U.S. Foreign-Born Population Continues to Diversify

The demographic shifts in the U.S. are directly linked to the U.S. foreign-born population, which continues to diversify. The experiences and values of the foreign-born point to key multicultural trends in the U.S. The data in the American Community Survey (ACS) helps to further identify the United States' diverse population.

According to a new analysis of data about the U.S. foreign-born population from the 2007 American Community Survey (ACS), a higher percentage of people born in India have a bachelor's degree or higher (74%) than people born in any other foreign country. Egypt and Nigeria had rates above 60%. Meanwhile, among the nation’s foreign-born, Somalis and Kenyans living in the United States are the most likely to be newcomers, and Somalis are among the youngest and poorest.

"These new 'selected population profiles' highlight the diversity among the many different foreign-born groups in the United States," said Elizabeth Grieco, chief of the Census Bureau's Immigration Statistics Staff. "This diversity is due in part to the way the various communities were established, whether it be through labor migration, family reunification or refugee flows.”

The new data reveal the diversity among the 38.1 million foreign-born living in the United States in 2007, not only by where they were born, but also by where they live now. For example, about 80% of the nation's population born in China are high school graduates. In the New York metropolitan area, about two-thirds of those born in China are high school graduates, while in the metro area of San Jose, Calif., the figure rises to 93%.

Other findings available for foreign-born populations of 65,000 or more in areas with a total population of 500,000 or more include the following:

Country of Birth

• Mexico tops the country of birth list with more than 11.7 million people. The next highest countries by birth include China (1.9 million), the Philippines (1.7 million), India (1.5 million), El Salvador and Vietnam (both at 1.1 million), and Korea (1 million). Cuba, Canada and the Dominican Republic round out the top 10 countries of birth.

Educational Attainment

• Foreign-born people from several African nations are among the likeliest to have graduated high school, specifically from countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. About 96% or more of the foreign-born age 25 and over from these nations are high school graduates.


• Overall, about 85% of the total U.S. population, 68% of the U.S. foreign-born and 88% of the native-born are high school graduates.


• About 27% of the foreign-born and about 28% of natives have bachelor's degrees.

Household Income

• Among the foreign-born, those from India, Australia, South Africa and the Philippines have the highest median household incomes. The median household income for U.S. residents born in India is $91,195. The foreign-born from Somalia and the Dominican Republic had some of the lowest median household incomes.


• Median household income is $50,740 for the total population, $46,881 for the foreign-born population and $51,249 for the native population.

Age

• Europe is the source of some of the "oldest" foreign-born. U.S. residents born in Hungary (64 years) and Italy (63.1) share the distinction, statistically, of having the oldest median ages. The foreign-born from Greece, Germany and Ireland also have median ages of about 60.


• U.S. residents born in Somalia have the youngest median age (26.8).


• Nationally, the median age for the total U.S. population is 36.7. The total foreign-born population has a median age of 40.2 and the total native population has a median age of 35.8.

Year of Entry

• The foreign-born from Somalia and Kenya are the most likely to have entered the United States in 2000 or later. Nearly 60% are in this category.


• Overall, about 28% of the nation's foreign-born entered in 2000 or later, 29% between 1990 and 1999, and 43% entered the United States before 1990.

Employment and Occupations

• Approximately 81% of the foreign-born age 16 and over from Nigeria and Kenya are in the labor force. Nationally, about 65% of the U.S. population in this age group are in the labor force, compared with about 67% of the foreign-born population and 64% of natives.


• U.S. residents born in India have the highest percentage of civilian-employed people working in management, professional and related occupations (69%). These occupations employ about 36% of the native civilian-employed U.S. population and 27% of the foreign-born.


• The foreign-born from Liberia and Haiti have the highest percentage of civilian-employed people working in service occupations (at 40% and 39% respectively, the differences are not statistically significant). About 16% of natives and 23% of the foreign-born civilian-employed populations are working in service occupations.


• The foreign-born from Jordan (40%) and Bangladesh (36%) are among the most likely to work in sales and office occupations (the differences between the two are not statistically significant). Among natives, 27% work in sales and office occupations, compared with 18% among the foreign-born population.

English Language Ability

• About 97% of the foreign-born population from Mexico and the Dominican Republic aged 5 and over speak a language other than English at home. Those born in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Armenia, Honduras, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ecuador also have high rates of speaking a language other than English.


• People born in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador aged 5 and over are most likely to speak English less than “very well.” More than 70% of the foreign-born population from these countries identified themselves in that category.
• On average, 52% of the foreign-born population, 2% of the native population and 9% of the total U.S. population speak English less than "very well."

Poverty

• Among people for whom poverty status is determined, about 51% of residents born in Somalia are living in poverty. About a quarter of the population born in Iraq, the Dominican Republic, Jordan and Mexico are also living in poverty.


• On the low end of the poverty spectrum for the countries of birth, U.S. residents born in the Netherlands and Ireland each have a poverty rate of about 5%.


• About 13% of both natives and the total U.S. population are living in poverty, while about 16% of the foreign-born are living in poverty.

As the diversity of the U.S. foreign born population grows, it should be noted that according to The Center for Immigration Studies, unemployment among U.S.-born Blacks and Hispanics without a high school degree is 24.7% and 16.2% respectively -- two to three times the national rate.