1.21.2010

Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2008

This statistical profile of the foreign-born population is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is the largest household survey in the United States, with a sample of about 3 million addresses. It covers virtually the same topics as those in the long form of the decennial census. The ACS is designed to provide estimates of the size and characteristics of the resident population, which includes persons living in households and, for the first time, persons living in group quarters.

The specific data sources for this statistical profile are the 1% sample of the 2008 ACS Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and the 5% sample of the 2000 Census IPUMS provided by the University of Minnesota.¹ The IPUMS assigns uniform codes, to the extent possible, to data collected by the decennial census and the ACS from 1850 to 2008. Due to differences in the way in which the IPUMS and Census Bureau adjust income data and assign poverty status, data provided in Tables 27 – 34 might differ from data on these variables that are provided by the Census Bureau. For more information about the IPUMS, including variable definition and sampling error, please visit http://usa.ipums.org/usa/design.shtml. To learn more about the sampling strategy and associated error of the 2000 Census or the 2008 American Community Survey, please refer to Chapter 8 of Summary File 3: 2000 at http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf and http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/ACS/accuracy2008.pdf, respectively.

Because persons living in group quarters were not included in the 2005 ACS, the data contained in this profile of foreign-born persons, tabulated from the 2008 ACS, are not comparable with the data included in the Pew Hispanic Center's Foreign Born at Mid-Decade report.

For the purposes of this statistical portrait, the foreign born include those persons who identified as naturalized citizens or non-citizens. Persons born in Puerto Rico and other outlying territories of the U.S. are included in the native-born population.

Data tabulations were performed by Daniel Dockterman and Gabriel Velasco.

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¹Steven Ruggles, Matthew Sobek, Trent Alexander, Catherine A. Fitch, Ronald Goeken, Patricia Kelly Hall, Miriam King, and Chad Ronnander. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 3.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Population Center [producer and distributor], 2004. http://usa.ipums.org/usa

Tables 1-40: Complete "Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2008"

Table 1: Population by Nativity: 2000 and 2008
Table 2: Population Change by Nativity: 2000 and 2008
Table 3: Foreign Born by Region of Birth: 2000 and 2008
Table 4: Change in the Foreign-Born Population by Region of Birth: 2000 and 2008
Table 5: Country of Birth: 2008
Table 6: Population by Nativity, Race and Ethnicity: 2008
Table 7: Racial Self-Identification, by Nativity: 2008
Table 8: Foreign Born by Region of Birth and Date of Arrival: 2008
Table 9: Nativity by Sex and Age: 2008
Table 9a: Age and Gender Distributions for Nativity Groups: 2008
Table 10: Median Age in Years by Sex and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 11: Foreign Born by State: 2008
Table 12: Change in the Foreign-Born Population by State: 2000 and 2008
Table 13: Foreign Born by State and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 13a: Foreign Born by State and Region of Birth: 2008 (percents)
Table 14: Marital Status by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 15: Fertility in the Past Year by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 16: Fertility in the Past Year by Marital Status and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 17: Persons by Household Type and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 18: Households by Type and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 19: Heads of Households by Family Size and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 20: Living Arrangements of Children by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 21: Language Spoken at Home and English-Speaking Ability by Age and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 22: Language Spoken at Home and English-Speaking Ability Among Foreign Born by Date of Arrival and Age: 2008
Table 23: Persons by Educational Attainment and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 24: School Enrollment by Nativity: 2000 and 2008
Table 25: High School Dropouts by Nativity and Region of Birth: 2000 and 2008
Table 26: College Enrollment by Nativity and Region of Birth: 2000 and 2008
Table 27: Occupation by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 28: Detailed Occupation by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 29: Industry by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 30: Detailed Industry by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 31: Persons by Personal Earnings and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 32: Median Personal Earnings by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 33: Full-Time, Year-Round Workers by Personal Earnings and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 34: Median Personal Earnings for Full-Time, Year-Round Workers by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 35: Households by Income and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 36: Median Household Income by Region of Birth: 2008
Table 37: Poverty by Age and Region of Birth: 2008
Table 38: Persons Without Health Insurance, by Age, Nativity and Citizenship: 2008
Table 39: Housing Tenure by Region of Birth: 2000 and 2008
Table 40: Homeownership Among Foreign-Born Heads of Households by Date of Arrival: 2008