Share of foreign-born in the US at highest rate in more than a century, says survey

MIAMI — The percentage of U.S. residents who were born abroad rose last year to the highest level in more than a century, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. State Department. the most comprehensive overview of American life.

The share of people born outside the United States will increase to 14.3% in 2023, up from 13.9% in 2022, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The survey tracks travel times, internet access, family life, income, education level, disabilities, military service, and employment, among other things.

International migrants have become a major driver of population growth this decade, increasing their share of the total population as fewer children are born in the U.S. than in previous years. The percentage of foreign-born children in the United States has been 1910 when it was 14.7%caused by waves of emigration in search of a better life around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

“We knew that here you can save and live well. Here you can have normal services, like water and electricity,” said Luciana Bracho, who moved to Miami legally from Venezuela as part of a humanitarian release program with her boyfriend, parents and brother in April 2023. “I like Miami and the opportunities I’ve had.”

By 2023, international migrants will account for more than two-thirds of U.S. population growth. They have accounted for nearly three-quarters of U.S. growth so far this decade.

The growth in people born outside the U.S. appears to have been driven by people coming from Latin America, whose share of the foreign-born population rose year over year from 50.3% to 51.2%, according to the estimates. Latin America was the only region of origin in the world to experience an increase in U.S. residents born in another country, as the share of foreign-born residents from Europe and Asia declined slightly.

Nicole Díaz, a Venezuelan opposition activist, left after receiving threats against her life and lived in Peru and Ecuador before legally moving to Miami with her husband and 9-year-old daughter in February 2023. Díaz described herself as “100 percent happy” in South Florida, where they pay $2,300 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.

“After living in different countries, working here is relaxed, despite the language,” Díaz said. “But housing is very expensive and we considered moving to another state, because here all the salary goes to rent.”

Among the states with the largest year-over-year increases in the share of foreign-born residents were Delaware, which went from 9.9% to 11.2%; Georgia, which went from 10.7% to 11.6%; and New Mexico, which went from 9.3% to 10.2%. The share of foreign-born residents declined slightly in the District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Oregon.

The Census Bureau’s figures do not distinguish between people who are in the United States legally and illegally. Illegal immigration has become a contentious issue in the 2024 presidential election, even as illegal border crossings from Mexico dropped this summer after a record was reached in December last year.

The percentage of U.S. residents who identify as Hispanic, regardless of race, rose last year to 19.4% from 19.1% the previous year, according to the survey. At the same time, the percentage of those who identify as non-Hispanic white alone fell from 57.7% to 57.1%. The percentage of U.S. residents who identify as Black alone fell slightly, from 12.2% to 12.1%, and rose slightly for those who identify as Asian alone, from 5.9% to 6%.

U.S. residents continued to age, as the median age rose from 39 in 2022 to 39.2 in 2023. The nation’s graying is taking place as the majority of baby boomers become seniors and millennials enter middle age. While the share of children under 18 remained steady at 21.7% year-over-year, the share of seniors 65 and older increased from 17.3% to 17.7%.

Meanwhile, a post-pandemic increase in working from home continued his decline compared to pre-COVID-19 times, as the share of employees working from home fell last year to 13.8% from 15.2% the year before.

In 2021, the first full year after the pandemic began, nearly 18% of employees worked from home, up from 5.7% in 2019. But the return to offices over the past two years has reversed that trend, causing commute times to increase slightly last year, from an average of 26.4 minutes to 26.8 minutes.

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Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.

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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.