Quick Immigration Statistics: United States

There are approximately 44 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, or explore our page of resources on U.S. immigration data and policy. 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 [email protected]

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Immigration Research Library

 Immigration Data on Demand

Quick Immigration Statistics: Massachusetts

 Quick Immigration Statistics: Greater Boston

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

There are approximately 44 million immigrants in the United States.

About one in every eight U.S. residents (13.5%) is foreign-born.

Pie chart depicting that 13.5% of U.S. residents are foreign-born, while 86.5% of U.S. residents are U.S.-born.

Source: U.S. Census 2020 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates

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

Pie chart showing that the five largest immigrant populations in the United States are from Mexico (24.8%), India (5.9%), China (4.9%), the Philippines (4.5%), and El Salvador (3.1%).

Source: U.S. Census 2020 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates
Learn how growing immigrant populations affect crime rates.
Learn how diversity strengthens the U.S. economy.
Learn how immigrant populations are distributed state by state.
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, including young people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“Dreamers”) program.
Learn the demographic profile of undocumented immigrants, including trends in countries of origin, English proficiency, educational attainment and income levels.
Learn how rates of undocumented immigration impact crime rates.
Learn more about the economic benefits of creating pathways to citizenship for both documented and undocumented immigrants.

How do immigrants impact the United States workforce?

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

Source: U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates
Learn how growing immigrant populations affect the economy.
Learn how immigrants’ high rates of workforce participation impact their use of government benefits.
Learn how high-skilled immigration impacts the U.S.-born workforce and strengthens businesses.
Learn more about the growing and pivotal role that immigrants and their children will play in the U.S. economy.
Learn how undocumented immigrants affect the U.S. economy.
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.

Self-employment rates are 9.0% for U.S.-born residents, 11.7% for immigrants, and 13.0% for refugees.

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.

Self-employment rates are 9.0% for U.S.-born residents, 11.7% for immigrants, and 13.0% for refugees.

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.
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