Budiman 2020 — Key Findings About U.S. Immigrants

Summary

Pew Research Center fact sheet summarizing key statistics on the U.S. foreign-born population as of 2018–2020. Covers population size and growth since 1965, legal status composition, origin-country distribution, educational attainment, labor force participation, English language proficiency, geographic concentration, and public attitudes toward immigration. Data derive from Pew's statistical portraits using Census / American Community Survey (ACS) data adjusted for unauthorized immigrant undercount.

Key Claims

• U.S. foreign-born population reached a record $44.8$ million in 2018 ($13.7\%$ of population); up from $4.8\%$ in 1970 but still below the $14.8\%$ peak share in 1890 when $9.2$ million immigrants lived in the U.S.
• Legal status (2017): $45\%$ naturalized citizens, $27\%$ permanent residents, $5\%$ temporary residents, $23\%$ unauthorized; $10.5$ million unauthorized immigrants — down from the $12.2$ million peak in 2007 (a $14\%$ decline)
• Unauthorized immigrant decline driven almost entirely by drop in Mexican unauthorized immigration ($-2$ million since 2007); Central American and Asian unauthorized populations grew over the same period
• Top origin country (2018): Mexico ($25\%$ of all immigrants); next: China ($6\%$), India ($6\%$), Philippines ($4\%$), El Salvador ($3\%$); by region, Asia ($28\%$) nearly matches Mexico ($25\%$)
• New arrivals shifting toward Asia: top source countries in 2018 are China ($149$K), India ($129$K), Mexico ($120$K); Asians projected to surpass Hispanics as the largest immigrant group by 2055 ($38\%$ vs $31\%$ by 2065)
• Education bimodality: immigrants $3\times$ more likely than U.S.-born to lack high school (HS) diploma ($27\%$ vs $8\%$); bachelor's+ rate nearly equal ($32\%$ vs $33\%$); South Asian immigrants far exceed U.S.-born; Mexican ($7\%$) and Central American ($11\%$) immigrants far below
• Labor force: $29$ million immigrant workers $= 17\%$ of civilian labor force; unauthorized workers $= 4.6\%$ of civilian workforce, declining from $5.4\%$ peak in 2007
• Geographic concentration: $45\%$ in just three states — CA ($24\%$), TX ($11\%$), FL ($10\%$); $64\%$ of all immigrants live in top 20 metro areas
• English proficiency: $53\%$ proficient (speak English very well or English-only); proficiency rises sharply with years in U.S. ($47\%$ at $\leq 5$ years → $57\%$ at $20+$ years)
• Immigrants + descendants projected to account for $88\%$ of all U.S. population growth through 2065; immigrant birth rate higher than U.S.-born ($7.5\%$ vs $5.7\%$ of women giving birth in 2018)
• Public opinion: $66\%$ of Americans say immigrants strengthen the country; sharply polarized by party ($88\%$ Democrats vs $41\%$ Republicans)

Concepts Introduced or Extended

• U.S. Immigration Demographics — baseline population facts: scale, growth, legal composition, origin shifts, future trajectory
• Cultural Assimilation — English proficiency rises with years in U.S.; naturalization rate varies by origin group (Mexican lawful immigrants have the lowest rate)

Entities Mentioned

• Abby Budiman

My Take

A useful baseline reference for demographic facts about the U.S. immigrant population, drawing on Pew's rigorous statistical portraits. The key empirical contributions are (1) the legal status decomposition — correcting the common conflation of "immigrant" with "unauthorized" (only $23\%$); (2) the origin-country shift from Latin America toward Asia among new arrivals; and (3) the education bimodality that the aggregate "immigrants = less educated" framing misses. As a fact sheet rather than a research paper, it has no identification strategy and is suitable for calibrating models rather than making causal claims.