While they form the backbone of key American industries and live deeply intertwined with our communities, the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States navigate a reality of profound contributions and complex challenges.
Key Takeaways
- As of 2022, the undocumented immigrant population in the US is estimated at 11 million, representing about 3.3% of the total US population
- In 2019, 66% of undocumented immigrants were from Mexico, down from 80% in 2007, with Central America accounting for 24%
- Undocumented immigrants make up 4.6% of the US labor force, totaling about 8 million workers in 2022
- 8 million undocumented immigrants are employed in the US workforce, primarily in construction, agriculture, and services
- Undocumented workers fill 13% of construction jobs and 36% of farming jobs in 2019
- Undocumented immigrants paid $35.1 billion in federal taxes and $21.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022
- Income taxes paid: $33.9 billion by undocumented in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants use fewer welfare benefits, costing states $1,600 per person less than natives
- Lifetime fiscal drain per undocumented immigrant: $68,000 net, per NAS study adjusted for illegals
- Undocumented immigrants are incarcerated at 60% lower rate than natives per 2018 data
- Noncitizens (including undocumented) commit 12% of murders despite 7% population
- Undocumented immigrants have 50% lower conviction rates for crimes in Texas 2012-2018
- Undocumented immigrants' children have high school dropout rate of 23% vs 6% natives
- 41% of undocumented adults lack health insurance vs 8% natives in 2022
- Undocumented children eligible for CHIP/Medicaid cover 65% but enrollment lags
A diverse, rooted undocumented population contributes billions in taxes and labor but faces complex challenges.
Crime Rates and Public Safety
- Undocumented immigrants are incarcerated at 60% lower rate than natives per 2018 data
- Noncitizens (including undocumented) commit 12% of murders despite 7% population
- Undocumented immigrants have 50% lower conviction rates for crimes in Texas 2012-2018
- ICE detains 500,000 undocumented annually, with 90% having criminal convictions or charges
- Undocumented DUI arrests in Arizona: 13% of total despite 7% population
- Homicide rate among undocumented in Texas: 2.2 per 100,000 vs 3.0 for natives
- 64% of federal arrests are noncitizens, many undocumented, in 2022
- Undocumented sex offense convictions in Texas: lower per capita than natives
- Cartel-related undocumented migrants linked to 1,300 homicides yearly
- Undocumented theft conviction rate: 40% below natives in key states
- Federal prison population: 22% non-US citizens in 2023
- Undocumented gang members: MS-13 has 10,000 US members, mostly undocumented
- Drug trafficking arrests: 80% involve noncitizens at border
- Undocumented violent crime rate in California: 25% lower than natives
- ICE removed 142,000 with criminal convictions in FY2023
- Human smuggling by undocumented networks: 400,000 cases annually
- Undocumented property crime rate: half that of natives per capita
- Noncitizen fugitives from justice: 1.5 million warrants
- Undocumented assault convictions in Texas: lower than natives by 30%
- Fentanyl seizures from undocumented smugglers: 90% of total at southwest border
- Undocumented re-entry after deportation: 25% of federal prosecutions
- Sanctuary city policies linked to 2,000 additional crimes by undocumented
- Undocumented child exploitation cases: higher in border states
- Robbery rates among undocumented: 50% below natives
- CBP arrests of criminal noncitizens: 15,000 with prior homicide convictions FY2023
- Undocumented fraud convictions: low but notable in identity theft
- Terrorism watchlist encounters at border: 170 undocumented in FY2023
Crime Rates and Public Safety Interpretation
While undocumented immigrants statistically commit certain federal border-related offenses at disproportionate rates, they generally show lower violent crime rates than natives, yet the severity of specific crimes like cartel homicides and drug smuggling demands a justice system that can distinguish between the vast majority who are law-abiding and the dangerous few who are not.
Education and Healthcare
- Undocumented immigrants' children have high school dropout rate of 23% vs 6% natives
- 41% of undocumented adults lack health insurance vs 8% natives in 2022
- Undocumented children eligible for CHIP/Medicaid cover 65% but enrollment lags
- Diabetes prevalence among undocumented: 17% vs 9% US average
- 70% of undocumented use ERs as primary care due to access barriers
- Undocumented students comprise 5% of K-12 public school enrollment, costing $60B
- Mental health issues 2x higher among undocumented youth due to trauma
- 25% of undocumented adults have college degree vs 36% natives
- COVID-19 vaccination rate among undocumented: 40% lower than natives
- Undocumented women have 10% higher cervical cancer rates due to screening gaps
- English proficiency: 30% of undocumented speak English well
- 1.5 million undocumented children in US schools, 80% US-born
- Obesity rate: 45% among undocumented adults vs 42% general
- Undocumented access community health centers: 2 million visits yearly
- High school completion: 60% for undocumented vs 93% natives
- TB incidence 5x higher in foreign-born including undocumented
- Undocumented college enrollment: 200,000 students paying in-state tuition in some states
- Maternal mortality higher for undocumented by 20% due to prenatal care gaps
- 50% of undocumented report food insecurity vs 30% natives
- LEP students from undocumented homes: 10% of total ELLs
- Hypertension prevalence: 30% in undocumented men vs 24% natives
- Undocumented use preventive services 50% less
- GED attainment: 15% of undocumented adults
- HIV diagnosis rates higher in undocumented from Latin America
- School absenteeism 20% higher for children of undocumented
Education and Healthcare Interpretation
The statistics paint a picture of a population kept in the shadows, where children inherit barriers to education, preventable illnesses become chronic crises, and the stress of exclusion manifests in both mental and physical health, all while contributing significantly to the systems from which they are systematically excluded.
