Quick Immigration Statistics: United States

There are approximately 44.7 million immigrants in the United States.

The Immigrant Learning Center has compiled a list of quick United States immigration statistics and facts to answer your most pressing questions about the current immigration landscape in the U.S. If you don’t see what you need here, our Immigration Research Library contains more than 1,300 studies from reputable sources, and new reports are added as they become available. If you’re looking for more detailed data or want to examine specific immigrant populations, you can request a free, personalized fact sheet through the Immigration Data on Demand service from our partner, the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University. To learn more about the immigrants of our home state of Massachusetts, visit our Quick Immigration Statistics: Massachusetts page. If you have questions or suggestions about our Quick U.S. Immigration Stats, feel free to contact us at public.education@ilctr.org.

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How many immigrants are there in the United States, and who are they?

There are approximately 44.7 million immigrants in the United States.

About one in every eight U.S. residents (13.7%) is foreign-born.

data graphic of US origin us born and foreign born

Source: U.S. Census 2018 American Community Survey

The five largest immigrant populations in the United States are from:

data graphic of US immigrant country of origin

Source: U.S. Census 2017 American Community Survey

Learn about the immigration landscape of New England.

Learn how diversity strengthens the U.S. economy.

Learn about the contributions of highly-skilled Mexican immigrants in Texas and the rest of the U.S.

Learn about trends in countries of origins of new immigrants.

Learn why levels of undocumented immigration have significantly declined.

Learn how undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. tax base.

Learn how naturalization can reshape demographic and electoral landscapes.

Learn how and why immigrants naturalize and how we can encourage naturalization.

Learn more about the economic benefits of creating pathways for both documented and undocumented immigrants to naturalize.

How do immigrants impact the United States workforce?

Immigrants have a higher workforce participation rate.*animated data graphic of us workforce participation

Source: Institute of Immigration Research analysis of the American Community Survey (ACS) 2012-2016 5-year sample data from Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample

Learn more about the growing and pivotal role that immigrants and their children will play in the U.S. economy.

Learn more about how we can tap the unfulfilled potential of immigrant workers with better training.

Learn how immigrants lower unemployment rates and increase workforce participation rates.

* The workforce participation rate is calculated by dividing the number of people working and those actively seeking work by the number of non-institutionalized, working-age (16-65) civilians.

Immigrants, particularly refugees, have higher self-employment rates than U.S.-born.data graphic of us stat selfemployment

Source: Institute of Immigration Research analysis of the American Community Survey (ACS) 2012-2016 5-year sample data from Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample

One quarter (25%) of new U.S. businesses are founded by immigrants.

graphic depicting the rate of immigrant entrepreneurship in US statistics
Source: Immigrant Entrepreneurship, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2016

Learn more about the accomplishments of immigrant business founders, including entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie, Elon Musk, and many more, in The ILC’s Immigrant Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.

Learn more about how immigrant entrepreneurship improves and grows the economy.

Learn more about the accomplishments of female immigrant entrepreneurs.

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