From representing over one in seven people to powering nearly a third of our doctors, the story of immigration in America today is woven into the very fabric of our nation, as revealed by a complex tapestry of statistics that detail everything from population origins to economic impact.
Key Takeaways
- As of 2022, the U.S. foreign-born population numbered 46.1 million people, accounting for 13.9% of the total U.S. population, up from 31.1 million (10.1%) in 2000.
- In 2022, Mexico remained the top origin country for U.S. immigrants with 10.6 million foreign-born individuals, followed by India (2.8 million) and China (2.5 million).
- Among U.S. immigrants in 2022, 45% were naturalized citizens, 27% were lawful permanent residents, 23% were unauthorized, and 4% held temporary visas.
- In fiscal year 2023, USCIS approved 1,085,011 petitions for immigrant visas, including family-sponsored and employment-based categories.
- In FY 2022, 590,000 lawful permanent residents were admitted to the U.S., with 42% family-sponsored immediate relatives.
- Employment-based green cards totaled 165,000 in FY 2022, including 107,000 for spouses and children of principal beneficiaries.
- The unauthorized immigrant population was estimated at 11.0 million in 2022, down from 12.2 million in 2007.
- In 2022, 4.0 million unauthorized immigrants lived in California, the highest of any state.
- Mexico accounted for 46% of the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population in 2022, totaling 5.1 million.
- In FY 2023, U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 2.06 million migrants at the southwest border.
- Nationwide ICE removals totaled 142,580 in FY 2023, with 67% criminal convictions or charges.
- CBP encountered 2.48 million migrants at the southwest border in FY 2023.
- Immigrants paid $524.1 billion in taxes in 2022, including $263.3 billion federal and $260.8 billion state/local.
- Undocumented immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022, with $59.4 billion state/local.
- In 2019, immigrants founded 55% of U.S. billion-dollar startups.
The U.S. immigrant population continues to grow, becoming increasingly diverse in origin and legal status.
Economic and Fiscal Impacts
- Immigrants paid $524.1 billion in taxes in 2022, including $263.3 billion federal and $260.8 billion state/local.
- Undocumented immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022, with $59.4 billion state/local.
- In 2019, immigrants founded 55% of U.S. billion-dollar startups.
- Foreign-born workers filled 18.6% of U.S. jobs in 2023, up from 17.1% in 2022.
- Immigrants comprised 28% of physicians and 38% of home health aides in 2022.
- The net fiscal impact of immigrants over 75 years is positive $1 trillion at federal level.
- In 2022, immigrant households used 14% fewer welfare benefits than U.S.-born households.
- Immigrants started 45% of Fortune 500 companies in 2023.
- Foreign-born labor force participation rate was 65.7% in 2023 vs. 61.3% for natives.
- In 2016, immigration increased U.S. GDP per capita by $1,800-$5,000 annually.
- Undocumented immigrants paid $35.1 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022 without benefits.
- Immigrants accounted for 36% of U.S. patents in 2022.
- In 2021, immigrant-owned businesses generated $1.3 trillion in sales.
- Second-generation Americans had median household income $20,000 higher than natives in 2019.
- Immigrants filled 74% of farming jobs and 50% of construction jobs in 2022.
- The average fiscal cost of one immigrant is -$8,776 over lifetime at state/local level.
- In 2022, 26% of entrepreneurs were immigrants.
- Immigrants boosted U.S. GDP by 25% since 1965.
- DACA recipients contributed $41.5 billion to GDP in 2023.
Economic and Fiscal Impacts Interpretation
While the political debate often frames immigration as a cost, the numbers tell a far richer story of a nation being fundamentally built, taxed, cured, and innovated by newcomers who are net fiscal contributors, entrepreneurial engines, and the essential labor in fields from farms to Fortune 500 boardrooms.
