Washington, D.C. (September 12, 2024) – The Census Bureau released today the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), revealing a foreign-born or immigrant population (both legal and illegal) of 47.83 million in July of 2023 -- an increase of 1.65 million compared to the 2022 ACS results. The foreign-born population size, along with the year-over-year growth, marks the largest the survey has ever recorded. At 14.3 percent of the total U.S. population, the share sets a new record for the survey.
The bureau also released on Tuesday, September 10, the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey (ASEC CPS), which shows a foreign-born population of 51.26 million as of March of 2024 -- an increase of 2.48 million over March 2023. The ASEC CPS shows the foreign-born were 15.5 percent of the total U.S. population. As with the ACS, the total size, single-year increase, and share of the U.S. population that is foreign- born in the 2024 ASEC CPS are all new record highs for the survey.
(The likely reasons for the differing numbers are differing methodologies as well as the fact that the ASEC CPS is more recent, reporting March 2024 numbers, rather than the ACS's July 2023.)
The Census Bureau is clear that illegal immigrants are included in their survey data. While these results are record-setting, they may still significantly understate the scale of immigration to the United States, particularly in the ACS. For more discussion of the data see the Center’s blog post on the new numbers.
“No matter which survey one looks at, the new data shows that the foreign-born population is growing at an unprecedented pace”, said Steven Camarota, the Center’s Director of Research.
Other interesting findings:
- Immigrants from Latin America account for 76 percent, or 1.25 million, of the increase in the foreign-born from July 2022 to July 2023 in the ACS. Of the 2.48 million increase in the foreign-born from March 2023 to March 2024 in the ASEC CPS, 97 percent, or 2.41 million, is due to immigrants from Latin America.
- The rapid increase in Latin Americans in the two surveys reflects the large increase in illegal immigrants in the data. We have previously estimated that some 58 percent of the increase in Census Bureau data is from illegal immigration.
- The dramatic increase in the foreign-born is all the more striking because there are about 280,000 deaths per year among the existing foreign-born, and emigration is estimated to be 500,000 per year at a minimum. Yet, the total foreign-born is still growing at an unprecedented pace.
- Net migration of the foreign-born – the difference between the number coming versus leaving each year – equals growth in the foreign-born plus annual deaths. The numbers from the ACS imply net migration of roughly 1.9 million from mid-2022 to mid-2023, while the ASEC CPS implies net migration of roughly 2.8 million from March 2023 to 2024.
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