25 Percent of Six U.S. States Are Immigrants and their Children

Immigrants and their young children now make up more than 25 percent of the population in six U.S. states, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

As CIS previously analyzed, based on government data, there are more than 61 million immigrants and their American-born children under the age of 18 living in the U.S.

In a series of interactive maps released Monday, CIS experts Steven Camarota and Bryan Griffith break down the percentage of immigrants and their young children in the U.S. by state and growth rate since 1970.

As of December 2015, immigrants and their young children made up more than 25 percent of the populations of California, Nevada, Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

In another 11 states, more than 15 percent of the population were immigrants and their children: Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.

As CIS noted in its earlier analysis, while there are currently more than 61 million immigrants and their young children in the U.S., or nearly one in five U.S. residents, in 1970 there were just 13.5 million immigrants and their young children, or one in 15 U.S. residents.

“The numbers represent a complete break with the recent history of the United States,” Camarota and Griffith wrote Monday.

The dramatic increase in the immigrant population in the U.S. has varied across the states. While just five U.S. states saw their immigrant populations grow by less than 100 percent since 1970, the vast majority saw their immigrant populations more than double.

The immigrant population in Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia, for example, grew by more than 2,000 percent. Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina had immigrant populations grow by more than 1,000 percent.

“These numbers raise profound questions that are seldom asked: What number of immigrants can be assimilated? What is the absorption capacity of our nation’s schools, health care system, infrastructure, and, perhaps most importantly, its labor market?” the authors added in their analysis.