Top 10 Countries That Most US Immigrants Come From
Top 10 Countries That Most US Immigrants Come From
Table of Contents

Today, more than 40 million people in the United States were born in another nation, accounting for roughly one-fifth of all global migrants. The immigrant population is likewise extraordinarily diverse, with people from nearly every country on the planet living in the United States.

How many individuals in the United States are immigrants?

In 2018, the foreign-born population in the United States reached a record high of 44.8 million. Since 1965, when US immigration rules replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants in the United States has more than doubled. Immigrants now account for 13.7% of the US population, nearly double their percentage (4.8%) in 1970. However, today's immigrant proportion remains lower than the record 14.8% share in 1890, when 9.2 million immigrants resided in the United States.

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One in every seven residents in the United States is an immigrant, and one in every eight is a native-born citizen with at least one immigrant parent.

In 2019, 44.9 million immigrants (foreign-born individuals) made about 14% of the national population.

The United States had 22.0 million women, 20.4 million men, and 2.5 million immigrant children.

In 2019, 38.3 million persons in the United States (12 percent of the population) were native-born citizens with at least one immigrant parent.

Why do people immigrate to the United States?

The United States is a country founded and developed by immigrants from all over the world. As a result, it has the highest immigration rate of any country.

As of 2021, more than 45.3 million persons in the United States were foreign-born, accounting for around one-fifth of global migrants. While some come to reconcile with family, others seek employment or flee unsafe situations.

So, why do individuals immigrate to the United States? This picture depicts the many reasons given by new entrants to America in 2021, based on data from the United States Department of State compiled by USAFacts.

What is immigrants' legal status in the United States?

Unauthorized immigrants account for over 25% of the foreign-born population in the United States.

According to recent Pew Research Center estimates based on census data adjusted for undercount, the majority of immigrants (77%) are legal residents, while about a quarter are undocumented. In 2017, 45% became naturalized US citizens.

In 2017, 27% of immigrants were permanent residents, while 5% were temporary. Another 23% of total immigrants were undocumented. From 1990 to 2007, the undocumented immigrant population more than tripled, rising from 3.5 million to a record 12.2 million in 2007. By 2017, the number had decreased by 1.7 million, or 14%. In 2017, the United States had 10.5 million undocumented immigrants, accounting for 3.2% of the total population.

The decline in the unauthorized immigrant population is mostly due to a decrease in the number of Mexicans, the single largest group of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Between 2007 and 2017, this group declined by 2 million. Meanwhile, there was an increase in the number of Central Americans and Asians.

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Where do immigrants in the United States originate from?

Mexico, China, and India are among the leading birthplaces for immigrants in the United States.

Mexico is the most common nation of origin for immigrants in the United States. In 2018, around 11.2 million immigrants living in the United States were from that country, accounting for 25% of all immigrants. The next largest origin groups were Chinese (6%), Indian (6%), Filipinos (4%), and Salvadorans (3%).

Immigrants from Asia accounted for 28% of all immigrants, nearly equaling the share of Mexican immigrants (25%). Other regions with lower shares include Europe, Canada, and other North America (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East and North Africa (4%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (5%).

The most common countries of origin for immigrants in the United States

1.Mexico

10.7M immigrants

2.India

2.71M

3.China

2.38M

4.Philippines

1.98M

5.El Salvador

1.42M

6.Vietnam

1.34M

7.Cuba

1.28M

8.Dominican Republic

1.26M

9.Guatemala

1.11M

10.Korea

1.01M

How many immigrants came to the United States as refugees?

In 2019, more than half of U.S. refugees came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burma.

Since the beginning of the federal Refugee Resettlement Program in 1980, the United States has relocated around 3 million refugees, more than any other country.

In fiscal 2019, approximately 30,000 refugees were resettled in the United States. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the largest source of refugees, followed by Burma (Myanmar), Ukraine, Eritrea, and Afghanistan. In fiscal year 2019, 4,900 refugees were Muslims (16%), whereas 23,800 were Christians (79%). Texas, Washington, New York, and California resettled more than one-quarter of all refugees admitted in fiscal 2018.

What do US immigrants do for a living?

In 2019, 28.5 million foreign workers made up 17% of the U.S. labor force. • The industries with the most immigrant workers included:

Industry

Number of Immigrant Workers

Health Care and Social Assistance

4,174,133

Manufacturing

3,387,894

Accommodation and Food Services

2,970,435

Construction

2,948,808

Retail Trade

2,886,515

Source: Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

Where do the majority of U.S. immigrants live?

Nearly half (45%) of the country's immigrants reside in only three states: California (24%), Texas (11%), and Florida (10%). California had the biggest immigrant population of any state in 2018, with 10.6 million. Texas, Florida, and New York each had more than four million immigrants.

In terms of region, over two-thirds of immigrants lived in the West (34%) and the South (34%). Approximately one-fifth (21%) lived in the Northeast, with 11% in the Midwest.

In 2018, the majority of immigrants lived in only 20 major metropolitan regions, with the biggest populations in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. These top 20 metropolitan regions housed 28.7 million immigrants, or 64% of the country's total foreign-born population. These top metropolitan regions also housed the majority of the country's undocumented immigration population.

Conclusion

Mexicans are the largest group of immigrants living in the United States. The Migration Policy Institute, a neutral organization, says this has been true since 1980. And the route from Mexico to the United States is the world's largest migration corridor.

However, the total number of Mexican immigrants living in the United States has been declining for more than a decade.

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