{"id":40021,"date":"2025-07-29T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=40021"},"modified":"2025-07-30T05:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:32:13","slug":"unpacking-floridas-immigration-trends-%e2%88%92-demographers-take-a-closer-look-at-the-legal-and-undocumented-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/unpacking-floridas-immigration-trends-%e2%88%92-demographers-take-a-closer-look-at-the-legal-and-undocumented-population\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpacking Florida\u2019s immigration trends \u2212 demographers take a closer look at the legal and undocumented population"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matt Brooks<\/a>, Florida State University<\/a><\/em> and Karin Brewster<\/a>, Florida State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immigration has dominated recent public discourse about Florida, whether it be the opening of Alligator Alcatraz<\/a>, a migrant detention facility in the middle of the Everglades, or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring an \u201cimmigration emergency\u201d for the state<\/a> that has lasted more than two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As demographers<\/a> \u2013 that is, people who count people<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019ve noticed that this conversation has proceeded largely without the benefit of a clear description of Florida\u2019s immigrant population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a snapshot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many immigrants are in Florida?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We used data from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics<\/a> and the American Community Survey<\/a>, conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. Homeland Security provides estimates of the state\u2019s undocumented population and annual counts of authorized arrivals. Census data allow us to describe the social and economic characteristics of Florida\u2019s immigrant population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security provides publicly available data, an estimated 590,000 immigrants without legal status were living in Florida. This is the third-largest population<\/a> of immigrants without legal status in the U.S., behind California and Texas. But in contrast to those two states, the number of immigrants entering Florida illegally has been shrinking since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, DHS data points to recent growth in Florida\u2019s population of immigrants with legal status. This represents a rebound from declines between 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Florida welcomed 72,850 residents from outside the country. This is just 0.3% of Florida\u2019s population that year. About 95% of these new Florida residents were admitted as lawful permanent residents, or green card holders. The remainder entered as refugees (3%) and people granted asylum (2%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For comparison, U.S. Census Bureau estimates<\/a> suggest roughly 640,000 people moved to Florida in 2023 from other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who makes up Florida\u2019s immigrant population?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The American Community Survey data<\/a> tells us even more about Florida\u2019s immigrant population. The survey estimates that 4,996,874 foreign-born individuals lived in Florida in 2023, up from 3,798,062 in 2013. These numbers include those who are in the U.S. legally and illegally and encompass both recent arrivals and long-term residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, about 22% of Florida residents \u2013 and nearly 7% of Florida children \u2013 were immigrants. An additional 29% of Florida children have at least one immigrant parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the American Community Survey<\/a>, nearly half of Florida\u2019s immigrants were born in Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia or Mexico. Despite being born elsewhere, Florida\u2019s immigrants in many ways resemble other Floridians: About 20% hold a bachelor\u2019s degree, compared to 22% of nonimmigrant Floridians, and 13% of both groups have a graduate degree. Nearly all Florida immigrants, 89%, speak English, and the majority, 57%, are naturalized citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immigrants make up a disproportionate share of Florida\u2019s workforce, particularly in essential sectors of the state\u2019s economy. They account for more than 47% of Florida\u2019s agricultural workers, 41% of hotel workers and 35% of construction workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida immigrants also work in sectors that many might not consider to be \u201cimmigrant jobs.\u201d They constitute 33% of child care workers, 21% of school and university employees and 27% of the health care workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across all sectors, immigrants have lower unemployment rates than nonimmigrants. Although available data cannot tell us the extent to which these numbers are bolstered by undocumented immigrants, the importance of Florida\u2019s immigrants for the state\u2019s economy is undeniable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida\u2019s population is growing at a faster rate than any other state in the country<\/a>, boosted by people moving in from abroad and from other states. This growth both reflects and feeds the state\u2019s economic vitality. Between 2019 and 2024, Florida\u2019s GDP grew twice as fast as the nation\u2019s as a whole<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Florida experiencing an \u201cimmigration emergency\u201d? That\u2019s for politicians to decide. Our research suggests that policies that discourage new arrivals or encourage \u2013 or force \u2013 migrants to leave could jeopardize Florida\u2019s robust economy and the well-being of its population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Brooks<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Florida State University<\/a><\/em> and Karin Brewster<\/a>, Professor of Sociology, Florida State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Brooks, Florida State University and Karin Brewster, Florida State University Immigration has dominated recent public discourse about Florida, whether it be the opening of Alligator Alcatraz, a migrant detention facility in the middle of the Everglades, or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring an \u201cimmigration emergency\u201d for the state that has lasted more than two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":40022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,10,36,15533,38],"tags":[2318,2316,3181,537,885,891,886,860,14506,7765,16700,1586],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40023,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40021\/revisions\/40023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}