U.S. Immigration by the Numbers

Updated October 31, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Immigration Statistics from the most recent data available from the Department of Homeland Security

How Many Refugees

69,975

Number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. in 2014.

46,400

The number of refugees from Asia, the region the U.S. took in the most refugees from in 2014. Africa came in second with 16,343.

19,769

The number of refugees from Iraq, the country where the most refugees came to the U.S. from in 2014. Burma was second with 14,598.

Male vs. Female

Of the 69,975 refugees who came to the U.S. in 2014, 36,767 were male and 33,208 were female.

23,533

The number of individuals granted asylum in 2014.

7,880

The number of individuals granted asylum from China in 2014. The U.S. granted asylum to more people in China than any other country in 2014. Egypt was second with 2,879.

Naturalization

654,949

The number of people, in 2014, who became naturalized. Naturalization is the process by which foreign citizens obtain U.S. citizenship.

Leading Countries

Mexico (95,889), India (37,854), the Philippines(34,591), China (30,284), Cuba (24,092) and the Dominican Republic (23,775) were the top countries of birth for the people granted U.S. citizenship in 2014.

Leading States

The largest number of persons naturalized in 2014 live in California (140,234), Florida (79,637), New York (77,717) and Texas (52,879).

Naturalization Increase

The number of persons becoming U.S. citizens increased from 649,193 in 2011 to 757,434 in 2012, to 777,416 in 2013, but then decreased to 654,949 in 2014.

Legal Permanent Residents

1,016,518

In 2014, the total number of people who became legal permanent residents of the United States. These individuals received their green card and therefore they may live and work permanently in the U.S. as well as own property, attend public schools, join certain Armed Forces and apply to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements.

Legal Permanent Resident Increase

The number of individuals granted legal permanent residency increased from 990,553 in 2013 to 1,016,518 in 2014.

California

The state with the most legal permanent residents in 2014 with 19.5 percent, followed by New York (13.9 percent), Florida (10.8 percent), Texas (9.4 percent) and New Jersey (5.1 percent).

32

The median age for individuals who became legal permanent residents in 2014. The median age of the native population of the U.S. in 2014 was 37 years.