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The Demographics of US Immigration: By the Numbers Nationwide

Dr. Caroline Brettell | Published on 1/31/2025

The Demographics of US Immigration: By the Numbers Nationwide

Total Numbers

The US is home to roughly 1/5 of the world’s international migrants
In 2023 there were 47.8 million foreign born in the US. This represented an increase of 1.6 million from the previous year and is the largest annual increase since 2000
Immigrants today comprise 14.3% of the US population. They were 4.7% in 1970. The immigrant share of the population is the highest since 1910 but lower than the share in 1890 of 14.8%.

Places of Origin

The top country of birth for US immigrants is Mexico with approximately 10.6 million in 2022—this represents 23% of all immigrants.
The next largest origin groups were immigrants from India(6%), China (5%), the Philippines (4%) and El Salvador (3%). Asians accounted for 28% of all immigrants; Latin Americans (excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Central and South America) 27%; Europeans, Canadians and other North Americans (12%); sub-Saharan Africans (5%); and Middle East/North Africa 4%).
Until 2007, more Hispanics than Asians arrived in the U.S. each year. From 2009 to 2018, the opposite was true; but beginning in 2019, immigration from Latin America – much of it unauthorized – has reversed the pattern again. More Hispanics than Asians have come each year.

Immigration Status

The majority of immigrants (77%) are in the United States legally. In 2022:
- 49% were naturalized U.S. citizens.
- 24% were lawful permanent residents.
- 4% were legal temporary residents.
- 23% were unauthorized immigrants (around 11 million in 2022; record high was 12.2 million in 2007)
While Mexicans comprise the largest number (1/3) of unauthorized immigrants, the number has declined from 2007 (7 million and 57% of all unauthorized immigrants). This drop has been offset by growth in the number of unauthorized immigrants from other parts of Latin America as well as Asia.
A growing number of unauthorized immigrants have permission to live and work in the US and are temporarily protected from deportation (numbering 3 million in 2022). These include individuals who are here under TPS—Temporary Protected Status--; those who benefit from DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals); Asylum applicants (1.6 million with applications pending as of mid-2022); or other protections (such as victims of trafficking). See the Immigration Glossary for an explanation of some of these terms.
In fiscal year 2022, close to 1 million lawful immigrants became US citizens through naturalization. Most immigrants eligible for naturalization apply for citizenship, but not all do because of language or other personal barriers, disinterest, or cost.

Where immigrants reside in the United States

As of 2022, the majority of the 46.1 million immigrants residing in the US lived in four states: California (10.4 million or 23% of the national total), Texas (5.2 million or 11%), Florida (4.8 million or 10%) and New York (4.5 million or 10%).
Further, in 2022, 63% of the nation’s foreign-born population (29 million) – lived in just 20 major metropolitan areas. The largest populations were in the New York, Los Angeles and Miami metro areas. Most of the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population (60%) lived in these metro areas as well.
Educational Attainment and Language Proficiency
On average, U.S. immigrants have lower levels of education than the U.S.-born population. In 2022, immigrants ages 25 and older were about three times as likely as the U.S. born to have not completed high school (25% vs. 7%). However, immigrants were as likely as the U.S. born to have a bachelor’s degree or more (35% vs. 36%).

Immigrant educational attainment varies by origin. About half of immigrants from Mexico (51%) had not completed high school, and the same was true for 46% of those from Central America and 21% from the Caribbean. Immigrants from these three regions were also less likely than the U.S. born to have a bachelor’s degree or more.
About half of immigrants ages 5 and older (54%) are proficient English speakers – they either speak English very well (37%) or speak only English at home (17%).
Immigrants from Canada (97%), Oceania (82%), sub-Saharan Africa (76%), Europe (75%) and South Asia (73%) have the highest rates of English proficiency.
Immigrants from Mexico (36%) and Central America (35%) have the lowest proficiency rates.

Refugees and Asylees (see Immigration Glossary for an explanation of these terms)

The number of refugees admitted to the United States each year is set by the President in consultation with Congress
The Biden administration set the ceiling at 125,000 for FY2022, 2023, and 2024; due to Covid, slightly fewer than 25, 500 refugees were resettled in FY 2022; the ceiling is not always reached; in FY 2023 somewhat more than 60,000 refugees were resettled; during the first half of FY 2024 (October 2023 to February 2024), 41,200 refugees entered the United States.
The lowest ceiling (since 1980 when the resettlement program was created) was set by the Trump administration in FY 2021—15,000; it was increased to 62,500 President Biden after he entered office
Recently (FY2023), among the primary source countries for refugees are Syria, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guatemala (totaling 43,500 refugees). An additional 7000 came from Sudan, Venezuela, Ukraine, Somalia and Iraq. These groups comprised 84% of all refugee arrivals for that year.

Source

The Information summarized here is from a report by the Pew Research Institute:

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Further Resources

For Texas profile see