Voting and Demographics
The growth in the immigrant population has helped to strengthen and remake America over the last two decades. Today, as thousands of baby boomers retire each day, working-age immigrants are filling gaps in the labor market, paying billions of dollars in taxes that help our entitlement programs survive, and buying homes in communities that would otherwise be in decline. Millions of immigrants have also earned U.S. citizenship and the right to vote while millions more are estimated to be eligible to naturalize.
Indian-Born Pro Baseball GM Gives Back to California Community
Raj Narayanan has a job that most American-born citizens could only dream of – general manager of the minor league baseball team the Lake Elsinore Storm in southern California. Yet Narayanan did not grow up trading baseball cards. He immigrated to the United States from India with his parents and… Read More
The Foreign-Born in Des Moines
New American Economy has developed a series of research briefs that examine the demographic and economic contributions of immigrant communities in counties and cities across the United States. The latest report in the series focuses on Des Moines. The brief shows that 48,760 immigrant residents in Des Moines–who account for roughly… Read More
New Americans in Houston
The Partnership for a New American Economy has developed a series of research briefs that examine the demographic and economic contributions of immigrant communities in counties and cities across the United States. The latest report in the series focuses on Houston, Texas. The brief shows that Houston’s 1.3 million… Read More
Border-Town Mayor: ‘We’re The Safest City in the State of Texas’
McAllen, Texas, a city of 130,000 people on the Mexican border, is one of the safest communities in the state. But Jim Darling, McAllen’s mayor, often struggles to convince others of this fact. The reason, of course, is McAllen’s large immigrant population. “We’re trying to recruit retail and businesses… Read More
Editorial: Immigration reform needed
Yes, Wisconsin needs immigrants — and the nation needs immigration reform. Current policies and proposals to reduce immigration or deport undocumented workers fly in the face of what the nation needs to maintain a healthy economy. That’s especially true in places like rural Wisconsin, as a coalition of Wisconsin business… Read More
Help Wanted: Immigration Policy Reform
Wisconsin is home to roughly 71,000 undocumented immigrants. These individuals are far more likely than the native-born population to be in the prime of their working years. Saying that essential jobs in Wisconsin’s economy can’t be filled without foreign workers, a coalition of Wisconsin business and civic leaders on Wednesday launched a… Read More
To Avoid Labor Shortage, Economic Expert Recommends Immigration Reform
As president and CEO of economic research and analysis firm The Perryman Group, Dr. Ray Perryman has spent the past 40 years researching what makes the American economy tick. And one thing our economy depends upon is immigration. “The numbers are overwhelming,” Perryman says of the nation’s need for immigrants,… Read More
After Receiving Legal Status, Child Immigrant Strives to Give Back
Arcela Nunez-Alvarez was just 12 years old when she left Mexico with her mother and sisters to move to the northern San Diego suburb of San Marcos in the early 1980s. Yet her immigration experience was vastly different than those of undocumented arrivals today. A beneficiary of former President Ronald… Read More
Patricia Serrano’s Son Just Graduated from Williams College, But She Couldn’t Attend the Ceremony
As an undocumented immigrant who came to southern California from Mexico 22 years ago, Patricia Serrano has achieved part of the American dream: She raised a son who recently graduated from prestigious Williams College in western Massachusetts. However, she could not fly cross-country to see him receive his diploma, because… Read More
Immigrant Contributions to Pittsburgh Region Advance the Economy
CONTACT Sarah Roy, New American Economy, [email protected] Pittsburgh, PA – Today, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto and Allgheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced new research from New American Economy showing that the 82,308 foreign-born residents of the region have a significant impact on southwestern Pennsylvania’s economy through high rates… Read More
Immigrant Population Growth
Both the number and the share of immigrants in America are increasing, with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting that between 2027 and 2038 international migration will be the primary driver of U.S. population growth for the first time in two centuries.1 The trend is already underway. Between 1990 and 2014, the number of immigrants living in America more than doubled. By 2014, more than one in eight Americans were foreign-born. Immigrants play a particularly important role in California, where they make up more than one out of every four residents.
