E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
U.S. Data

U.S. Data

Immigration_History

More than 43 million people living in the United States—whether as naturalized citizen, legal permanent resident, temporary resident, or unauthorized immigrant—were born in another country, representing 13 percent of the U.S. population. Immigration has ebbed and flowed throughout U.S. history, peaking at nearly 15 percent of the population in 1890 and plummeting to 5 percent in 1970. The data-rich research offered here traces the U.S. immigrant population by size, educational and workforce characteristics, English language proficiency, and more.

For information on U.S. immigrants by state, check out the State Immigration Data Profiles tool. And for detailed profiles on unauthorized immigrants nationally and by state, visit this tool.

Recent Activity

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Policy Briefs
June 2005
By  David A. Martin
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Reports
June 2005
By  Jeffrey S. Passel
Articles
Articles
Articles
Articles
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Reports
November 2004
By  Suzette Brooks Masters, Kimberly A. Hamilton and Jill H. Wilson

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MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the fifth-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the fourth-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the third-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the second-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the largest immigrant group in the United States.

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
June 2005

This policy brief examines the “twilight status” or the de facto partial recognition of two particular categories of immigrants within the United States’ broader undocumented population: those with legally recognized claims to eventual lawful permanent resident status; and those with legally recognized temporary statuses.

Reports
June 2005

This report examines the characteristics and demographics of the unauthorized population in the United States. 

Articles
About one in 10 U.S. immigrants is self-employed. MPI’s Jeanne Batalova and David Dixon explore the importance and dimensions of this phenomenon.
Articles

The importance of knowledge, skills, and technologies in post-industrial economies has beckoned well-educated migrants to the United States. MPI's Jeanne Batalova takes a detailed look at the foreign born with a bachelor's degree or higher.

Articles

The European born are more likely to be proficient in English, work in higher-level occupations, and have higher earnings than the overall foreign-born population. MPI's David Dixon examines the social and economic profiles of the foreign born from Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Europe.

Articles

Over 15,000 Hmong from Laos are being resettled in the U.S., the latest wave of refugees from the era of U.S. involvement in Indochina. This Spotlight by MPI's Jennifer Yau examines the political developments and demographic impact of the Hmong refugee experience.

Articles

MPI's Jennifer Yau takes a detailed look at the foreign born from Korea in the United States.

Articles
MPI's Deborah Meyers and Jennifer Yau highlight data from the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

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