Immigration

FAQ Immigrants and the economy

Immigration is among the most important economic and political issues and a main topic of discourse and debate among policymakers and the public. But misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this crucial topic, such as:

  • the size and composition of the immigrant population
  • the effects of immigration on the economy and workforce
  • the difference between permanent immigration pathways that lead to green cards versus temporary and precarious immigration statuses
  • various other facets of the U.S. employment-based migration system
  • policy options for reform

This document provides essential background and facts, as well as answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, including relevant data, charts, and extensive citations to key sources.

How many immigrants live in the U.S.?

There were 47.8 million migrants and immigrants who resided in the United States as of 2023 (see Figure A), which includes all foreign-born persons of any immigration status and those who lack a status.

What is immigration status? What are the different immigration statuses, and how many people are in each status?

Foreign-born persons in the United States generally fall into four major categories in terms of immigration status. Two of the statuses provide nearly full and equal rights to foreign-born persons on par with U.S.-born citizens, one is temporary, and the last one is the absence of a status:

  • lawful permanent residence (commonly referred to as having a “green card”)
  • citizenship (meaning they have become naturalized U.S. citizens after having a green card)
  • temporary lawful status (known as a “nonimmigrant” status because they are residing in the United States with a nonimmigrant visa, which only provides a temporary status)
  • the lack of a lawful immigration status (often referred to as being in an undocumented, unauthorized, or irregular status)

What is the makeup of the U.S. immigrant population in terms of race and ethnicity?

The U.S. foreign-born population is not a monolith in terms of race and ethnicity. Most immigrants (78.1%) self-identified as being of a single race, while 21.9% of immigrants identified as being multiracial with two or more races in 2023.7

How much do immigrants contribute to the economy?

For the United States as a whole, immigrants’ share of total output was 18.0% in 2023 (see Table 1) or $2.1 trillion in 2024 dollars. This means that the contribution of immigrants to economic output is larger than their share of the total population, as immigrants made up 14.3% of the total U.S. population in the same year.

How many immigrants work in the United States?

The size of the immigrant workforce in the United States has steadily increased over the last three decades. As Figure A shows, immigrants comprised 19.2% of the total labor force in 2024, up from 9.8% in 1994, according to the Current Population Survey. 

How much workforce growth has been attributable to immigration?

Immigration is an important source of growth in the size of the U.S. workforce, particularly because overall U.S. population growth has been slowing. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau recently estimated that if there were no future immigration, the overall U.S. population would begin to shrink in absolute terms.13 

What are the education and wage levels of immigrants?

The commonly held belief that most immigrants work in low-wage jobs is inaccurate. As depicted in Figure A, the Immigration Research Initiative found that among persons who work full-time and year-round, immigrants are just as likely as U.S.-born workers to have higher-wage jobs that pay more than twice the median earnings level (both are at 17%). They also found that 65% of immigrant workers who work full-time and year-round earn at least two-thirds of median earnings.

What are the top occupations for immigrants?

In 2024, immigrants made up about 19.1% percent of U.S. employment, and many are disproportionately concentrated within a select number of occupations. Table 1 shows the top-10 major occupation groups with the highest shares of immigrants. 

How do immigrants affect the economy?

Immigration expands the economy and does not lead to higher jobless rates among U.S.-born jobseekers. The year 2023 was a prime example of this. While the United States likely saw higher-than-usual levels of new immigrant arrivals, the unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers hit a record low, while the share of prime-age U.S.-born individuals with a job and the prime-age labor force participation rate for U.S.-born individuals hit its highest rate in more than two decades.18 

Do immigrant workers affect wages for U.S. workers?

The most rigorous work on the effect of immigration on wages finds extremely modest effects for native-born workers, including those with low levels of education. A review by Giovanni Peri of more than 270 estimates from 27 published studies found that the average effect of immigration on native-born wages is essentially zero.19 

Immigration policy often favors employers over workers and needs to be reformed

To the extent that there are challenges with respect to the nexus of immigration and wages, it is not related to the scale of immigration flows, nor to the characteristics of immigrants, but instead from employers who take advantage of migrant and immigrant workers who lack an immigration status or only have a temporary or precarious status. One need look no further than the landmark study and survey of 4,300 workers in three major cities that found that unauthorized immigrants were more than twice as likely to be victims of wage theft for minimum wage violations than U.S.-born citizens (37.1% to 15.6%).28 Further, the study found that an astounding 84.9% of unauthorized immigrants were not paid the overtime wages they worked for and were legally entitled to.