Sources:
1 U.S. Census Bureau, “International Migration is Projected to Become Primary Driver of U.S. Population Growth for First Time in Nearly Two Centuries,” press release (2013), accessed July 30, 2014. Available online.
Share of Population, Foreign-Born
Mitigating Baby Boomer Retirement
The ratio of seniors to working-age adults in America has remained relatively constant since 1980, at about 240 seniors for every 1,000 workers. With the Baby Boomers’ retirement, however, the ratio is poised to jump a stunning 67 percent in the next two decades, to 411 seniors for every 1,000 workers.2 Already, less than half the U.S.-born population is working-age, or between the ages of 25 and 64. Meanwhile, almost three-quarters of the foreign-born population fall into that age bracket, allowing them to make important contributions to both the labor force and U.S. tax coffers.
Sources:
2 Dowell Myers, “Immigrants’ Contributions in an Aging America,” Community Banking, no. Sum (2008): 3–5.
Age Breakdown of Select Populations, 2014
States with the Largest Gap Between Share of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Populations that are Working-Aged, 2014
Housing and Entitlement Contributions
Because immigrants are far more likely to be working-age, they play an important role contributing to the entitlement programs that help seniors as they age. One NAE study found that between 1996 and 2011 immigrants contributed $182.4 billion more to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund—the core trust fund in the program—than was expended on their care. Immigrants also have made up roughly one in seven homebuyers in recent years, often purchasing the homes of Baby Boomers as they retire.
Amount Immigrants Contributed to Entitlement Programs, 2014
States where Immigrants Made up the Largest Share of Homebuyers, 2010-2014
Fueling Growth in New Destination States
Before 1990, nearly three-quarters of immigrants lived in one of six gateway states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.3 By 2010, those states’ share had started to drop significantly, to 65 percent, as immigrants increasingly began settling in new-destination states, such as Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Washington. As immigrants move into new states, they help offset brain drain and population decline, often filling positions that would have remained vacant otherwise. The more than 10,000 immigrants that moved to North Dakota between 2010 and 2014, for instance, helped fill labor gaps created when locals took well-paid jobs during the shale oil boom.4
Sources:
3 The Pew Charitable Trusts, “U.S. Immigration: National and State Trends and Actions” (November 2013). Available online.
4 Jack Nicas, “North Dakota City Draws Foreign Workers,” Wall Street Journal, 2012, sec. Business. Available online.
States with Largest Percent Increase in Number of Immigrants, 2010-2014
Voting Power and Citizenship
As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they will continue to gain power at the voting booth. Nationally, almost 20 million foreign-born citizens were eligible to vote in the 2016 election. By 2020, that figure is projected to rise to 21.2 million. In some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections. In Nevada, for instance, almost 256,000 immigrants were eligible to vote in 2016, a number more than nine times higher than Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory in the state that year.
Eligible Immigrant Voters Versus Number of Votes that Decided Presidential Result in Key States, 2016
Immigrants Eligible to Naturalize in Selected States and the United States, 2017
Diversifying the Electorate
Although the white working class played a significant role in the 2016 election, demographic trends mean they will see their influence decline in future electoral contests. While only 11.2 percent of the current U.S. senior population identifies as Hispanic or Asian-American, 27.8 percent of those graduating from high school in the next decade do.5 This means that between 2015 and 2024, the share of the electorate that is white is projected to decline by 4.4 percent. The share that will be both white and working class will see even steeper declines, falling by 5.5 percent. Given this reality, politicians hoping to remain competitive in key states in the future will need to ensure that they do not ignore the needs of Hispanic and Asian voters, many of whom are immigrants.
Sources:
5 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.
Projected Decline in the Share of Electorate that is White Working Class in Key States, 2015-2024
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