Immigrant Population and Demographics
- As of 2022, the U.S. foreign-born population numbered 46.1 million people, accounting for 13.9% of the total U.S. population, up from 31.1 million (10.1%) in 2000.
- In 2022, Mexico remained the top origin country for U.S. immigrants with 10.6 million foreign-born individuals, followed by India (2.8 million) and China (2.5 million).
- Among U.S. immigrants in 2022, 45% were naturalized citizens, 27% were lawful permanent residents, 23% were unauthorized, and 4% held temporary visas.
- The median age of foreign-born individuals in the U.S. was 47 years in 2022, compared to 37 years for U.S.-born individuals.
- In 2022, 77% of U.S. immigrants aged 25 and older had at least a high school diploma, while 34% held a bachelor's degree or higher.
- Asian immigrants made up 28% of the U.S. foreign-born population in 2022, surpassing Hispanic immigrants at 46%.
- In fiscal year 2022, California hosted 10.6 million immigrants, the highest of any state, representing 27% of its population.
- As of 2021, immigrants accounted for 18.8% of the U.S. civilian labor force aged 16 and older.
- In 2019, 44.7% of immigrants were in the U.S. for 15 years or longer, 26.5% for 10-14 years, and 28.8% for less than 10 years.
- The U.S. foreign-born population grew from 14% in 1980 to 15% in 2020, with projections to reach 18% by 2060.
- In 2020, 45 million people in the U.S. were foreign-born, with 50% from Latin America and 29% from Asia.
- Foreign-born Hispanics numbered 22 million in 2020, comprising 49% of the foreign-born population.
- In 2022, 26% of U.S. children under 18 had at least one immigrant parent.
- The foreign-born share of the U.S. population is 14% as of 2022, higher than the 5% in 1965 but below the 14.8% peak in 1890.
- In 2022, 18 million U.S.-born individuals had at least one immigrant parent.
- Immigrants from South Asia increased from 1% of the foreign-born population in 1980 to 13% in 2022.
- In 2021, New York state had 4.5 million immigrants, 23% of its population.
- U.S. immigrant women aged 15-50 had a fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman in 2022, compared to 1.6 for U.S.-born women.
- In 2020, 20.7% of the U.S. population aged 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home.
- Foreign-born Black immigrants numbered 2.2 million in 2022, 5% of the total foreign-born population.
Immigrant Population and Demographics Interpretation
America’s story continues to be written with an international pen, as its foreign-born population—now over 46 million and counting—brings seasoned experience, higher educational attainment, and youthful families, all while settling in for the long haul and reshaping the nation’s cultural and economic landscape from the ground up.
Immigration Enforcement and Border Security
- In FY 2023, U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 2.06 million migrants at the southwest border.
- Nationwide ICE removals totaled 142,580 in FY 2023, with 67% criminal convictions or charges.
- CBP encountered 2.48 million migrants at the southwest border in FY 2023.
- In FY 2023, ICE detained 680,000 individuals at 287 facilities.
- Southwest border USBP apprehensions were 1.67 million in FY 2023 between ports of entry.
- FY 2022 saw 2.38 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- ICE deported 72,000 individuals to 192 countries in FY 2023.
- In FY 2023, 170,000 unaccompanied children were encountered at the southwest border.
- CBP Office of Field Operations inadmissible encounters totaled 615,000 in FY 2023.
- ICE Alternatives to Detention enrolled 271,000 individuals in FY 2023.
- In FY 2023, 740,000 family unit encounters occurred at the southwest border.
- EOIR immigration courts received 3.7 million pending cases in FY 2023.
- FY 2022 border wall construction added 458 miles of barriers.
- ICE fugitive operations arrested 34,000 individuals in FY 2023.
- In FY 2023, 97% of ICE removals were of individuals with criminal convictions or pending charges.
- CBP seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border in FY 2023.
- FY 2023 saw 1.35 million Title 8 expulsions under Title 42.
- ICE ERO conducted 423,000 at-large arrests in FY 2023.
