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Immigrants and the economy in:

Delaware At Large

  • Immigrant Residents

    86,028
  • Immigrant Share of Population

    9.1%
  • Immigrant Taxes Paid

    $874.3M
  • Immigrant Spending Power

    $2.7B
  • Immigrant Entrepreneurs

    2,218
  • Immigrant Share Ranking

    221 of 435
  • Data Year

    2017

Demographics

In the United States, immigrants are more likely to be working-age than their U.S.-born counterparts. This means they are more likely to be active in the labor force, allowing them to contribute to the economy not only as consumers but also as taxpayers, helping fund social services and programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Age Group Foreign-Born Population Share U.S.-Born Population Share
0-24 13.6% 32.8%
25-64 72.5% 49.9%
65+ 13.9% 17.3%

Workforce

The growth in the immigrant population has helped to strengthen America’s labor force. As baby boomers retire, younger immigrants are filling crucial gaps in the market. Nationally, immigrants are more likely to hold an advanced degree than the U.S.-born. They are also more likely to have less than a high school education. Uniquely, this allows them to fill critical shortages at both ends of the skill spectrum, from high-tech fields to agriculture, hospitality, and service industries.

Educational Attainment by Nativity, Age 25+
Workforce Education Foreign-Born Population U.S.-Born Population
Less Than High School 21.9% 9.2%
High School & Some College 37.8% 61.0%
Bachelor's Degree 19.2% 17.9%
Graduate Degree 21.0% 11.9%
Top Industries with Highest Share of Foreign-Born Workers
Agriculture 27.9%
Manufacturing 17.1%
Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services 15.8%
Construction 13.8%
Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services 13.4%

Voting Power

As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they continue to gain power at the voting booth. The number of immigrant voters is only projected to rise in the next decade, but already in some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections.

Eligible Immigrant Voters Registered Immigrant Voters
38,814 21,019

Home Ownership

Immigrant families have long played an important role helping to build housing wealth in the United States. In recent decades, the more than 40 million immigrants collectively in the country increased U.S. housing wealth by $3.7 trillion. Much of this was possible because immigrants moved into neighborhoods once in decline, helping to revitalize communities and make them more attractive to U.S.-born residents.

Number of Homes Owned by Immigrants
20,520

Taxes & Spending Power

Immigrant households contribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal income, state, and local taxes nationwide and hold a tremendous amount of spending power. This gives them significant economic clout, helping support local communities as consumers and taxpayers. Like all residents in the United States regardless of where they were born, immigrants make use of public services like education, healthcare, and public safety. Even with these costs, however, immigrants’ economic contributions far outweigh the extra cost of additional public services they incur.

Immigrant Household Income $3.5B
Taxes Paid $874.3M
State & Local Taxes $183.0M
Federal Taxes $691.3M
Total Spending Power $2.7B

Entrepreneurship

It is hard to overstate the importance of entrepreneurship since new businesses are the main driver of job growth in the United States. Immigrants play a particularly important role in this—founding businesses at far higher rates than the U.S. population overall. Today, millions of American workers are employed at immigrant-founded and immigrant-owned companies.

How many immigrant entrepreneurs reside in this district? 2,218

About NAE

New American Economy is a bipartisan research and advocacy organization fighting for smart federal, state, and local immigration policies that help grow our economy and create jobs for all Americans. More…