Foreign-born population in US swells to highest level since 1990

Till 2010, Mexico had the highest share in the foreign-born population with 30 percent of Mexico-born in the US.

Post-2010, the number of immigrants arriving from Mexico has declined, while  people coming to US from Asian countries have surged 3.88 million compared to 1.21 million from Mexico

As a result, Asia surpassed Mexico with a share of 31 percent of all foreign-born people in the US, up from 28 percent share in 2010. While the share of Mexico decreased to 25.23 percent in 2017 from 30 percent in 2010.

 

India and China constitute the most of the Asian-born population in the US. The Indian-born people in the US increased to 2.6 million in 2017 from 1.8 million as of 2010. While China-born people increased to 2.2 million from 1.6 million during the same period.

Among states, California has the largest share of the immigrant population – 26 percent, followed by New York and New Jersey with an immigrant population of 23 percent each.

Some of the largest gains were in states such as – Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Florida. The share of the immigrant population in Delaware increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 10.2 percent in 2017.

Similarly, the share of the immigrant population increased by 2 percent in Massachusetts and around 1.5 percent increase in Minnesota, North Carolina and Florida.