A Profile of the Growing Black Immigrant Population in the United States

Executive Summary

Black immigrants are a fast‑growing group within both the overall immigrant population in the United States and the country’s overall Black population. Long comprised predominantly of Caribbean immigrants, the Black foreign-born population is changing demographically and growing in diversity, in part due to increased arrivals from a range of African countries. This fact sheet uses the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to explore these trends and how Black immigrants have fared in terms of integration. Key findings include:

Population Growth and Shifting Origins

• The Black immigrant population numbered nearly 4.7 million in 2024, having grown faster since 1990 than the overall immigrant population (221 percent versus 155 percent). As of 2020–24, Black immigrants comprised 9 percent of all immigrants and 11 percent of all Black people in the United States.
• There are now about as many Black immigrants from Africa as there are Black immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean (nearly 2.1 million each in 2020–24). The top five origin countries are: Jamaica, Haiti, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Ghana.
• Black Caribbean immigrants are relatively concentrated in New York State and Florida, while African immigrants are more evenly dispersed across many states. The top metropolitan areas of residence for Black immigrants overall are New York, Miami, Washington, DC, and Atlanta.
• The vast majority—81 percent—of Black immigrants held a secure, long-term immigration status in 2023, either as naturalized U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents (also known as green-card holders), and another 3 percent were temporary visa holders. An estimated 15 percent were unauthorized immigrants.

Workplace, Education, and Language

• The employment rates of Black immigrant men (72 percent) and women (65 percent) in 2020–24 exceeded those of U.S.‑born workers (62 percent for men and 56 percent for women).
• About 36 percent of Black immigrant women worked in health care in 2020–24, with the next largest numbers employed in education and retail. For Black immigrant men, the top industry of employment was transportation (17 percent), followed by professional services, health care, manufacturing, and retail.
• Though they earned less than their non-Black peers (both U.S. and foreign born), Black immigrants’ wages and household income were generally higher than those of U.S.-born Black individuals.
• About 36 percent of Black immigrant men and 33 percent of Black immigrant women held a university degree in 2020–24, shares similar to those of the U.S.-born population. And the majority of Black immigrants spoke English proficiently, either as their only language (41 percent; a much higher share than among non-Black immigrants) or along with another home language (36 percent).

Households and Family

• Black immigrants were more likely to be married than the U.S. born, and about three-quarters of those who were married had a spouse who was a U.S. citizen (by birth or naturalization).
• Approximately 1.8 million Black children were either immigrants themselves or the U.S.-born children of immigrants. Thus, of the 9.6 million Black children in the United States, nearly one in five had at least one immigrant parent.
• Despite their strong workforce participation, Black immigrants faced certain economic challenges, including a relatively low rate of homeownership (49 percent).

In the context of hardening immigration policies and confusion about immigrants and their role in U.S. communities, these data paint a picture of a Black immigrant population that is generally highly educated, English speaking, and made up of significant contributors to the U.S. economy. Such information, and data on the challenges faced by segments of this population, can help support policies and investments that promote the well-being not only of these immigrants but entire communities.

1 Introduction

Black immigrants are sometimes overlooked in U.S. immigration policy discourse, given they make up a relatively small slice of the total immigrant population—about 4.7 million out of 50.3 million, or 9 percent, in 2024.1 Yet for good or bad, certain Black immigrant groups, notably Haitians and Somalis, are sometimes thrust into national headlines. Such moments of heightened attention call for greater understanding of these groups, as do shifting immigration patterns in recent decades that have increased the size and diversity of the overall Black immigrant population, which has its origins in dozens of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond.

"Such moments of heightened attention call for greater understanding of these groups, as do shifting immigration patterns in recent decades that have increased the size and diversity of the overall Black immigrant population."

Immigration policy changes since the start of the second Trump administration are likely to disrupt these immigration trends by narrowing legal pathways for admission, and they have brought uncertainty for many immigrants already in the country, including by revoking certain immigration statuses that protected large numbers from deportation and provided work authorization.2 Actions that have had a sizeable impact on Black immigrant communities include:

• the scaling back of refugee resettlement,3 reopening for review of the cases of people granted refugee status under the Biden administration, and pause on deciding asylum applications;
• the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations4 for Cameroonians, Ethiopians, Haitians, Somalis, South Sudanese, and Venezuelans;
• the end of humanitarian parole programs such as those for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV)5 and of family reunification parole programs6 for nationals of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras; and
• full travel bans7 for nationals from Haiti, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, and other countries, and partial travel bans for nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, and others.

