WASHINGTON — The immigrant population in the United States is highly diverse in its origins, characteristics and outcomes after arrival. While research has long demonstrated strong upward mobility for immigrants overall, both over time and generations, the challenges of starting over in a new country can leave some with relatively low incomes and economic hardship. A Migration Policy Institute (MPI) fact sheet out today offers a profile of low-income immigrants, who represent one-third of the more than 44 million immigrants in the United States.
Federal restrictions on access to public benefits for unauthorized immigrants and certain groups of legal immigrants as well as limited English proficiency are among the unique barriers that the nation’s 14.8 million low-income immigrants face relative to U.S.-born individuals in similar financial circumstances. Although low-income immigrants are a minority of the foreign-born population, they are of particular interest to policymakers and service providers seeking to support individuals and families who may need tailored assistance to get on a path to upward economic mobility.
The fact sheet, A Profile of Low-Income Immigrants in the United States, presents data on the origins, states of residence, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and employment outcomes for immigrants with family income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($26,172 for a family of four in 2019). It results from MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, and from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.
Using a unique MPI methodology that permits the assignment of legal status in Census Bureau data, the analysis finds that two-thirds of low-income immigrants in 2019 had legal status, evenly divided between legal permanent residents (also known as green card holders) and naturalized citizens. The remaining third were unauthorized immigrants. About three in 10 low-income immigrants were in mixed-status families, with at least one relative an unauthorized immigrant and another a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant. These low-income mixed-status families included about 3.5 million children who were U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.
Among the findings:
Read the fact sheet here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/low-income-immigrants.