The United States is home to the largest number of immigrants — “a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence” (whether lawfully or unlawfully) — on the planet.
An estimated 50.6 million American residents, or a little more than 15% of the country’s 331.4 million inhabitants, were born abroad.
The immigrant population in the United States is extraordinarily diverse, with immigrants hailing from almost every nation.
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Business Insider identified the country of origin of the largest group of foreign-born residents in each state.
Millions of people are polled annually as part of the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau to learn more about their social, economic, and demographic circumstances.
The Census Bureau combined survey results from 2013 to 2017 to enable the organization’s statisticians to estimate the numbers of individuals who made up the foreign-born populations of each state and the District of Columbia.
Differences exist state-to-state in the proportion of people born outside of the U.S. The national origins of such immigrant populations likewise differ significantly.
Mexico was the most often mentioned birthplace among respondents in 32 states who indicated they were born outside of the U.S. More than 11 million immigrants, or nearly 25% of all immigrants in the U.S., come from Mexico.
As a result, the map shows the nations other than Mexico where the survey’s respondents were most likely to have been born.
For 21 states, including Texas, immigrants from India represented the largest group after those from Mexico. In eight states, Canadian immigrants made up the second-largest group, and in four states, the second-most common country of origin was the Philippines.
Asian immigrants collectively comprised 28% of all immigrants by region of birth in 2018. Other regions contributing smaller percentages of immigrants included the Middle East and North Africa (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (5%), South America (7%), Central America (8%), the Caribbean (10%), and as well as Europe, Canada and other North America (13%).
Each year, more than 1 million immigrants enter the country. In 2018, China accounted for 149,000 of the new immigrants entering the United States, followed by India (129,000), Mexico (120,000), and the Philippines (46,000).
From 2009 to 2020, immigrants of Asian descent outnumbered those of Hispanic descent in terms of race and ethnicity.
By 2055, Asian immigrants are expected to overtake Hispanics as the largest immigrant group in the United States.