US Historical Immigration Trends	Home > US Historical Immigration Trends

From its inception, the United States has been a country of immigrants. These charts focus on immigration patterns and characteristics of the immigrant population through time. By placing immigration to the United States in its broader historic context, the characteristics of today's migration flows and the immigrant communities they establish can be better understood.

• Immigration to the United States: A Historical Perspective
• Immigrant Source Countries Since 1960
• Immigrants in the US Labor Force
• Children in Immigrant Families
• Region of Birth of the Foreign Born
• Age and Sex Distribution

Immigration to the United States: A Historical Perspective

• Legal Immigration: 1870 to 2008
• New US Citizens: 1920 to 2008
• Refugee Admissions: 1980 to 2008
• Foreign-Born Population and Foreign Born as a Percentage of the Total Population for the United States, 1850 to 2008
• Foreign-Born Population and Foreign Born as a Percentage of the Total Population by State: 1990, 2000, and 2008

Immigrant Source Countries Since 1960

• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 1960
• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 1970
• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 1980
• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 1990
• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 2000
• Ten Source Countries with the Largest Populations in the United States as Percentages of the Total Foreign-Born Population: 2008

Immigrants in the US Labor Force

• Monthly Estimates of the Total Foreign-Born and Mexican/Central American-Born Labor Force, January 2000 to August 2009
• Unemployment Rates by Selected Demographic Characteristics, January 2000 to August 2009 (not seasonally adjusted)
• Foreign Born as a Percentage of the Total Population and of the Civilian Labor Force by State, 1970 to 2008

Children in Immigrant Families

• Children Age 17 and under in Immigrant and Native Families by State: 1990 to 2008 (table)
• Children Ages 17 and under in Immigrant and Native Families: the United States, New York, and Nevada, 1990 to 2008

Region of Birth of the Foreign Born

• Foreign-Born Population by Region of Birth, for the United States: 1960 to 2008 (in millions)
• Foreign-Born Population by Region of Birth as a Percentage of the Total Foreign-Born Population, for the United States: 1960 to 2008

Age and Sex Distribution

• Age-Sex Pyramids of the Total, Native, and Foreign-Born Populations, Including the Five Largest Foreign-Born Groups: 2000
• Age Distribution of the Foreign Born as a Percentage of the Total Foreign-born Population, for the United States: 1870 to 2000
• Median Age of the Foreign-Born Population, for the United States: 1870 to 2000
• Foreign-born Males per 100 Foreign-Born Females, for the United States: 1870 to 2000