By Steven A. Camarota Methods and Data efinitions and Data Sources. While the primary emphasis of this study is on the 1990s, a sample drawn from the 1980 Census is also used to provide historical perspective. Persons not born in the United States, one of its outlying territories or to U.S. parents living abroad are foreign-born.
All persons born in the United States, including the children of illegal aliens, are natives.
For the purposes of this report, foreign-born and immigrant are used synonymously. As already described above, individual poverty status is determined based on yearly income. The March CPS and Census ask respondents about their income in the preceding year. Censuses are for 1979 and 1989 respectively. Individuals related to the household head by blood, marriage or adoption, regardless of their own nativity, are considered to be in an immigrant or native household based on whether the household head is an immigrant or a native.