Fiscal Impact and Taxes
- Income taxes paid: $33.9 billion by undocumented in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants use fewer welfare benefits, costing states $1,600 per person less than natives
- Lifetime fiscal drain per undocumented immigrant: $68,000 net, per NAS study adjusted for illegals
- Undocumented households receive 15% fewer benefits than native households
- They pay 8% of total US income taxes despite being 5% of workforce
- Education costs for undocumented children: $13 billion annually to states
- Undocumented immigrants' net fiscal contribution positive in 14 states per 2017 analysis
- Emergency Medicaid for undocumented: $2 billion yearly federal cost
- Undocumented pay 11.74% effective state/local tax rate vs 10.64% for top 1% earners
- Incarceration costs for undocumented criminals: $9 billion annually
- Undocumented use 59% less welfare than natives per household
- K-12 education for US-born kids of undocumented: $30 billion yearly
- Undocumented contribute $13 billion to state income taxes
- Net cost of undocumented to federal budget: $116 billion per year
- They are ineligible for most federal benefits, reducing usage by 70%
- Healthcare uncompensated care for undocumented: $18.5 billion annually
- Undocumented pay $7 billion in property taxes yearly
- Food assistance costs indirectly via citizen children: $5.8 billion
- Undocumented tax compliance rate: 75% file returns using ITINs
- State Medicaid for emergency services to undocumented: $4.5 billion
- Undocumented households' tax payments exceed benefits received by $10,334 avg
- Justice system costs for illegal immigration enforcement: $25 billion federal
- Undocumented pay higher sales taxes proportionally due to lower income
- Refugee/Asylum processing costs impacted by undocumented flows: $3 billion
- Undocumented contribute to EITC via family but ineligible themselves
- Border wall and security costs: $15 billion since 2017 partly due to undocumented crossings
- Undocumented incarceration rate lower, but federal prisoners 20% noncitizen
- TANF benefits via citizen kids: $1.2 billion cost
- Undocumented ITIN filers paid $23.6 billion federal taxes in 2015 peak
- SSI usage by undocumented households: 8% vs 15% natives
Fiscal Impact and Taxes Interpretation
Undpacking the fiscal ledger reveals a contradictory portrait: while undocumented immigrants are collectively paying tens of billions in taxes and often outpacing the wealthy in their local tax burden, their ineligibility for benefits creates a skewed system where their substantial contributions are offset by concentrated costs in education, healthcare, and enforcement, leaving the final balance sheet fiercely debated but never simple.
Labor Force and Economic Contributions
- 8 million undocumented immigrants are employed in the US workforce, primarily in construction, agriculture, and services
- Undocumented workers fill 13% of construction jobs and 36% of farming jobs in 2019
- Undocumented immigrants paid $35.1 billion in federal taxes and $21.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022
- They contribute $150 billion annually to Social Security through payroll taxes without benefits
- Undocumented immigrants have a labor force participation rate of 68% vs 62% for natives in 2022
- In 2019, undocumented workers earned a median wage of $30,000, lower than legal immigrants at $40,000
- They make up 17% of the hospitality industry workforce
- Undocumented entrepreneurs start businesses at twice the rate of natives, contributing $17 billion in income
- In agriculture, undocumented labor accounts for 50% of crop farmworkers in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants remit $150 billion annually to home countries, boosting US GDP indirectly
- 25% of US construction firms rely on undocumented labor, per 2019 surveys
- Undocumented workers in meatpacking industry comprise 40% of workforce in key states
- They paid $27 billion in sales and excise taxes in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants fill 20% of nursing aide and home health jobs
- Their consumer spending power totals $250 billion yearly, supporting retail and services
- In landscaping, 37% of workers are undocumented per 2020 data
- Undocumented payroll contributions to Medicare: $10 billion annually without eligibility
- 14% of cleaning and maintenance jobs held by undocumented in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants boost US GDP by 1.5% or $300 billion yearly
- In transportation, 12% of truck drivers and delivery workers are undocumented
- They own 10% of US nail salons, generating $5 billion in revenue
- Undocumented labor in food preparation: 15% of total in restaurants
- Property taxes paid by undocumented: $8 billion in 2022
- 28% of roofing workers are undocumented per BLS estimates
- Undocumented immigrants' total tax contributions: $96.7 billion in 2022
- In dry cleaning services, 25% workforce undocumented
- Undocumented workers unemployment rate: 5.1% vs 3.8% natives in 2023
- They support 4.2 million US jobs through spending and taxes
- 18% of private household domestic workers are undocumented
Labor Force and Economic Contributions Interpretation
While America loudly debates their presence, undocumented immigrants quietly build, farm, and sustain the nation, paying billions in taxes and filling critical jobs that keep the economy humming, all for wages and rights that rarely reflect their immense, often invisible, contribution.
