Mexican Immigrants in the United States

A Migration Information Source Spotlight focuses on Mexican immigrants residing in the United States, examining the population’s size, flow, geographic distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics using data from the US Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) and 2000 Decennial Census, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) for 2008. It also includes data from the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography’s Survey of Occupations and Employment (ENOE) and the Survey of Migration on the Northern Border of Mexico (EMIF), which is conducted jointly by Mexico’s ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, and Labor and Social Protection, and the College of the Northern Border Region (COLEF) in Tijuana.

Size and Flow There were 11.4 million foreign born from Mexico residing in the United States in 2008. The Mexican-born population in the United States was larger than the total populations of nearly two-thirds of UN Member States. About one of every 10 Mexicans resides in the United States. The flow of migrants leaving Mexico has slowed substantially in recent years.

Distribution About 70 percent of the Mexican born resided in just four states. Mexican immigrants made up more than half of all foreign born in six states. Between 2000 and 2008, 11 states saw their Mexican-born population grow by at least 50,000. In four states, Mexican immigrants accounted for one-fifth or more of total population growth between 2000 and 2008. Over half of all Mexican immigrants resided in 10 metropolitan areas in 2008. Mexican immigrants made up over half of all foreign born in 15 metropolitan areas in 2008. Two of every five Mexican immigrants moving to the United States in 2008 came from six Mexican states.

Demographic and Socioeconomic Overview Nearly one-third of all Mexican foreign born in the United States arrived in 2000 or later. Over three-quarters of Mexican immigrants in 2008 were adults of working age. Mexican immigrant men outnumbered women in 2008. The majority of Mexican immigrants were not US citizens in 2008. About three-quarters of Mexican immigrants in 2008 were limited English proficient. More than half of Mexican foreign-born adults did not have a high school education. Mexican immigrant men were more likely to participate in the civilian labor force than foreign-born men overall. Almost 40 percent of employed Mexican-born men worked in construction, extraction, and transportation. Over one-third of employed Mexican-born women worked in services.

Legal and Unauthorized Mexican Immigrant Population There were 3.4 million Mexican-born lawful permanent residents in 2008. Nearly all Mexican immigrants receiving lawful permanent residence in 2008 were admitted as family-based immigrants. Over 80 percent of Mexican-born lawful permanent residents in 2008 were eligible to naturalize. In 2009, 62 percent of all unauthorized immigrants in the United States were from Mexico. The number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico increased 42 percent between 2000 and 2009. Over half of all Mexican immigrants in the United States were unauthorized.

KJ