United States
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Key findings about U.S. immigrants
How many people in the U.S. are immigrants?
The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 43.7 million in 2016. Since 1965, when U.S. immigration laws replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. has more than quadrupled. Immigrants today account for 13.5% of the U.S. population, nearly triple the share (4.7%) in 1970. However, today’s immigrant share remains below the record 14.8% share in 1890, when 9.2 million immigrants lived in the U.S.
What is the legal status of immigrants in the U.S.?
Most immigrants (76%) are in the country legally, while a quarter are unauthorized. In 2015, 44% were naturalized U.S. citizens.
Some 27% of immigrants were permanent residents and 5% were temporary residents. Another 24% of all immigrants were unauthorized immigrants in 2015. From 1990 to 2007, the unauthorized immigrant population tripled in size – from 3.5 million to a record high of 12.2 million. During the Great Recession, the number declined by 1 million and since then has leveled off. In 2015, there were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., accounting for 3.4% of the nation’s population.
Where do immigrants come from?
Mexico, China and India are top birthplaces for immigrants in the U.S.Mexico is the top origin country of the U.S. immigrant population. In 2016, 11.6 million immigrants living in the U.S. were from there, accounting for 26% of all U.S. immigrants. The next largest origin groups were those from China (6%), India (6%), the Philippines (4%) and El Salvador (3%).
By region of birth, immigrants from South and East Asia combined accounted for 27% of all immigrants, a share equal to that of Mexico. Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe/Canada (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (4%).
Who is arriving today?
More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. each year. In 2016, the top country of origin for new immigrants coming into the U.S. was India, with 126,000 people, followed by Mexico (124,000), China (121,000) and Cuba (41,000).
By race and ethnicity, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the U.S. each year since 2010.
How many immigrants have come to the U.S. as refugees?
Since the creation of the federal Refugee Resettlement Program in 1980, about 3 million refugees have been resettled in the U.S – more than any other country.
In fiscal 2017, a total of 53,716 refugees were resettled in the U.S.
Where do most U.S. immigrants live?
Roughly half (46%) of the nation’s 43.7 million immigrants live in just three states: California (24%), Texas (11%) and New York (10%). California had the largest immigrant population of any state in 2016, at 10.7 million. Texas and New York had more than 4.5 million immigrants each.
In terms of regions, about two-thirds of immigrants lived in the West (34%) and South (33%). Roughly one-fifth lived in the Northeast (21%) and 11% were in the Midwest.
How well do immigrants speak English?
Among immigrants ages 5 and older, half (51%) are proficient English speakers – either speaking English very well (35%) or only speaking English at home (16%).
Immigrants from Mexico have the lowest rates of English proficiency (32%), followed by Central Americans (33%) and immigrants from South and East Asia (54%). Those from Europe or Canada (76%), sub-Saharan Africa (72%), and the Middle East (61%) have the highest rates of English proficiency.
How many immigrants have been deported recently?
Around 344,000 immigrants were deported from the U.S. in fiscal 2016, slightly up since 2015.
How do Americans view immigrants and immigration?
While immigration has been at the forefront of a national political debate, the U.S. public holds a range of views about immigrants living in the country. Overall, a majority of Americans have positive views about immigrants. Six-in-ten Americans (65%) say immigrants strengthen the country “because of their hard work and talents,” while just over a quarter (26%) say immigrants burden the country by taking jobs, housing and health care.
Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 84% think immigrants strengthen the country with their hard work and talents, and just 12% say they are a burden. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, roughly as many (44%) say immigrants are a burden as say immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents (42%).
More than four-in-ten Americans expressed mostly positive views of Asian (47%) and European immigrants (44%), yet only a quarter expressed such views of African and Latin American immigrants (26% each).
Americans were divided on future levels of immigration. Nearly half said immigration to the U.S. should be decreased (49%), while one-third (34%) said immigration should be kept at its present level and just 15% said immigration should be increased.
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Originally Posted by Iloko
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