US Report: Share of Foreign-Born in U.S. Grows to Highest Level in 100 Years

Last year, the percentage of U.S. residents who were foreign-born grew to its highest level in more than 100 years.

Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released its yearly American Community Survey that provided detailed numbers.

The American Community Survey follows family life, income, education levels, disabilities, military service, and employment, among other subjects.

The study, or survey, shows the share of people born outside the United States increased in 2023 to 14.3 percent from 13.9 percent in 2022.

International migrants have become a main cause of population growth in recent years.

Migrants are increasing their share of the population as Americans are having fewer children compared with years past. The percentage of the foreign-born population in the United States has not been this high since 1910 when it was 14.7 percent. At that time, waves of people came to the U.S. in search of a better life.

Luciana Bracho moved legally to Miami from Venezuela.

“We knew that here you can have savings, live well. Here you can have normal services such as water and electricity,” she said.

Bracho's move was part of a special official program known as a humanitarian parole program. She came with her boyfriend, parents and brother in April 2023. “I like Miami and the opportunities that I have had,” she said.

In 2023, international migrants accounted for more than two-thirds of the population growth in the United States. In the 2020s, they have made up almost three-fourths of U.S. growth.

The growth appears to be mainly people coming from Latin America. Their estimated share of the foreign-born population increased to 51.2 percent from 50.3 percent in 2022.

Latin Americans have increased among U.S. residents born in another country. The share of foreign-born residents from Europe and Asia has dropped a little.

Nicole Díaz was an opposition activist in Venezuela. She said she left after her life was threatened. Díaz lived in Peru and Ecuador before moving to the Miami area legally in February 2023 with her husband and nine-year-old daughter. Díaz described herself as “100 percent happy” living in South Florida, where the family pays $2,300 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.

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

Delaware was among the states with the largest increases in the foreign-born population from 2022 to 2023. The small state went to 11.2 percent from 9.9 percent. Georgia went to 11.6 percent from 10.7 percent. And New Mexico went from 10.2 percent from 9.3 percent.

The share of the foreign-born population dropped slightly in Washington, D.C., Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Oregon.

The Census Bureau numbers do not show whether people are in the United States legally or illegally. Illegal immigration has become a top political issue in 2024.

The study says the percentage of U.S. residents who say they are Hispanic, no matter what race, increased last year to 19.4 percent from 19.1 percent the year before.

At the same time, those who say they are “non-Hispanic white” dropped from 57.7 percent to 57.1 percent.

The share of U.S. residents who identify as Black dropped a little, from 12.2 percent to 12.1 percent.

And the share of U.S. residents who identify as Asian went from 5.9 percent to 6 percent.

The average age of U.S. residents continues to increase. The median age went from 39 in 2022 to 39.2 in 2023.

Americans born after World War II, from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, are known as the “baby boom” generation. They are now senior citizens.

The generation known as “millennials,” those born between the early 1980s and middle 1990s, are entering middle age. While the share of children under age 18 remained the same at 21.7 percent, the share of senior citizens aged 65 and over increased to 17.7 percent from 17.3 percent.

Other numbers show that working from home is decreasing after the COVID-19 pandemic. The share of employees working from home dropped last year to 13.8 percent from 15.2 percent in 2022.

The survey also showed that the median cost of renting, plus utilities and related costs, grew faster than median home values in 2023 for the first time in 10 years. The 3.8 percent rise in rental costs was the largest yearly increase since at least 2011. However, the share of renter income spent on rent and utility costs remained unchanged at 31 percent in 2023.

That finding suggests that incomes kept up with rent increases, the Census Bureau said.

I'm John Russell.

And I'm Ashley Thompson.

Mike Schneider and Gisela Salomon reported on this story for the Associated Press.

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resident –n. a person who lives in a place

migrant – n. a person who moves from one country to another

humanitarian parole program – n. an extraordinary measure only rarely used to bring an inadmissible foreign national into the United States for a temporary period of time

opportunity –n. a chance to do or get something that is good or helpful

relax – v. to make less severe or strict, to relax