Tag Archives: us demographics

What is the makeup of Immigrants in the US?

US Immigration census figures released this week show the potential end of an era of white majority dominance in the United States in the foreseeable future. 47% of children under the age of 5 in the US are now from so-called minority groups (mostly Hispanic, African American and Asian)

The US minority population reached about 105 million which is over a third or 34% of the US total population. This has grown almost 10% since the last time these figures were released in 2000 when it was 31%.

So nearly one in six residents, or about 47 million people, are Hispanic which is the largest minority group in the US and also the fastest growing. Hispanic people tend to have more children than all other groups. Hispanics represent 14% of the population but a quarter or 25% of the live births of the US. The US is the only western industrialized nation with a fertility rate above the 2.2% replacement rate to maintain the same population.

Additionally Latinos and other minority workers contribute to keeping the Social Security system solvent, according to Monique Morrissey, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute. Both the legal immigrants and illegal workers among them often pay more into the Social Security pool than they will take out in benefits. Another dagger in the facts of the ridiculous H1B visa legislation.

From 2000, the other minority groups also grew and are outpacing the White population in the US. Asians are the second-fastest growing group and increased 2.7% year-over-year to  about 15.5 million. The African-American population rose 1.3% to 41.1 million which is about 12% of the US population.

In terms of the state and city breakdown, Los Angeles, with 4.7 million people has more Hispanics than any other part of the US confirming a reputation as a bilingual city.

California also has the most Latinos of any state, with 13.5 million with an increase of 313,000 in just this past one year alone. New Mexico has the highest percentage of Latinos at about 45% which means that soon they could almost just drop the “New” part of the state name. 🙂

New York State has the greatest number of black people with 3.5 million. Washington DC and Mississippi have the highest percentages of African Americans with 56% and 38% respectively. Chicago has 1.4 million African Americans to lead all city locales.

As for the other big minority in the US in California alone there are more than 5 million making it the largest state as well for Asians. However Hawaii goes one better than New Mexico, with an Asian demograpic of 54%, it is not only the highest proportion Asian state in the US, but the only one currently where a so-called minority group is dominant.

Los Angeles has 1.4 million Asians and not surprising Honolulu on Owahu Island in Hawaii at 58%, had the highest proportion.

So once again it is the Immigrant population keeping the US alive through having children to ensure it is not a dying population like most of the Western World including all of Europe. Additionally it is saving Social Security and working to support the retiring Baby Boomer generation.

Essentially the moral of the story is to to keep the US alive and vibrant they should be issuing more H1B visas and E3 visas!

CJ