Naturalization statistics show how many lawful permanent residents become U.S. citizens, where new citizens were born and live, and how long the process can take. The latest detailed demographic figures in this overview cover fiscal year (FY) 2023, while annual totals and processing figures provide additional context from FY 2019 through FY 2024.
Contents
- Annual naturalization totals
- Birth regions and countries
- States, cities, and metropolitan areas
- Age, sex, and marital status
- Immigration pathways and fee waivers
- LPR time and processing times
Annual naturalization totals
The United States naturalized 843,593 people in FY 2019, according to U.S. Naturalizations: 2022. The total fell to 628,254 in FY 2020, then rose to 813,860 in FY 2021. The United States naturalized 969,380 people in FY 2022 and 878,460 in FY 2023, according to U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
These totals describe completed naturalizations, not the number of applications filed. USCIS received approximately 781,000 naturalization applications in FY 2022 and approximately 827,600 Form N-400 applications in FY 2023. In FY 2023, USCIS completed approximately 978,100 naturalization applications. Those application-activity figures come from USCIS’s Annual Statistical Report: Fiscal Year 2023 and should be read separately from the number of people who became citizens.
| Fiscal year | People naturalized | Related application activity reported |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2019 | 843,593 | — |
| FY 2020 | 628,254 | — |
| FY 2021 | 813,860 | — |
| FY 2022 | 969,380 | About 781,000 applications received |
| FY 2023 | 878,460 | About 827,600 received; about 978,100 completed |
The FY 2019 and FY 2020 totals are legacy figures reported in U.S. Naturalizations: 2022. They are included as historical context and are not presented here as independently rechecked estimates. The FY 2021–FY 2023 totals are from U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
The annual series also illustrates why a single year’s total should be interpreted carefully. A naturalization total records people who completed the process during that fiscal year, while application receipts and completions reflect workload moving through the agency. Those measures can move in different directions because cases may be filed in one period and completed in another. The figures therefore provide useful activity benchmarks, but they do not by themselves measure the size of the eligible permanent-resident population or the probability that an individual applicant will naturalize.
Birth regions and countries
People born in Asia accounted for 329,260 naturalizations, or 37.5% of the FY 2023 total. People born in North America accounted for 284,350, or 32.4%. The FY 2023 figures also include 95,330 people born in Africa, representing 10.9%; 82,040 born in Europe, representing 9.3%; 74,120 born in South America, representing 8.4%; and 112,890 born in the Caribbean, representing 12.9%. These regional figures are reported in U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
The regional categories are not a simple partition in the figures as presented: the Caribbean count is separately identified alongside North America. The percentages and labels should therefore be retained as reported rather than recombined into a new regional calculation.
Among individual birth countries, Mexico was the country of birth for 111,460 people naturalized in FY 2023, or 12.7% of the total. India accounted for 59,050, or 6.7%, and the Philippines accounted for 44,760, or 5.1%. The Dominican Republic accounted for 35,220, or 4.0%. Vietnam accounted for 33,310, or 3.8%, and Cuba accounted for 33,190, also 3.8%.
Together, these country figures identify several of the largest reported birth-country groups, but they do not describe every country represented among new citizens. The source is U.S. Naturalizations: 2023, and the measurement period for each figure is FY 2023.
States, cities, and metropolitan areas
Residence data shows where people lived when they naturalized in FY 2023. California was the state of residence for 154,900 people, followed by Texas with 99,900, Florida with 94,100, New York with 92,800, and New Jersey with 39,000. These figures come from USCIS’s Naturalization Statistics.
At the city or borough level, Brooklyn was the place of residence for 19,400 people naturalized in FY 2023. Miami accounted for 15,800 and Houston for 15,700. The city or borough labels are the geographic descriptions used by the source; they should not automatically be interpreted as county or metropolitan-area totals.
The largest reported core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) were the New York-Newark-Jersey City CBSA, with 118,400 people naturalized; the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CBSA, with 56,500; and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach CBSA, with 50,800. A CBSA is a metropolitan geographic area, so these numbers cover a broader area than the separately listed city or borough figures.
Age, sex, and marital status
Women accounted for 478,030 naturalizations in FY 2023, or 54.4% of the total. Men accounted for 395,820, or 45.1%. The reported percentages do not sum to 100%, which indicates that the published categories include a small remainder or rounding difference not quantified in the supplied figure. These data are from U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
The median age of people naturalized in FY 2023 was 41 years. The largest listed age group was ages 35 to 44, with 229,580 naturalizations, or 26.1% of the total. People ages 25 to 34 accounted for 205,180, or 23.4%, while ages 45 to 54 accounted for 155,720, or 17.7%. People ages 18 to 24 accounted for 80,700, or 9.2%, and people ages 65 and older accounted for 93,500, or 10.6%.
Married people accounted for 570,950 naturalizations, or 65.0% of the FY 2023 total. Single people accounted for 174,540, or 19.9%. A further 132,960 people, or 15.1%, had a marital status classified as other. The marital-status categories and percentages are reported in U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
Immigration pathways and fee waivers
USCIS’s FY 2023 approved-naturalization figures include several immigration pathways. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens accounted for 291,100 approved naturalizations. Within that category, spouses of U.S. citizens accounted for 188,200 and parents of U.S. citizens accounted for 64,800.
Refugees and asylees accounted for 100,100 approved naturalizations in FY 2023. Employment-preference immigrants accounted for 123,000, while diversity immigrants accounted for 120,700. These are pathway counts reported by USCIS in Naturalization Statistics. The categories should not be added together unless the source’s classification rules are consulted, because the supplied figures do not establish whether every category is mutually exclusive.
An approved fee waiver was recorded for 127,800 people naturalized in FY 2023, or 14.6% of the total. This statistic describes recorded fee-waiver approval among people naturalized during the period; it is not a measure of all applicants who requested a waiver or of the share of applications that were approved.
LPR time and processing times
People naturalizing in FY 2023 had spent a median of seven years in lawful permanent resident (LPR) status before naturalization. The median was six years for people born in Africa and six years for people born in Asia. It was seven years for people born in Europe and nine years for people born in North America. These measurements describe time in LPR status before naturalization, not the time USCIS took to decide the Form N-400. The source is U.S. Naturalizations: 2023.
USCIS historic processing data reports a national median processing time of 11.5 months for non-military Form N-400 cases in FY 2021. The national median was 5.0 months in FY 2024. These are different fiscal-year measurements of processing time, not a promise about an individual case. They are reported in Historic Processing Times.
The distinction between the two timelines matters. A seven-year median in LPR status measures how long people had held permanent-resident status before naturalizing. A 5.0-month FY 2024 median measures USCIS processing time for non-military N-400 cases during that fiscal year. Neither statistic alone predicts when a particular permanent resident will qualify, file, complete the interview and testing steps, or take the Oath of Allegiance.