As a result of these policy changes, an increasing number of Black immigrants are now without legal status and subject to potential deportation. Wide-reaching operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and massive investments in the immigrant detention system threaten the stability of well-established and integrated immigrant communities. And in a high-enforcement era where physical appearance can be cause for suspicion by law enforcement, Black immigrants—even those with secure legal status—are at risk of being caught up in the immigration enforcement system.

This fact sheet presents a national profile of Black immigrants, defined as all foreign-born individuals who self-identified as “Black or African American” (alone or in combination with another race or ethnicity) in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS).8 By examining Black immigrants’ origins, demographic and household characteristics, contributions to the workforce, and indicators of socioeconomic integration, this fact sheet offers data that can be used by local governments and organizations as they work to support their communities as well as by other stakeholders seeking to better understand this diverse and growing population.

2 Black Immigrant Population Size and Origins

The total number of foreign-born Black individuals living in the United States was 4,685,000 in 2024, according to the ACS (see Figure 1). The Black immigrant population grew by 221 percent between 1990 and 2024, exceeding the growth rate of the overall immigrant population (155 percent) during the same period.

In the 2020–24 period, Black immigrants represented 11 percent of all Black people in the country, 9 percent of all immigrants, and just 1 percent of the total U.S. population.

The origins of the country’s Black immigrant population have shifted from majority Latin American and Caribbean (heavily Caribbean) to, very recently, equal shares born in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Africa (49 percent each in 2020–24), as shown in Table 1. Black immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean still outnumbered those from Africa, but by fewer than 15,000 people. Moreover, the number of Black immigrants from Africa (2,077,000) exceeded the number from the Caribbean subregion (1,941,000), a community with a longer history of post-1965 immigration to the United States.

Table 1. Regions of Birth for Black Immigrants in the United States, 2020–24

That said, the top two individual countries of origin for Black immigrants are still Caribbean countries: Jamaica (766,000) and Haiti (714,000), as shown in Table 2. In 2020–24, no other country had more than 500,000 Black immigrants living in the United States. Of the remaining eight origin countries in the top ten, seven were in Africa: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Somalia, and Cameroon (all but Trinidad and Tobago).

Black immigrants also come, albeit in smaller numbers, from countries in other world regions. These include Europe (mainly from the United Kingdom, Germany, and France); Asia (Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the Philippines); Northern America (Canada); and Oceania.

Table 2. Top 20 Origin Countries for Black Immigrants in the United States, 2020–24

3 States and Metropolitan Areas of Residence

Black immigrants live in states and communities across the country, with a few notable geographic hubs. Almost equal shares of the Black immigrant population lived in New York State (18 percent, or 753,000 people) and Florida (17 percent, or 713,000 people) in 2020–24 (see Figure 2). Smaller shares of the country’s Black immigrants lived in the next 18 states: Texas (8 percent); Maryland (6 percent); New Jersey and Georgia (each 5 percent); Massachusetts and California (each 4 percent); Minnesota, Virginia, and Pennsylvania (each 3 percent); Ohio, North Carolina, Connecticut, Illinois, and Washington State (each 2 percent); and Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan (each 1 percent).

Among these top 20 states of residence in 2020–24, Caribbean immigrants made up the majority of Black immigrants in the two states with the largest Black immigrant populations—New York State (70 percent) and Florida (90 percent)—and in Connecticut (74 percent). Africans, meanwhile, were in the majority in the other 17 states. The African share of the Black immigrant population was especially high in Texas (81 percent), Minnesota (95 percent), Ohio (83 percent), Washington State (88 percent), and Colorado (86 percent).

Compared to the nation overall, where 9 percent of all immigrants in 2020–24 were Black, the share was much higher in some states. For example, Black immigrants were 29 percent of the total immigrant population in North Dakota, 28 percent in Minnesota, 25 percent in Maryland, 24 percent in the District of Columbia, and 23 percent in Delaware.

