Immigrant integration in the United States can be measured through population size, labor-force participation, education, occupations, family patterns, citizenship, and immigration status outcomes. The latest figures below combine 2025 annual-average labor statistics, 2022 Census estimates, and fiscal year 2023 administrative counts. They describe different populations and time periods, so the measures should not be treated as one single total.
Contents
- Population scale and profile
- Education and workforce participation
- Occupations and earnings
- Families and regional patterns
- Citizenship and naturalization
- Permanent residence and humanitarian pathways
Population scale and profile
The federal statistical category “foreign-born” generally refers to people who were not U.S. citizens at birth. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2025 annual average, the foreign-born civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over was 49.295 million. The foreign-born civilian labor force numbered 32.687 million, representing 19.1% of the total U.S. civilian labor force. It included 31.321 million employed people and 1.366 million unemployed people. These figures come from the Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers News Release - 2025 A01 Results (BLS, 2025 annual average).
Age and gender are important parts of this labor-force profile. People ages 25 to 54 made up 70.1% of the foreign-born labor force in 2025. Men represented 56.6% of the foreign-born labor force, compared with 52.1% of the native-born labor force. The foreign-born labor-force participation rate was 66.3%.
The Census Bureau’s The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2022 estimated 46.2 million foreign-born people in 2022, or 13.9% of the total U.S. population. That estimate increased from 40.0 million in 2010 to 46.2 million in 2022. The foreign-born share of the total population rose from 12.9% to 13.9% over the same period. These are 2022 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, not 2025 counts.
Education and workforce participation
Workforce integration varies by gender, education, and race or ethnicity. In 2025, foreign-born men had a 76.9% labor-force participation rate, compared with 65.8% for native-born men. Foreign-born women had a 56.2% rate, compared with 57.5% for native-born women. The overall foreign-born participation rate was therefore shaped by a higher participation rate among men and a slightly lower rate among women than their native-born counterparts.
Educational attainment also showed a mixed pattern. Among foreign-born workers age 25 and over, 17.0% had not completed high school, compared with 3.2% of native-born workers. Another 24.7% were high-school graduates with no college, nearly the same as the native-born rate of 24.5%. Some college or an associate degree accounted for 15.2% of foreign-born workers, compared with 26.8% of native-born workers. At the bachelor’s-degree level or higher, the figures were 43.2% for foreign-born workers and 45.5% for native-born workers.
The distribution therefore includes both lower and higher educational attainment. The share without a high-school credential was higher among foreign-born workers, while the share with a bachelor’s degree or higher was only 2.3 percentage points lower than among native-born workers. The BLS figures do not explain why these differences exist; they describe the educational composition of workers in the two groups.
Participation also differed across racial groups within the foreign-born labor force. In 2025, the foreign-born labor-force participation rate ranged from 61.5% for White workers to 70.4% for Black workers. These rates are descriptive comparisons for the foreign-born groups identified in the BLS release and should not be read as measures of individual integration success by themselves.
Occupations and earnings
Employment measures show strong participation alongside differences in occupational distribution. The employment-population ratio for foreign-born people was 63.5% in 2025, compared with 58.9% for native-born people. Among employed workers, foreign-born people were more concentrated than native-born people in several hands-on and service categories, while native-born workers had higher shares in management, professional, related, sales, and office occupations.
| Occupation group | Foreign-born workers | Native-born workers |
|---|---|---|
| Service occupations | 21.2% | 15.6% |
| Natural resources, construction, and maintenance | 13.3% | 7.9% |
| Production, transportation, and material moving | 15.1% | 11.4% |
| Management, professional, and related | 36.8% | 45.2% |
| Sales and office | 13.6% | 19.9% |
The gender-specific distribution adds detail. Among employed foreign-born men, 21.9% worked in natural-resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, compared with 14.2% of native-born men. Among employed foreign-born women, 29.9% worked in service occupations, compared with 18.4% of native-born women.
Median usual weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers were $1,059 for foreign-born workers in 2025, compared with $1,236 for native-born workers. Foreign-born men had median weekly earnings of $1,153, compared with $1,364 for native-born men. Foreign-born women had median weekly earnings of $960, compared with $1,118 for native-born women. Among Hispanic or Latino full-time workers, the median was $841 for foreign-born workers and $1,053 for native-born workers.
