Migration Policy Institute tabulations of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) and Decennial Census. Unless stated otherwise, 2022 data are from the one-year ACS file.

The source link: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/workforce/VA

As of 2023, 27.3 percent of California's population were born in a country other than the United States. New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Nevada rounded out the top five states with the largest population of foreign born residents in that year. For the country as a whole, 14.3 percent of residents were foreign born.

United States Immigrants Admitted: Poland data was reported at 4,845.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 5,603.000 Person for 2016. United States Immigrants Admitted: Poland data is updated yearly, averaging 10,222.500 Person from Sep 1986 (Median) to 2017, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 28,048.000 Person in 1994 and a record low of 4,845.000 Person in 2017. United States Immigrants Admitted: Poland data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G087: Immigration.

This annual study provides migration pattern data for the United States by State or by county and are available for inflows (the number of new residents who moved to a State or county and where they migrated from) and outflows (the number of residents who left a State or county and where they moved to). The data include the number of returns filed, number of personal exemptions claimed, total adjusted gross income, and aggregate migration flows at the State level, by the size of adjusted gross income (AGI) and by age of the primary taxpayer. Data are collected and based on year-to-year address changes reported on U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns (Form 1040) filed with the IRS. SOI collects these data as part of its Individual Income Tax Return (Form 1040) Statistics program, Data by Geographic Areas, U.S. Population Migration Data.

United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data was reported at 1,127,167.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,183,505.000 Person for 2016. United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data is updated yearly, averaging 451,510.000 Person from Sep 1900 (Median) to 2017, with 118 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,827,167.000 Person in 1991 and a record low of 23,068.000 Person in 1933. United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G087: Immigration.

Graph and download economic data for Net migration for the United States (SMPOPNETMUSA) from 1962 to 2017 about migration, Net, 5-year, population, and USA.

Users can download reports regarding immigrant issues and view maps of the distribution of the foreign-born population in the U.S. Topics include: immigration policy, migration, English language proficiency, and adult education. Background The Migration Policy Institute is a think tank dedicated to studying human migration across the globe. This website is useful for policymakers and practitioners interested in understanding and responding to immigrant integration. Topics include, but are not limited to: migration, immigration policy, English language proficiency, immigration enforcement, and English language education. User Functionality Users can download reports regarding immigrant int egration issues and immigration trends. Users can also access the State Responses to Immigration Database, the American Community Survey of the Foreign Born, and Who's Where in the United States Database. Users can download data into SAS statistical software. In addition, users can view maps showing the distribution of the foreign-born population in the U.S. Demographic information is available by race/ethnicity, Hispanic origin, place of origin, citizenship status, sex/gender, and marital status. Data Notes Data sources include the New Immigrants Survey, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, United States Census Bureau, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, Congressional Research Service, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, National Immigration Law Ce nter, among others. Full citations and years to which the data apply, are indicated in each report. Data are available on national, state and city levels, depending upon the report.

This data collection contains information on the characteristics of aliens who became legal permanent residents of the United States in fiscal year 1996 (October 1995 through September 1996). Data are presented for two types of immigrants. The first category, New Arrivals, arrived from outside the United States with valid immigrant visas issued by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. The second category, Adjustments, were already in the United States with temporary status and were adjusted to legal permanent residence through petition to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Variables include port of entry, month and year of admission, class of admission, and state and area to which the immigrants were admitted. Demographic information such as age, sex, marital status, occupation, country of birth, country of last permanent residence, and nationality is also provided.

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15,341 DAYS (October 1st, 1979 - September 30th, 2021)

This is a dataset that describes annual statistics regarding US immigration between the 1980-2021 fiscal years.

All data are official figures from the Department of Homeland Security's government website that have been compiled and structured by myself. There are several reasons for the decision to only examine immigration data from 1980 to 2021. Since 1976, a fiscal year for the US government has always started on October 1st and ended the following year on September 30th. If the years prior to 1976 were included, the data may be incorrectly represented and cause further confusion for viewers. Additionally, the United States only tracked refugee arrivals after the Refugee Act of 1980, a statistic that is prominently featured in the dataset. As a result, the start date of 1980 was chosen instead of 1976.

Data Sources

The primary data sources used were the "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics" webpages from the Department of Homeland Security. As a whole, the website not only provided figures about US immigration that were perfect for making time series analyses, but also explored the logistics behind the annual trends found.