In some (mostly smaller) states, Black immigrants made up notable shares of all Black residents. This was the case in Maine, where 55 percent of Black residents were immigrants in 2020–24, and in North Dakota (41 percent), Vermont (38 percent), New Hampshire (36 percent), and Massachusetts (35 percent). By comparison, 11 percent of the Black population nationwide was foreign born as of 2020–24.

Top Metro Areas of Residence

Like immigrants overall, Black immigrants primarily live in urban areas. Only 5 percent of Black immigrants lived in rural areas in 2020–24, compared to 23 percent of the U.S.-born population. The greater New York metropolitan area was the top metro area of residence for Black immigrants and home to 21 percent of Black immigrants nationwide, followed by the greater Miami (10 percent), Washington, DC (6 percent), and Atlanta (5 percent) metro areas (see Table 3).

In certain metro areas—Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, and Hartford—at least one-quarter of all Black residents were immigrants. And in the greater Miami area, Black immigrants also made up a notably high share of the total population (7 percent), a larger share than in other metropolitan areas and most states.

Table 3. Top 20 Metropolitan Areas of Residence for Black Immigrants in the United States, 2020–24

4 Time in the United States

On average, Black immigrants have been in the United States for less time than other immigrants (see Table 4). As of 2020–24, 26 percent of Black immigrants had been in the country for 20 years or more, compared to 55 percent of non-Black immigrants. Still, 71 percent of Black immigrants had been in the country for at least ten years.

Table 4. Length of U.S. Residence of Black Immigrants in the United States, 2020–24

Africans were overrepresented among more recently arrived Black immigrants (see Figure 3). Of Black immigrants who had been in the United States for fewer than five years in 2020–24, 60 percent were born in Africa and 37 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. The top countries of origin for recent Black Africans included Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo. The regions of origin were reversed among Black immigrants who were long-term residents: Of those with 20 or more years of U.S. residence, 64 percent were from Latin America and the Caribbean and 34 percent from Africa.

5 Immigration Status

Leveraging a methodology developed by Migration Policy Institute (MPI) researchers in partnership with demographers at The Pennsylvania State University and Temple University for assigning legal status in U.S. Census Bureau data,9 MPI estimates that in 2023, more than half of all Black immigrants in the country were naturalized U.S. citizens and another one-quarter were lawful permanent residents (often called green-card holders), as shown in Figure 4. At the same time, 686,000 unauthorized immigrants were Black, making up 15 percent of all Black immigrants in the United States in 2023 and about 5 percent of the country’s 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants. These estimates of unauthorized immigrants include individuals with liminal statuses that are temporary, grant work authorization, and protect from deportation such as TPS holders, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, asylum applicants, and humanitarian parolees.

The immigration status breakdown varies across Black immigrants from different world regions. The share who had become naturalized U.S. citizens was significantly higher among Black immigrants born in Latin America and the Caribbean (61 percent) compared to those born in Africa (53 percent) and Northern America (44 percent). This likely reflects, at least in part, the fact that Latin American and Caribbean Black immigrants have spent more time on average in the United States.

MPI estimates that in 2023, nearly one-fifth of Black immigrants from Northern America and Europe were unauthorized immigrants, the highest shares of Black immigrants from all regions (though relatively small in absolute numbers). This may be due to the relatively low entry requirements for Northern Americans and Europeans seeking to travel to the United States, with many having likely entered with a tourist visa and then overstayed it.

6 Education and Language Skills

About one-third of Black immigrants ages 25 and older (34 percent) held a university degree—either a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD—as of 2020–24, a share similar to the overall immigrant population (36 percent). This was the case for both Black immigrant men and women (36 percent and 33 percent, respectively; see Figure 5). These rates of higher education were similar to those of the U.S. born: 35 percent of U.S.-born men and 37 percent for U.S.-born women had a university degree in 2020–24.

For one-quarter of Black immigrant men and women, a high school diploma was their highest level of educational achievement. Smaller shares of Black immigrants (13 percent of men and 16 percent of women) had less than a high school diploma in 2020–24, shares higher than those for the U.S.-born population (8 percent of men and 6 percent of women) but lower than for immigrants overall (26 percent of men and 24 percent of women).