Education was associated with a large earnings difference within the foreign-born workforce. Foreign-born workers age 25 and over with less than a high-school diploma had median weekly earnings of $745, while those with a bachelor’s degree or higher had median weekly earnings of $1,762. These are median usual weekly earnings, not annual income or a measure adjusted for occupation, hours beyond full-time status, or cost of living.
The BLS cautions that its 2025 annual estimates are 11-month averages because October data were unavailable during the federal government shutdown. As a result, these values are not strictly comparable with ordinary full-year averages.
Families and regional patterns
Family responsibilities are another dimension of integration. In 2025, the employment-population ratio for foreign-born people was 63.5%; the ratio was 73.9% for foreign-born men and 53.7% for foreign-born women. Foreign-born mothers with children under age 18 had a 64.8% labor-force participation rate, compared with 76.9% for native-born mothers.
The age of children corresponded with different participation rates. Foreign-born mothers with children under age 3 had a 52.4% participation rate, compared with 68.5% for native-born mothers. Foreign-born mothers whose children were ages 6 to 17 and who had no younger child had a 70.3% rate, compared with 81.0% for native-born mothers. Foreign-born fathers with children under age 18 had a 93.9% participation rate, compared with 93.6% for native-born fathers.
The foreign-born population with its own children under age 18 numbered 16.031 million in the 2025 annual average. This measure identifies a substantial population for whom work, childcare, schooling, and household stability overlap, but the statistic does not measure household income or service use.
Foreign-born workers were distributed unevenly across U.S. regions. The foreign-born share of the regional labor force was 24.5% in the West, 22.7% in the Northeast, 18.7% in the South, and 10.8% in the Midwest in 2025. These figures describe each region’s labor force, not the percentage of all foreign-born residents living in each region.
Citizenship and naturalization
Naturalization is one administrative measure of a longer-term integration pathway. The United States naturalized 878,460 people in fiscal year 2023, according to U.S. Naturalizations: 2023 from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics (DHS/OHSS).
People born in Asia accounted for 329,260 naturalizations, or 37.5% of the total. People born in North America accounted for 284,350, or 32.4%. Africa accounted for 95,330, or 10.9%, while Europe accounted for 82,040, or 9.3%. The ten leading countries of birth accounted for 46% of all naturalizations.
Mexico was the leading country of birth among people naturalized in fiscal year 2023, with 111,460 naturalizations, or 12.7% of the total. India was second, with 59,050, or 6.7%. The Philippines accounted for 44,760 naturalizations, or 5.1%.
These are fiscal-year administrative counts of people who naturalized, not estimates of the number eligible to naturalize or the share of eligible immigrants who completed the process. They also should not be combined with annual labor-force counts, which use different definitions and measurement periods.
Permanent residence and humanitarian pathways
Lawful permanent residence is a separate status outcome from naturalization. In fiscal year 2023, 1,172,910 people became lawful permanent residents, according to U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents: 2023. Family-sponsored immigrants accounted for 755,830 new lawful permanent residents, or 64.4% of the total. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens accounted for 551,590, or 47.0%; spouses accounted for 276,080, or 23.5%; and parents accounted for 208,350, or 17.8%. Family-sponsored preference immigrants accounted for 204,240, or 17.4%.
Humanitarian protection is reported separately. The United States provided protection to 54,350 asylees in fiscal year 2023, including 22,300 affirmative grants and 32,050 defensive grants, according to Asylees: 2023. An additional 4,790 people received derivative asylum status while residing in the United States.
The United States admitted 60,050 refugees in fiscal year 2023, including 21,760 principal refugees and 38,290 derivative accompanying refugees, according to Refugees: 2023. An additional 20 people received derivative refugee status while residing in the United States.
Asylum and refugee categories are legally distinct and should not be combined. Together, these administrative statistics show several different routes through the immigration system, while the labor and Census measures describe population and economic conditions. Each measure is most useful when its definition, geography, and measurement period remain explicit.