Overview

At the end of the 2018 fiscal year, the U.S. had resettled 22,491 refugees -- a small fraction of the number of people who had entered in prior years. This is the smallest annual number of refugees since Congress passed a law in 1980 creating the modern resettlement system.

It's also well below the cap of 45,000 set by the administration for 2018, and less than thirty percent of the number granted entry in the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency. It's also significantly below the cap for 2019 announced by President Trump's administration, which is 30,000.

The Associated Press is updating its data on refugees through fiscal year 2018, which ended Sept. 30, to help reporters continue coverage of this story. Previous Associated Press data on refugees can be found here.

Data obtained from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration show the mix of refugees also has changed substantially:

• The numbers of Iraqi, Somali and Syrian refugees -- who made up more than a third of all resettlements in the U.S. in the prior five years -- have almost entirely disappeared. Refugees from those three countries comprise about two percent of the 2018 resettlements.
• In 2018, Christians have made up more than sixty percent of the refugee population, while the share of Muslims has dropped from roughly 45 percent of refugees in fiscal year 2016 to about 15 percent. (This data is not available at the city or state level.)
• Of the states that usually average at least 100 resettlements, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, Florida, California, Oklahoma and Texas have seen the largest percentage decreases in refugees. All have had their refugee caseloads drop more than 75% when comparing 2018 to the average over the previous five years (2013-2017).

The past fiscal year marks a dramatic change in the refugee program, with only a fraction as many people entering. That affects refugees currently in the U.S., who may be waiting on relatives to arrive. It affects refugees in other countries, hoping to get to the United States for safety or other reasons. And it affects the organizations that work to house and resettle these refugees, who only a few years ago were dealing with record numbers of people. Several agencies have already closed their doors; others have laid off workers and cut back their programs.

Because there is wide geographic variations on resettlement depending on refugees' country of origin, some U.S. cities have been more affected by this than others. For instance, in past years, Iraqis have resettled most often in San Diego, Calif., or Houston. Now, with only a handful of Iraqis being admitted in 2018, those cities have seen some of the biggest drop-offs in resettlement numbers.

About This Data

Datasheets include:

• Annual_refugee_data: This provides the rawest form of the data from Oct. 1, 2008 – Sept. 30, 2018, where each record is a combination of fiscal year, city for refugee arrivals to a specific city and state and from a specific origin. Also provides annual totals for the state.
• City_refugees: This provides data grouped by city for refugee arrivals to a specific city and state and from a specific origin, showing totals for each year next to each other in different columns, so you can quickly see trends over time. Data is from Oct. 1, 2008 – Sept. 30, 2018, grouped by fiscal year. It also compares 2018 numbers to a five-year average from 2013-2017.
• City_refugees_and_foreign_born_proportions: This provides the data in City_refugees along with data that gives context to the origins of the foreign born populations living in each city. There are regional columns, sub-regional columns and a column specific to the origin listed in the refugee data. Data is from the American Community Survey 5-year 2013-2017 Table B05006: PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION. ### Caveats According to the State Department: "This data tracks the movement of refugees from various countries around the world to the U.S. for resettlement under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program." The data does not include other types of immigration or visits to the U.S.

The data tracks the refugees' stated destination in the United States. In many cases, this is where the refugees first lived, although many may have since moved.

Be aware that some cities with particularly high totals may be the locations of refugee resettlement programs -- for instance, Glendale, Calif., is home to both Catholic Charities of Los Angeles and the International Rescue Committee of Los Angeles, which work at resettling refugees.

About Refugee Resettlement

The data for refugees from other countries - or for any particular timeframe since 2002 - can be accessed through the State Department's Refugee Processing Center's site by clicking on "Arrivals by Destination and Nationality."

The Refugee Processing Center used to publish a state-by-state list of affiliate refugee organizations -- the groups that help refugees settle in the U.S. That list was last updated in January 2017, so it may now be out of date. It can be found here.

For general information about the U.S. refugee resettlement program, see this State Department description. For more detailed information about the program and proposed 2018 caps and changes, see the FY 2018 Report to Congress.

Queries

The Associated Press has set up a number of pre-written queries to help you filter this data and find local stories. Queries can be accessed by clicking on their names in the upper right hand bar.

• Find Cities Impacted - Most Change -- Use this query to see the cities that have seen the largest drop-offs in refugee resettlements. Creates a five-year average of how many refugees of a certain origin have come in the past, and then measures 2018 by that. Be wary of small raw numbers when considering the percentages!
• Total Refugees for Each City in Your State -- Use this query to get the number of total refugees who've resettled in your state's cities by year.
• Total Refugees in Your State -- Use this query to get the number of total refugees who've resettled in your state by year.
• Changes in Origin over Time -- Use this query to track how many refugees are coming from each origin by year. The initial query provides national numbers, but can be filtered for state or even for city.
• Extract Raw Data for Your State -- Use this query to type in your state name to extract and download just the data in your state. This is the raw data from the State Department, so it may be slightly more difficult to see changes over time. ###### Contact AP Data Journalist Michelle Minkoff with questions, mminkoff@ap.org