Not all immigrants make the same tax payments or impose the same costs. The best predictors of immigrant success and thus their tax payments are their skills, their education, and their ability to speak English. Immigrants' earnings rise over time as they continue to climb the economic ladder of success in America. This economic assimilation pattern varies by ethnicity and country of origin, but it is as evident today as it was 30 years ago, when researchers first began to study the rate of economic success by immigrants over time. The age profile of immigrants is one of the key characteristics that makes them a fiscal bargain for native-born U.S. taxpayers.
Most immigrants arrive in the United States in the prime of their working years.
For example, more than 70 percent of immigrants are over the age of 18 when they arrive in the United States. That means that there are roughly 17.5 million immigrants in the United States today whose education and upbringing were paid for by the citizens of the sending country, not American taxpayers. Another fiscal consequence of the age profile of immigrants is that they are huge net contributors to the Social Security and Medicare programs. Only 3 percent of immigrants are over the age of 65 when they enter the United States, whereas 12 percent of Americans are over 65-and that percentage will grow substantially in the future. This study estimates the total value to the Social Security system from current levels of immigration based on the calculations of the actuaries at the Social Security Administration.