Immigrant population shrinks in 2025 after decades of growth, study found

Juan Carlos Chavez, Tampa Bay Times on Aug 21, 2025

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For the first time in six decades, the number of immigrants living in the United States has dropped.

A new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that a record high of 53.3 million immigrants were living in the country in January, the highest figure ever recorded. But by June, that number had slipped to 51.8 million, the study found.

“The last time there was such a drop was in the 1960s, and before that, during the Great Depression,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center. “Our estimates suggest that more than a million immigrants have left the U.S. since January of this year.”

The decline is tied to tougher immigration policies over the past year, the Pew study said. These include new asylum restrictions at the southern border under President Joe Biden’s administration in mid-2024, as well as the zero-tolerance policies pursued by President Donald Trump. During his first 100 days, Trump issued 181 executive orders to curtail the arrival of new immigrants and deport noncitizen immigrants, including some who previously would have been allowed to remain in the country.

“The full effects of these policies remain to be seen, but already they are contributing to a declining immigrant population, especially the unauthorized immigrant population,” the study said.

Another important finding of the study is that immigrants’ presence in the U.S. labor force is slipping. At the start of this year, they made up one in five workers nationwide. By June, their share had dropped from 20% to 19%, representing a loss of more than 750,000 immigrant workers.

“Even as the nation’s immigrant population has declined in recent months — a change that may be partly artificial due to a declining survey response rate among immigrants — the U.S. is home to more immigrants than any other country,” the study said.

About half of all U.S. immigrants, or 26.7 million people, were born in Latin America. Mexico is still the largest source of immigrants, with more than 11 million people in the United States. Other large groups come from India, China, the Philippines and Cuba.

Most immigrants live in only a few states. California has the biggest share, followed by Texas, Florida and New York. Big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Miami remain the main centers for immigrant communities.

According to the Pew analysis of government data sources, more than 11 million immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 2020 and 2025. That included more than 3 million in 2023 alone, “the largest annual total ever,” the study found. Between 2021 and 2023, unauthorized immigrants accounted for most new arrivals, with many coming from Central and South America.

The study also found that 46% of immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens as of 2023. Nearly a quarter were lawful permanent residents, and another 4% were immigrants with temporary permits or visas for work or study.

The remaining 14 million were in the “unauthorized” category, making up 27% of all U.S. immigrants. This category includes asylum seekers, people with temporary permits or humanitarian parole, victims of crime, those with Temporary Protected Status, and Dreamers or immigrants who were brought by their parents as children without legal status. More than 600,000 fall under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an executive action signed by former President Barack Obama in 2012.

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