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Recent Immigrant Arrivals
About This Indicator
What Is This?
People born abroad who were living in another country a year earlier, per 1,000 residents a year old and over, from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. It counts newcomers of every kind, with or without legal status, including students and temporary workers, and immigrants coming back after a year or more abroad. Since 2006; the survey published no national figures for 2020.
Why Does It Matter?
It is the closest thing to a yearly head count of newcomers that does not rest on border or visa records, so it takes in people who overstay a visa as well as those who cross without one. New arrivals are who school districts, landlords, and employers feel first.
Can Politics Influence It?
Directly and quickly: visa rules, refugee ceilings, border enforcement, and travel restrictions change who can come within months. With borders closed through much of the pandemic, the rate fell by about a third from 2019 to 2021.
Key Idea
It counts people who arrived and stayed long enough to answer a survey, not everyone who came, and newcomers are among the hardest people to reach: those in shelters or crowded housing, or wary of any government questionnaire, answer least. A drop can mean fewer arrivals or fewer arrivals who answered.
Not Scored
Source: Census Bureau. American Community Survey 1-year, Table B07007.
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