal Immigration to the United States
By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
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Articles
September 2, 2015
Central American Immigrants in the United States
By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
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Reports
September 2015
Migrants Deported from the United States and Mexico to the Northern Triangle: A Statistical and Socioeconomic Profile
By  Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas and Victoria Rietig
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Multimedia
August 19, 2015
The Unauthorized Population in the United States: New Data Trends
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Reports
August 2015
An Analysis of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States by Country and Region of Birth
By  Marc R. Rosenblum and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
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Articles
August 13, 2015
Origin and Community: Asian and Latin American Unauthorized Youth and U.S. Deportation Relief
By Sylvia Rusin
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Policy Briefs
August 2015
DACA at the Three-Year Mark: High Pace of Renewals, But Processing Difficulties Evident
By  Angelo Mathay and Margie McHugh
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Articles
July 21, 2015
Filipino Immigrants in the United States
By Keith McNamara and Jeanne Batalova

Pages

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Spotlight
March 20, 2015
Immigrant Women in the United States in 2013

Immigrant women constitute a varied and dynamic population in the United States with 51 percent or 21.2 million of the country's total foreign-born population. Examining key gender-based socioeconomic indicators from origin and fertility to educational attainment and immigration status, this Spotlight raises implications for sending and receiving countries, with respect to labor opportunities, family structure, gender roles, and more.

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Spotlight
February 26, 2015
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

An estimated 41.3 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2013, about 13 percent of the total U.S. population, constituting the world's largest foreign-born population. This Spotlight from MPI's Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova offers the most current and sought-after data on immigrants in the United States—including origin, educational attainment, the unauthorized, deportations, and more—in one easy-to-use resource.

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Spotlight
January 28, 2015
Chinese Immigrants in the United States

With the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 and normalization of U.S.-China relations in the late 1970s, Chinese immigration to the United States has steadily increased, to a population of more than 2 million. Using the latest data, this Spotlight highlights characteristics of Chinese immigrants from mainland China and Hong Kong, including their top state and metro areas of residence, immigration pathways, educational attainment, and more.

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Spotlight
December 3, 2014
Korean Immigrants in the United States

Migration to the United States from the Korean peninsula, largely from South Korea, owes its roots to political, military, and economic factors, with an estimated 1.1 million Korean immigrants in the United States as of 2013. Korean migration to the United States has stalled in recent years, and even declined, with a small but growing number of immigrants and their U.S.-born children returning to Korea, as this article explores.

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Spotlight
October 30, 2014
Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the United States

From 1980 to 2013, the sub-Saharan African immigrant population in the United States increased from 130,000 to 1.5 million, roughly doubling each decade between 1980 and 2010. This profile provides up-to-date demographic information for sub-Saharan immigrants including location, educational attainment, workforce participation, and much more.

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Recent Activity

Commentaries
August 2018

Through the Back Door: Remaking the Immigration System via the Expected “Public-Charge” Rule

A Trump administration “public-charge” rule expected to be unveiled soon could create the potential to significantly reshape family-based legal immigration to the United States—and reduce arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa—by imposing a de facto financial test that 40 percent of the U.S. born themselves would fail, as this commentary explains.

Articles
August 1, 2018

European Immigrants in the United States

European immigrants in the United States have largely dwindled in number since 1960, after historically making up the bulk of immigration to the country. Today, immigrants from Eastern Europe account for the largest share of European arrivals, and Europeans overall are much older and more educated than the total foreign- and native-born populations. This article explores the data on Europeans in the United States.

Articles
July 10, 2018

Immigrants in the U.S. States with the Fastest-Growing Foreign-Born Populations

The immigrant population in the United States grew faster than the national average in a number of states—including Alaska, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, and West Virginia—from 2010 to 2016. This Spotlight offers detailed data on size, origins, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of immigrant populations in the 15 fastest-growing destination states.

Video, Audio, Webinars
June 12, 2018

Chilling Effects: The Expected Public-Charge Rule and Its Impact on Immigrant Families

This webinar highlights findings from an MPI report examining the potential impacts of expected changes to the public charge rule by the Trump administration. Leaked draft versions suggest the rule could sharply expand the number of legally present noncitizens facing difficulty getting a green card or extending a visa as a result of their family's use of public benefits. The rule likely would discourage millions from accessing health, nutrition, and social services for which they or their U.S.-citizen dependents are eligible.

Reports
June 2018

Chilling Effects: The Expected Public Charge Rule and Its Impact on Legal Immigrant Families’ Public Benefits Use

According to leaked drafts, the Trump administration is considering a rule that could have sweeping effects on both legal immigration to the United States and the use of public benefits by legal immigrants and their families. This report examines the potential scale of the expected rule’s impact, including at national and state levels and among children, as well as Hispanic and Asian American/Pacific Islander immigrants.

Video, Expert Q&A
June 6, 2018

A Walk-Through on How to Find Top Immigration Stats on the Web

Where can you find the most accurate statistics on some of the top immigration issues—ranging from the size of immigrant and emigrant populations, to humanitarian and labor flows, naturalization rates, enforcement statistics, remittances, and more? In this brief video, Jeanne Batalova, who manages the Migration Policy Institute’s Migration Data Hub, walks you through the Immigration Data Matters guide developed by MPI and the Population Reference Bureau.
 

Articles
June 7, 2018

Canadian Immigrants in the United States

Though small, the population of Canadians in the United States is quite diverse, and includes students, highly skilled professionals on H-1B or NAFTA visas, family migrants, and retirees. Canadian immigrants have much higher educational attainment and incomes than the native- and overall foreign-born populations. This article offers an interesting data snapshot of Canadians in the United States.

Policy Briefs
May 2018

A Guide to Finding and Understanding English Learner Data

As states make more data about student outcomes and schools available online, it can be difficult to decide where to turn for information about English Learners (ELs). This guide breaks down common questions about finding and using student (and specifically EL) data. It also explores some common challenges data users may face.

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