- Asylum seekers at credible fear interviews numbered 562,000 in FY 2023.
- In FY 2022, 59,000 individuals were removed via expedited processes.
Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Interpretation
Behind the staggering millions of encounters lies an overburdened system where the focus tilts from mass detention to targeted removal, all while the court backlog stretches into a horizon of its own making.
Legal Immigration Statistics
- In fiscal year 2023, USCIS approved 1,085,011 petitions for immigrant visas, including family-sponsored and employment-based categories.
- In FY 2022, 590,000 lawful permanent residents were admitted to the U.S., with 42% family-sponsored immediate relatives.
- Employment-based green cards totaled 165,000 in FY 2022, including 107,000 for spouses and children of principal beneficiaries.
- In FY 2023, 879,177 individuals were granted lawful permanent resident status, a 49% increase from FY 2022.
- Family-sponsored preferences accounted for 226,000 green cards in FY 2022, down from 227,000 in FY 2021.
- In FY 2022, 1.1 million people applied for naturalization, with 969,000 approved.
- Diversity Visa Program issued 54,850 visas in FY 2022 to natives of low-immigration countries.
- In FY 2023, H-1B visas were approved for 386,000 initial and continuing employment.
- Refugee admissions totaled 25,500 in FY 2022, primarily from Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria.
- In FY 2022, 60,000 refugees adjusted to lawful permanent resident status.
- Asylees granted status numbered 35,720 in FY 2022, with 21,000 affirmative and 14,700 defensive.
- In FY 2023, USCIS received 8.8 million Form I-765 applications for work authorization.
- Family-sponsored immediate relatives received 454,000 green cards in FY 2023.
- EB-2 visas for advanced degrees totaled 48,500 in FY 2022.
- In FY 2022, 116,000 green cards went to spouses of U.S. citizens.
- Naturalizations reached 878,500 in FY 2023, highest since 2008.
- In FY 2022, L-1 intracompany transferee visas numbered 84,000 approvals.
- FY 2023 saw 1.04 million I-130 petitions approved for family-based immigration.
- In FY 2022, 11% of green cards were employment-based, compared to 65% family-sponsored.
Legal Immigration Statistics Interpretation
Despite our cultural myths of bootstrapping and lone genius, America's front door still swings open widest for family, with employment and humanitarian concerns forming a polite but persistent line behind them.
Unauthorized Immigration
- The unauthorized immigrant population was estimated at 11.0 million in 2022, down from 12.2 million in 2007.
- In 2022, 4.0 million unauthorized immigrants lived in California, the highest of any state.
- Mexico accounted for 46% of the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population in 2022, totaling 5.1 million.
- From 2017 to 2021, the unauthorized population from Central America rose by 1 million to 3 million.
- In 2022, 66% of unauthorized immigrants had lived in the U.S. for 10+ years.
- DHS estimated 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in 2018, including 1.9 million DACA-eligible.
- Unauthorized immigrants comprised 4.6% of the U.S. workforce in 2022.
- In 2022, 3.5 million unauthorized immigrant adults lived with 2.6 million U.S.-born children.
- Texas hosted 1.6 million unauthorized immigrants in 2022, 14% of its state population.
- From 2007 to 2022, the unauthorized population declined 10%, while total foreign-born grew 20%.
- In 2017, 42% of unauthorized immigrants were homeowners.
- Unauthorized immigrants from Asia numbered 1.7 million in 2022, 16% of the total.
- Florida had 1.2 million unauthorized immigrants in 2022.
- 21% of unauthorized immigrants arrived before 2000 as of 2022.
- New York state had 650,000 unauthorized immigrants in 2022.
Unauthorized Immigration Interpretation
Behind the divisive politics, the data paints a picture of a deeply rooted population—a community of millions who, over decades, have built homes, raised families, and become an integral yet precarious part of the American fabric, all while the political system remains paralyzed.
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