The United States is home to more immigrants than any other country in the world. As of 2023, more than 47 million people living in the United States were foreign born—including naturalized citizens, legal permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders), and holders of temporary visas such as international students or workers.
Immigrants are a vital part of American society, making significant contributions as workers, business owners, and taxpayers. In addition, they enrich America’s culture with distinct traditions, cuisines, and innovations in the arts and sciences.
Over the course of their lives in the United States, most immigrants have a number of experiences that shape their sense of what it means to be American. Some of those experiences involve their ties to the cultures that they came from, the way that they interact with and contribute to American culture, as well as their own perceptions about how things in the United States should work.
As the report highlights, the experience of immigration in the United States is complex and reflects both historical patterns as well as current policies and politics. To ensure that the full range of experiences are represented, the report examines data by a variety of categories including: immigration status, age, race and ethnicity, level of education, English proficiency, and other factors.
This report is based on Census Bureau data from the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2000 decennial census, as well as additional administrative and other data sources. Census data by race and ethnicity reflect self-reports of individuals, whereas data on national origin are based on the country of birth.
More than half of the immigrants living in the United States today were born outside the United States and hold a wide array of educational qualifications, with nearly half holding a college degree. They fill important roles in healthcare, STEM fields, entrepreneurship, and many other sectors of the economy and make substantial contributions to our communities. They have lower crime, incarceration, and arrest rates than the native-born population and there is no evidence that they pose a threat to public safety or national security.
The difference between a migrant and an immigrant is not always clear in public discourse. In general, migrants leave their home country to move to another place for a short period of time for economic reasons. Those who cross an international border to seek asylum are generally considered refugees, as they have a well-founded fear of persecution if they return to their homes.
In the past, when the nation had more restrictive immigration policies, immigrants tended to live in ethnic enclaves while they were integrating into American society. As the nation opened up to greater immigration in 1965, this pattern shifted, with more recent immigrants beginning their new lives in diverse neighborhoods across the country. This residential integration mirrors patterns that have been observed throughout the history of American migration. This trend is expected to continue as the nation continues to open up to more immigrants and as policies and practices are adjusted to reflect this reality.