1. The Department of Homeland Security's 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics - The Office of Immigration Statistics' 2021 Flow Reports and Population Estimates provide text, tables, and charts on lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant admissions, naturalizations, enforcement actions, and the unauthorized population. Being the latest version released to date, the 2021 yearbook is the most comprehensive report publicly available and tends to feature data of past years for reference.
2. The Department of Homeland Security's Directory of Past Immigration Yearbooks - Past yearbooks were referenced in order to find the missing data from the fiscal years during 2000-2021. There is a single yearbook covering the fiscal years during 1996-1999, but that was the oldest publications featured in the directory.
3. The Center for Immigration Studies's File Library - In order to procure immigration data during the fiscal years of 1980-1999, I found free versions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's paywalled yearbooks from the Center for Immigration Studies. By doing so, I was able fill in the missing values and finish the dataset.

Statistics Being Tracked

• Immigrants Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status - Number of immigrants who obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States, otherwise known as green card holders.
• Refugee Arrivals - Number of refugees who arrived in the United States. Excludes Amerasian immigrants except for the fiscal years of 1989 and 1991. Figures are based on refugee's arrival date.
• Noncitizen Apprehensions - Number of noncitizens apprehended in the United States. Data from 2020 to 2021 includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encounters that resulted in expulsion on public health grounds (due to the pandemic).
• Noncitizen Removals - Number of noncitizens removed from the United States. Removals are the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States based on an order of removal.
• Noncitizen Returns - Number of noncitizen returns from the United States. Returns are the confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States not based on an order of removal.

Dataset History

2023-01-07 - Dataset is created (465 days after the end of the 2021 fiscal year).

GitHub Repository - The same data but on GitHub.

Code Starter

Link to Notebook

In 2022, an estimated 10.99 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States. This is an increase from about 3.5 million unauthorized immigrants who lived in the United States in 1990.

The United States hosted, by far, the highest number of immigrants in the world in 2024. That year, there were over ** million people born outside of the States residing in the country. Germany and Saudi Arabia followed behind at around **** and **** million, respectively. There are varying reasons for people to emigrate from their country of origin, from poverty and unemployment to war and persecution. American Migration People migrate to the United States for a variety of reasons, from job and educational opportunities to family reunification. Overall, in 2021, most people that became legal residents of the United States did so for family reunification purposes, totaling ******* people that year. An additional ******* people became legal residents through employment opportunities. In terms of naturalized citizenship, ******* people from Mexico became naturalized American citizens in 2021, followed by people from India, the Philippines, Cuba, and China. German Migration Behind the United States, Germany also has a significant migrant population. Migration to Germany increased during the mid-2010's, in light of the Syrian Civil War and refugee crisis, and during the 2020’s, in light of conflict in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Moreover, as German society continues to age, there are less workers in the labor market. In a low-migration scenario, Germany will have **** million skilled workers by 2040, compared to **** million by 2040 in a high-migration scenario. In both scenarios, this is still a decrease from **** skilled workers in 2020.

This graph shows the distribution of nationalities among documented immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1870. As we can see, over seven million people arrived in the US in this 50 year period, with the majority coming from Ireland, Germany and Britain. The largest groups, by far, were Irish and German, who together made up roughly two thirds of all immigrants to the US during this time. The reasons for this were because of the Irish Potato famine from 1845 to 1849, which resulted in the death or emigration of twenty to twenty five percent of the total Irish population, and a number of internal factors in Germany such as economic migration for farmers affected by industrialization, political/religious asylum, and in order to avoid conscription. One noteworthy exclusion from the information is of those transported to US as slaves, whose information was not recorded in this statistic (although the slave trade was abolished in 1808, the practice continued in the decades that followed).

United States Immigrants Admitted: Trinidad and Tobago data was reported at 3,469.000 Person in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 3,212.000 Person for 2015. United States Immigrants Admitted: Trinidad and Tobago data is updated yearly, averaging 5,435.000 Person from Sep 1986 (Median) to 2016, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,854.000 Person in 2006 and a record low of 2,891.000 Person in 1986. United States Immigrants Admitted: Trinidad and Tobago data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G086: Immigration.

Approximately 41 million people immigrated to the United States of America between the years 1820 and 1957. During this time period, the United States expanded across North America, growing from 23 to 48 states, and the population grew from approximately 10 million people in 1820, to almost 180 million people by 1957. Economically, the U.S. developed from being an agriculturally focused economy in the 1820s, to having the highest GDP of any single country in the 1950s. Much of this expansion was due to the high numbers of agricultural workers who migrated from Europe, as technological advances in agriculture had lowered the labor demand. The majority of these migrants settled in urban centers, and this fueled the growth of the industrial sector.

