Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants
and Immigration in the United States
- The U.S. immigrant population stood at more than 42 million, or 13%, of the total U.S. population.
- Immigrants in the United States and their U.S.-born children now number approximately 81 million people, or 26 percent of the overall U.S. population.
- 1.3 million foreign-born individuals moved to the United States in 2014. India was the leading country of origin for new immigrants followed by China and then Mexico.
How many immigrants are naturalized U.S. citizens?
In 2014, around 47 percent of immigrants (20 million) were naturalized U.S. citizens. The remaining 53 percent (22.4 million) included lawful permanent residents, unauthorized immigrants, and legal residents on temporary visas (such as students and temporary workers).
What percentage of the adult foreign-born population is college educated?
In 2014, 29% (10.5 million) of the 36.7 million immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, about the same as native-born adults. Notably, the share of college-educated immigrants is much higher—44 percent—among those who entered the country since 2010. On the other end of the educational spectrum, 30 percent of immigrants lacked a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) certificate versus 10 percent of their native-born counterparts.
In April 2016, the U.S. government was still processing some family-sponsored visa applications dating to September 1992, and was still processing some employment-related visa applications from August 2004. That's a long time to wait! This is what we mean when we say the immigration system is broken.
Source: MPI - Migration Policy Institute. The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. http://www.migrationpolicy.org