New Data Shows Immigrant-Owned Businesses Employed 8 Million Americans; Immigrants Wield $1.1 Trillion in Spending Power

NEW YORK – Today New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research and immigration advocacy organization, launched this year’s edition of Map the Impact, an interactive map that quantifies immigrant contributions at the national, state, city, and congressional district levels, and across industries. Map the Impact shows the latest data from the 2017 American Communities Survey on immigrant tax contributions, spending power, entrepreneurship, demographics, voting power, and more.

This year’s Map the Impact also features new analysis showing how TPS holders and DACA recipients are especially important contributors to the U.S. economy.

Key findings include:

• In 2017 alone, households led by immigrants earned $1.5 trillion in total income and contributed $405 billion in tax revenues to federal, state, and local governments, leaving them with $1.1 trillion in spending power.
• About 3.2 million immigrants ran their own businesses, making up one in every five entrepreneurs in the country.
• Immigrant-owned businesses employed almost 8 million American workers and generated $1.3 trillion in total sales.
• Immigrants contributed to 28 percent of the population growth in the United States between 2016 and 2017.
• Between 2016 and 2017, the number of immigrant homeowners grew by 4.6 percent, from 9.1 million to 9.5 million.

“This data shows the central role immigrants play in every state in the union as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and homeowners,” said John Feinblatt, President of New American Economy. “The findings show that immigration creates an economic opportunity — creating jobs, filling workforce gaps, and helping communities thrive.”

Focusing specifically on the DACA-eligible and TPS populations, NAE finds that:

• In 2017, close to 1.3 million DACA-eligible people lived in the United States.
• DACA-eligible residents earned $23.4 billion in total income in 2017 alone, paying $2.2 billion in federal taxes and almost $1.8 billion in state and local taxes, leaving them with nearly $19.4 billion in spending power.
• More than 43,000 DACA-eligible residents were entrepreneurs in 2017, providing jobs for American workers and supporting local economies.
• In 2017, there were more than 318,000 immigrants with Temporary Protected Status.
• TPS holders earned almost $7.3 billion in 2017 alone, paying more than $891 million in federal taxes and an additional $654 million in state and local taxes. They held nearly $5.8 billion in spending power.

You can find the latest version of the Map at maptheimpact.org.