American industrialization and European rural unemployment fuel migration The first major wave of migration came in the 1850s, and was fueled largely by Irish and German migrants, who were fleeing famine or agricultural depression at the time. The second boom came in the 1870s, as the country recovered from the American Civil War, and the Second Industrial Revolution took off. The final boom of the nineteenth century came in the 1880s, as poor harvests and industrialization in Europe led to mass emigration. Improvements in steam ship technology and lower fares led to increased migration from Eastern and Southern Europe at the turn of the century (particularly from Italy). War and depression reduces migration Migration to the U.S. peaked at the beginning of the 20th century, before it fluctuated greatly at the beginning of the 20th century. This was not only due to the disruptions to life in Europe caused by the world wars, but also the economic disruption of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The only period between 1914 and 1950 where migration was high was during the 1920s. However, the migration rate rose again in the late 1940s, particularly from Latin America and Asia. The historically high levels of migration from Europe has meant that the most common ethnicity in the U.S. has been non-Hispanic White since the early-colonial period, however increased migration from Latin America, Asia and Africa, and higher fertility rates among ethnic minorities, have seen the Whites' share of the total population fall in recent years (although it is still over three times larger than any other group.

Net migration for the United States was 4774029.00000 People in January of 2017, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Net migration for the United States reached a record high of 8859954.00000 in January of 1997 and a record low of 1556054.00000 in January of 1967. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Net migration for the United States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

United States Immigrants Admitted: United Kingdom data was reported at 10,948.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 12,673.000 Person for 2016. United States Immigrants Admitted: United Kingdom data is updated yearly, averaging 13,552.000 Person from Sep 1986 (Median) to 2017, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 19,973.000 Person in 1992 and a record low of 7,647.000 Person in 1999. United States Immigrants Admitted: United Kingdom data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G087: Immigration.

Between 1820 and 1957, over 4.6 million people emigrated from the island of Ireland to the United States. The period with the highest levels of migration came between 1845 and 1855 , as the Great Famine devastated Ireland's population, causing the deaths of roughly one million people and leading to the migration of one million more, most of which was to the United States. The period with the lowest levels of migration came in the 1930s and 40s, as the Great Depression and Second World War created an environment where migration to the US was difficult or impractical.

Virginia has a sizable immigrant community. About 12.3 percent of the state’s residents are foreign-born, and 6.7 percent of its U.S.-born residents live with at least one immigrant parent. Immigrants make up 15.6 percent of Virginia's labor force and support the local economy in many ways. They account for 20.7 percent of entrepreneurs, 21.8 percent of STEM workers, and 12.7 percent of nurses in the state. As neighbors, business owners, taxpayers, and workers, immigrants are an integral part of Virginia’s diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all.

Graph and download economic data for Population Level - Foreign Born (LNU00073395) from Jan 2007 to Sep 2025 about foreign, civilian, population, and USA.

The IRS publishes migration data for the US population based upon the individual tax returns filed with the IRS, where they track on a year-by-year basis

• where people were coming from - the prior state of residency
• where people moving to - the new state of residency
• number of returns filed - approximate number of households that migrated
• number of exemptions - approximate number of individuals
• the adjusted gross income (AGI) - recorded in thousands of dollars

The raw data published on the IRS website clearly shows patterns of evolution - changing patterns of what is recorded, how it is record, and naming conventions used - making it a challenge to track changes in the underlying data over time. The current dataset attempts to address these shortcomings by normalizing the record layout, standardizing the conventions, and collecting the annual into a single, coherent dataset.

An individual record is laid out with 9 fields

Y1 Y1_STATE_FIPS Y1_STATE_ABBR Y1_STATE_NAME Y2 Y2_STATE_FIPS Y2_STATE_ABBR Y2_STATE_NAME NUM_RETURNS NUM_EXEMPTIONS AGI Here, Y1 refers to the first year (from where the people are migrating) while Y2 refers to the second year (to where the people are migrating). As this is annual data, Y2 should always be the next year after Y1. Associated with each year are three different ways of identifying a state - the name of the state, it's two-letter abbreviaion, and it's FIPS code. Granted, carrying around three IDs per state is redundant; however, the various IDs are useful in different contexts. One thing to note - the IRS data represents migration into and out of the country via the introduction of a fake state, identified by STATE_NAME=FOREIGN, STATE_ABBR=FR, and STATE_FIPS=57.

From any given state, the dataset records migration to 52 destinations

• either not moving, or staying in the same state
• migrating to one of the other 49 states
• migrating to Washington DC
• migrating overseas (i.e., to the FOREIGN state)

Similarly, the dataset represents the migation into any given state as being from one of 52 destinations. Typically, the numbers associated with "staying put" constitute, by far, the largest contingent of tax payers for the given state. The one exception to this description is the FOREIGN state. The dataset does not record "staying put" outside of the country; there is no record for FOREIGN-to-FOREIGN migration. As such, there are 51, not 52, destinations paired with migration to-and-from the FOREIGN state.