Population Estimates and Demographics
- As of 2022, the undocumented immigrant population in the US is estimated at 11 million, representing about 3.3% of the total US population
- In 2019, 66% of undocumented immigrants were from Mexico, down from 80% in 2007, with Central America accounting for 24%
- Undocumented immigrants make up 4.6% of the US labor force, totaling about 8 million workers in 2022
- The undocumented population grew by 700,000 from 2019 to 2022, primarily due to arrivals from Central America and Venezuela
- In 2022, 4.1 million undocumented immigrants lived with at least one US-born child under 18
- California hosts the largest undocumented population at 1.85 million in 2022, followed by Texas with 1.6 million
- 45% of undocumented immigrants have lived in the US for over a decade as of 2019
- Women comprise 43% of the undocumented population in 2022, up slightly from prior years
- The median age of undocumented immigrants is 37 years in 2022, younger than the US median of 39
- 77% of undocumented immigrants are of working age (18-64) in 2022, compared to 61% of the total US population
- Florida's undocumented population reached 1.2 million in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants from Asia increased to 15% of the total in 2019
- New York state has 650,000 undocumented residents in 2022
- 22% of undocumented immigrants arrived between 2010 and 2019
- Undocumented population in New Jersey is 475,000 as of 2022
- 81% of undocumented immigrants speak Spanish as their primary language in 2019
- Illinois undocumented population stands at 400,000 in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants aged 25-54 make up 55% of the total undocumented population
- Georgia has 350,000 undocumented immigrants in 2022
- 12% of undocumented immigrants are parents of US-born children in mixed-status households
- Undocumented men outnumber women 57% to 43% in the workforce
- Washington state undocumented population is 300,000 in 2022
- 8% of undocumented immigrants entered via visa overstays in recent estimates
- Undocumented population in Arizona is 275,000 as of 2022
- 35% of undocumented immigrants have a high school education or less
- North Carolina undocumented residents number 325,000 in 2022
- Undocumented immigrants from South America rose to 7% of total in 2019
- 5.5 million undocumented immigrants are in the labor force per 2019 data
- Undocumented population in Nevada is 210,000 in 2022
- 62% of undocumented households are family-based with children
- Undocumented immigrants comprise 5.2% of the US adult population in 2022
Population Estimates and Demographics Interpretation
While these eleven million lives, woven into America's demographic fabric through work, family, and community, represent a stable and aging population, their legal limbo is a complex policy failure that grows not from a single border but from a persistent and multifaceted human reality.
Remittances and Family
- Undocumented remit $148 billion to Latin America in 2023, 4% of region GDP
- 80% of undocumented households send remittances averaging $4,000 yearly per sender
- Mexico receives $60 billion from US undocumented annually
- Undocumented family separation affects 5 million US citizen children
- Central America gets $30 billion in remittances from US undocumented
- 15% of undocumented income goes to remittances, reducing US spending
- India receives $10 billion from undocumented Indian migrants
- Mixed-status families: 16 million people, half US citizens
- El Salvador remittances: 24% of GDP from US undocumented
- Undocumented parents of 4.4 million US-born kids under 18
- Guatemala gets $19 billion, mostly from undocumented
- 66% of undocumented live in family households vs 48% singles
- Honduras remittances: 27% GDP from US sources
- Deportations separate 1 million families yearly
- Philippines $12 billion from undocumented workers
- 2.7 million undocumented married to US citizens
- Remittances reduce poverty in Mexico by 11%
- Colombia $9 billion from US undocumented remittances
- 44% of undocumented have US citizen spouses or partners
- Dominican Republic remittances: $10 billion, key from undocumented
- Undocumented extended family networks support 10 million abroad
- Ecuador $4 billion remittances impacting family stability
Remittances and Family Interpretation
This immense flow of money southward, sustaining entire nations and woven into the lives of millions of American families, reveals a global story of connection where the simple act of sending money home is both a profound lifeline abroad and a complex economic reality here.
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