Educational attainment varies significantly by region of origin. Among Black immigrant men from Africa and those from Northern America, 48 percent had a university degree, as did 47 percent of those from Europe, compared to 38 percent of those from Asia and 23 percent of those from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Black immigrant women from certain world regions had higher education levels than Black immigrant men from those same regions. The shares of Black immigrant women with a university degree were especially high among those born in Northern America (62 percent), Europe (54 percent), and Asia (48 percent). Black immigrant women from Africa and from Latin America and the Caribbean were less likely to have university degrees (38 percent and 28 percent, respectively)—though the university-educated share of Black immigrant women from Latin America and the Caribbean was still higher than the share of Black immigrant men from the region.

English Proficiency and Other Languages

Many Black immigrants speak only English at home, with 41 percent reporting doing so in 2020–24 (see Figure 6). This is a much larger share than the 14 percent of non-Black immigrants who spoke only English. Another 36 percent of Black immigrants reported speaking another language at home but also speaking English very well. Slightly less than one-quarter of Black immigrants (24 percent) were Limited English Proficient, meaning they spoke English less than very well.

The diverse origins of Black immigrants are reflected in the wide range of language spoken within this population. Among Black immigrants who reported having a home language other than English, the most frequently spoken languages were Haitian Creole (26 percent), French (12 percent), and Amharic and other Ethiopian languages (10 percent). Many other (often African) languages were also spoken, though in smaller proportions, including Spanish; Swahili; Beja, Somali, and other Cushitic languages; Bantu; Arabic; Mande; Portuguese; Fulani; and other unspecified African languages.10

7 Employment and Worker Characteristics

An estimated 2.9 million Black immigrants ages 16 and older were in the civilian labor force in 2020–24, either employed or seeking employment. Among Black immigrant men, 72 percent were employed, as were 65 percent of Black immigrant women (see Figure 7). In the same period, the shares of U.S.-born men and women who were employed were significantly lower (62 percent and 56 percent, respectively). Very small shares of Black immigrants—5 percent of men and 4 percent of women—were unemployed.

Slightly more than 1 million Black immigrants ages 16 and older were not in the labor force in 2020–24. This was the case for 23 percent of Black immigrant men and 30 percent of Black immigrant women in the civilian population. This group includes retirees, full-time students, people with caregiving responsibilities (such as child or elder care), discouraged workers (those who have stopped looking for a job), and people unable to work due to disabilities, among others. The shares of Black immigrants in this category were lower than for the U.S. born, among whom 34 percent of men and 41 percent of women were out of the labor force.

A. Industries of Employment

Black immigrants work in a wide range of industries. The top industry of employment in 2020–24, by some margin, was health care, in which 24 percent of employed Black immigrants worked (see Table 5). Black immigrant women were particularly concentrated in health care: 36 percent worked in health-care occupations, including as registered nurses, nursing assistants, and home health aides. The next top sectors of employment for Black immigrant women were education and retail (9 percent each).

The top sector of employment for Black immigrant men in 2020–24 was transportation (17 percent)—an industry where Black men in general have significantly increased their presence in recent decades.11 The next four industries of employment for Black immigrant men were: professional services (12 percent), health care (12 percent), manufacturing (10 percent), and retail (10 percent).

Industries of employment also varied for Black immigrants from different world regions (see Table 5). Those from Africa were overrepresented as a share of all Black immigrant workers in mining, manufacturing, and transportation, while Latin American and Caribbean immigrants were especially overrepresented in construction, agriculture, and arts and entertainment.

B. Work Schedules and Wages

Differences in workers’ schedules and working hours affect their wages and annual earnings. Of Black immigrants who had a job in 2020–24, 15 percent of men and 23 percent of women worked part time (fewer than 35 hours a week). In contrast, 76 percent of Black immigrant men and 69 percent of Black immigrant women worked full time, year round (FTYR), which is usually associated with more stable employment and higher earnings. These shares were about the same in the U.S.-born population.

Examining FTYR workers’ median earnings, Black immigrant men ($56,000) earned less than non-Black U.S.-born men and non-Black immigrant men ($70,000 and $60,000, respectively; see Figure 8). They earned close to, but slightly more than, U.S.-born Black men working FTYR ($51,000).

