New research from the American Immigration Council shows that immigrants in Santa Clara County paid over $22.0 billion in taxes and held more than $45.0 billion in spending power in 2021. The new report, New Americans in Santa Clara County, was prepared in partnership with Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations.
The report also features profiles of community members: Michael Chang, Quyen Vuong, Vandana Kumar, and Yosimar Reyes.
Between 2016 and 2021 the population of Santa Clara County decreased by 1.7 percent while the immigrant population grew by 1.1 percent. During this same period, without immigrants moving to the county, the total population would have shrunk by 2.1 percent. In 2021 alone, immigrant households in the county earned $67.3 billion in income and paid $15.4 billion in federal taxes and $6.7 billion in state and local taxes. Despite making up 40.6 percent of the county’s total population in 2021, immigrants represented 67.2 percent of its science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers, 64.0 percent of manufacturing workers, and 56.3 percent of professional service workers.
The report was produced as part of the Council’s and Welcoming America’s Gateways for Growth Challenge, which includes tailored research on the local immigrant population.
For more information, see our press release.
- Immigrants are helping the county meet its labor force demands. In 2021, immigrants made up 40.6 percent of the county’s population but accounted for 49.9 percent of its employed labor force.
- Immigrant households support the federal safety net. Immigrants contributed $5.1 billion to Social Security and $1.8 billion to Medicare in Santa Clara County in 2021.
- Immigrants play a significant role in the county as entrepreneurs. In 2021, immigrants represented 50.3 percent of business owners in Santa Clara County and generated $1.5 billion in business income for the county.
- Immigrants in Santa Clara County help create or preserve local manufacturing jobs. Immigrants strengthened the local job market by allowing companies to keep jobs on U.S. soil, helping preserve or create 35,200 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise been eliminated or moved elsewhere by 2021.
