Lewis Mumford Center Census 2000 American Newcomers Report

Social and economic characteristics of immigrants and natives

Immigrants are typically thought of as relatively poor newcomers who often sacrifice so that their children will have the opportunity to succeed in this country. However this perception is colored by the fact that immigrants are largely members of minority groups, especially Hispanics who have less than average income and education even among those born in the U.S.

Data from a large-scale survey (the Census 2000 Supplemental Survey) conducted as part of Census 2000 provide solid information about how immigrants actually compare to native-born members of the same racial or ethnic group. Results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Major Race and Ethnic Groups by Nativity, 2000
			Speak		Median
		U.S.	only	Years of	Household		Below
		Citizen	English	Education	Income	Unemployed	Poverty
White	Native	100.0%	96.5%	13.5	$52,000	3.9%	8.5%
	Immigrant	60.8%	43.9%	13.4	$51,000	3.7%	11.4%
Black	Native	100.0%	97.5%	12.5	$33,200	10.0%	24.4%
	Immigrant	46.9%	57.8%	13.2	$42,000	6.5%	15.9%
Hispanic	Native	100.0%	35.3%	12.1	$38,000	8.3%	21.7%
	Immigrant	28.4%	4.3%	9.7	$37,200	5.8%	22.0%
Asian	Native	100.0%	60.2%	14.5	$67,000	5.9%	10.4%
	Immigrant	52.3%	12.7%	13.8	$62,500	4.5%	12.7%

The first two columns deal with citizenship and language usage, characteristics that naturally distinguish immigrants from natives. It is interesting to see that even here the differences among racial and ethnic groups are almost as great as those between immigrants and natives.

By definition native-born persons are citizens. The share of immigrants who are citizens ranges from less than 30% for Hispanics to over 60% for whites. This difference in part reflects timing of immigration, since many white immigrants came to the U.S. more than thirty years ago, while immigration by other groups surged in the 1980s and 1990s.

Within every racial/ethnic category, persons born in the U.S. are much more likely than those born abroad to speak only English at home. At the extremes, this includes only 4.3% of Hispanic immigrants and 12.7% of Asian immigrants. But there are correspondingly low figures even for Hispanics and Asians born here (35.3% and 60.2% respectively). Black immigrants are much more likely to be English-speakers, reflecting the origin of many of them in former British colonies in the Caribbean.

Front Page
Download report