Black immigrant women who were FTYR workers earned the same amount as non-Black immigrant women ($50,000), and slightly more than U.S.-born Black women ($47,000). Non-Black U.S.-born women had the highest earnings of all FTYR women workers, at $57,000 annually.

8 Household Characteristics

The challenges and opportunities individuals encounter, and the options they have for acting on them, depend to some extent on the type of household they belong to. For Black immigrants, the presence of a spouse and/or children in the household, those family members’ nativity and immigration status, the household’s income, and homeownership status can all have an impact on or reflect socioeconomic integration.

A. Marriage

Half of Black immigrants ages 15 and older were married in 2020–24, a share slightly higher than for the non-Black U.S.-born population (48 percent) and almost double the share among U.S.-born Black people (27 percent), as shown in Table 6. This is part of a broader pattern in which immigrant adults overall are more likely to be married than U.S.-born adults.

More than three-quarters of married Black immigrants had a spouse who was a U.S. citizen, either by birth or naturalization. And 91 percent of married Black immigrants had a spouse who also identified as Black.

Table 6. Marital Status of Immigrants and U.S. Born (ages 15 and older) in the United States, by Race, 2020–24

B. Children

In 2020–24, only 8 percent of Black immigrants were children under 18 years old—much lower than the child share of the U.S.-born population (25 percent). The majority of the 344,000 Black immigrant children (63 percent) were born in Africa, while 33 percent were born in Latin America or the Caribbean, reflecting the changing origins of Black immigrants overall, as discussed in Sections 2–4.

Taking into consideration both Black foreign-born children and Black U.S.-born children of immigrants, a total of 1.8 million Black children were living with at least one immigrant parent in 2020–24 (see Table 7). Therefore, of the 9.6 million Black children in the United States, nearly one out of every five had an immigrant parent. Moreover, 89 percent of the 1.8 million Black children living with at least one immigrant parent were themselves U.S. citizens.

Table 7. Black Children (under age 18) in the United States, by Parental Nativity, 2020–24

C. Household Income and Homeownership

Black immigrants’ median household income—that is, the sum of all income generated by household members—was $77,000 in 2020–24 (see Figure 9). This was lower than the household income for both the non-Black U.S. born ($89,000) and non-Black immigrants ($84,000).

Black immigrants’ median household income was significantly higher ($17,000 more) than the household income of U.S.-born Black individuals. The higher share of Black immigrants who are married (and may thus have two income earners in the household), their higher individual earnings, and lower unemployment rates, especially for Black immigrant men, are likely factors in this difference in household incomes between immigrant and U.S.-born Black households.

Homeownership rates, an indicator of wealth, were similar for Black immigrants and Black U.S.-born individuals (49 percent and 48 percent of whom, respectively, lived in owned homes in 2020–24). Home ownership rates were higher among the non-Black U.S. born (73 percent) and non-Black immigrants (59 percent). Discrimination in bank lending practices, in real estate (including redlining), and policies that have increased wealth inequality to the detriment of Black households provide some context for these lower homeownership rates, especially among U.S.-born Black people.

9 Conclusion

The United States’ Black immigrants, estimated at 4,685,000 people in 2024, are a highly diverse population that has grown at a faster pace than the overall immigrant population, in great part due to new arrivals from Africa. Black immigrants are now evenly split in their origins between those born in Africa and those from Latin America and the Caribbean. And while the latter group tends to be highly concentrated in New York State and Florida, Black African immigrants are more widely dispersed throughout the country.

Black immigrant workers, though present in a variety of industries, are concentrated in key growth sectors for the U.S. economy: health care, transportation, and professional services. To their workplaces and their communities, Black immigrants bring relatively high rates of English proficiency, educational attainment, and employment, and many have found well-paying work and become U.S. citizens through naturalization.

Understanding Black immigrants’ assets and unique challenges, and the considerable diversity within this population, has never been more important. At a time when policies restricting immigration of all kinds are being implemented and misinformation about immigrant communities abounds, the fact remains—and the data in this fact sheet demonstrate—that Black immigrants are generally highly educated, English speaking, and significant contributors to the U.S. economy.

"To their workplaces and their communities, Black immigrants bring relatively high rates of English proficiency, educational attainment, and employment, and many have found well-paying work and become U.S. citizens through naturalization."