Washington, D.C. (September 13, 2022) — A Center for Immigration Studies review of reports released today by the Census Bureau show a dramatic rebound in the nation’s foreign-born or immigrant population (legal and illegal together) to 46.8 million, as of March of this year — up two million since last year. The dramatic growth in the number reflects, at least in part, the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.
The new health insurance, poverty, and income reports are not primarily focused on immigration, but they include information on the size of the foreign-born population and some limited socio-economic information on them. The reports are based on the Current Population Survey’s 2022 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), collected in March. (The "immigrants" or the “foreign-born" include all persons who were not U.S. citizens at birth: naturalized citizens, legal permanent residents, long-term temporary visitors, and illegal immigrants.)
A series of reports by the Center for Immigration Studies in recent months have examined growth in the foreign-born based on the monthly CPS without the annual supplement. The new information from the CPS ASEC includes the supplement, which oversamples minorities and should provide a somewhat more accurate count of the foreign-born.
“The falloff in the size of the foreign-born population during Covid was clearly just a blip,” said Steven Camarota, the Center’s director of research. He added, “Much of the dramatic growth we are seeing almost certainly reflects the ongoing border crisis and the enormous numbers of new illegal immigrants settling in the country.”
Among the information released today:
- The CPS ASEC found that the nation’s foreign-born population (legal and illegal together) reached 46.8 million in March 2022 — the highest number this survey has ever shown. (Table A-1 in the health insurance report)
- The 46.8 million in March 2022 represents a two million increase over the CPS ASEC collected last year. (Table A-1 in the health insurance report)
- Long-term, the growth in the foreign-born population has been extraordinary, doubling since 1990, tripling since 1980, and quintupling since 1970.
- The foreign-born now account for 14.3 percent of the population, or one in seven U.S. residents. (Table A-1 in the health insurance report) As recently as 1990, they were one in 13 U.S. residents.
- The foreign-born share of the U.S. population is approaching the record highs reached in 1910 (14.7 percent) and 1890 (14.8 percent).
- Later this week (Thursday), the Census Bureau will release data from the American Community Survey (ACS), which will likely show a smaller foreign-born population, in part because it only reflects the population through July of last year, and so will not fully reflect the ongoing border surge.
- In terms of health insurance coverage, the new reports show that 19.5 percent of the foreign-born did not have insurance in 2021, compared to 6.4 percent of the native-born. (Table A-1 in the health insurance report)
- The foreign-born were about 33.7 percent of all persons in the United States without health insurance compared to their 14.3 percent of the total population. (Table A-1 in the health insurance report)
- The median income for households with a foreign-born “householder” (head) was $66,043 before taxes and $64,081 after taxes — indicating a median household tax contribution of $1,962. Taxes include federal and state income tax and payroll taxes (FICA). (Table C-2 in the income report)
- The median income of households with a native-born householder (head) was $71,522 before tax and 65,630 after taxes — indicating a median tax contribution of $5,892. (Table C-2 in the income report)
- The poverty rate for the foreign-born was 14.6 percent compared to 11 percent for the native-born. Because the nearly 17 million U.S.-born (<18) children of the foreign-born are included with the native-born, the new poverty figures tend to understate the poverty rate of foreign-born families. (Table A-1 in the poverty report)
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