Understanding Poverty Declines among Immigrants and Their Children in the United States
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Highlights
Immigrant poverty in the United States fell 36 percent between 2009 and 2021, driven by economic recovery, a wider safety net, and pandemic aid that reached many noncitizen families.
- MPI analysis of Census Bureau data finds immigrant poverty fell from 25 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2021; noncitizen poverty declined from 31 to 16 percent, first with economic recovery and then with pandemic-era assistance.
- Child poverty in immigrant families fell 68 percent, from 4.6 million children in 2009 to 1.5 million in 2021. Children with at least one U.S.-citizen parent were three to four times less likely to be poor than those with two noncitizen parents.
- Pandemic-era aid, including three stimulus rounds and child tax credit expansions, drove much of the 2019–21 decline.
- Despite broad gains, disparities persist: immigrants were 14 percent of the U.S. population in 2021 but 24 percent of those in poverty, with Latino and Black noncitizens facing the highest rates among groups examined.
The United States has seen a historic decline in poverty in recent years. Poverty rates for immigrants, as for the U.S. population overall, declined sharply from 2009 through 2019, the decade following the Great Recession of 2007–09 and preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. And despite the economic upheaval brought on by the pandemic, poverty rates continued to fall between 2019 and 2021, as federal, state, and local governments introduced aid programs to blunt the economic impacts of the public-health crisis. Particularly steep declines in poverty could be seen among the nation’s children.
This issue brief looks at how poverty rates changed among immigrants and their children overall and by citizenship status and race/ethnicity, both before and during the pandemic. It draws on MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, using the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
The analysis finds that the patterns of falling poverty rates documented among the total U.S. population can also be seen among the nation’s immigrants, and that these findings hold for those who are naturalized and noncitizen alike and for the foreign born across racial and ethnic categories. The brief also discusses various factors that have contributed to these declines in general and child poverty.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Poverty Trends by Citizenship
A. The Pre-Pandemic Period, 2009–19
B. Changes during the Pandemic, 2020–21
C. Poverty by Race and Ethnicity
3 Child Poverty Trends
4 Conclusion
About the Human Services Initiative
The Initiative produced work focusing on U.S. federal, state, and local policies on immigration issues affecting children, families, and health and human services.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
About the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
The Center is a national hub connecting policymakers, educators, community leaders, and service providers with evidence-informed policy research, technical assistance, and data to advance effective immigrant integration at U.S., state, and local levels.
