Immigrants are a Plus for our Economy Immigrants and their children bring long-term economic benefits to the United States as a whole. This estimate does not include the impact of immigrant-owned businesses or the impact of highly skilled immigrants on overall productivity. Naturalized Immigrants Pay More than Their Share Immigrants who become U.S. citizens typically pay more in taxes than do native-born Americans. Immigrant-Founded Businesses Are an Important Revenue Source Businesses founded by immigrants are a source of substantial economic and fiscal gain for U.S. citizens. Net Economic Contributors Immigrants earnings rise over time as they climb the economic ladder of success in America.
Most immigrants arrive in the United States in the prime of their working years.
More than 70 percent of immigrants are over the age of 18 when they arrive in the United States. That means 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. This makes immigrants a fiscal bargain for our country. Like natives, immigrants use more state and local services than they pay for in state and local taxes. Despite this imbalance, there is no evidence that states or cities with large immigrant populations perform worse economically than those with small immigrant populations.