IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/qmn9a_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Heterogeneities of Immigrant Poverty in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Brady, David

    (University of Southern California)

  • Bocanegra, Alexis
  • Cervantes, Diana
  • Macy, Lauren
  • Saravia, Nasdira Romero

Abstract

Immigrants are now more than one-fifth of the poor in the U.S. Yet, despite some valuable literature, immigrant poverty remains arguably understudied. This study builds on the larger literatures on immigrant attainment and poverty, and the smaller literature on immigrant poverty. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), we provide an improved descriptive demographic portrait of immigrant poverty from 1993-2023, across 51 states (including D.C.), and within 2019-2024 (N=760,026). There is considerable heterogeneity over time. After declining for several decades, immigrant poverty increased substantially in recent years. Immigrant poverty also varies enormously across states. States’ immigrant poverty rates are moderately negatively correlated with states’ immigrant share of the population and strongly positively correlated with states’ non-immigrant poverty. There are large heterogeneities by nation of origin as well. While immigrants from India have among the lowest poverty of any group in the U.S., Honduran immigrant poverty is 6-7 times higher. While especially being a non-citizen immigrant increases poverty, heterogeneities in immigrant poverty are driven more by the major risks of poverty than the immigrant characteristics of being a citizen, years of residence, or mixed status households. That said, heterogeneities by nation of origin are explained by varying mixes of risks, immigrant characteristics and educational selectivity. Ultimately, we demonstrate immigrant poverty is not one coherent phenomenon. Indeed, the heterogeneities within immigrant poverty are perhaps even more important than the heterogeneities in poverty between immigrants and non-immigrants. (Stone Center Working Paper Series)

Suggested Citation

  • Brady, David & Bocanegra, Alexis & Cervantes, Diana & Macy, Lauren & Saravia, Nasdira Romero, 2025. "The Heterogeneities of Immigrant Poverty in the U.S," SocArXiv qmn9a_v1, Center for Open Science.
  • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:qmn9a_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/qmn9a_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/683dce5d61ad7e6e515394b6/
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/qmn9a_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcella Alsan & Crystal S. Yang, 2024. "Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1427-1441, November.
    2. Alejandro Portes & Min Zhou, 1993. "The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and its Variants," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 530(1), pages 74-96, November.
    3. Zagel, Hannah & Hübgen, Sabine & Nieuwenhuis, Rense, 2021. "Diverging Trends in Single-Mother Poverty across Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom: Toward a Comprehensive Explanatory Framework," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Advance A, pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Bradley & Alexis Bocanegra & Diana Cervantes & Lauren Macy & Nasdira Romero Saravia, 2025. "The Heterogeneities of Immigrant Poverty in the U.S," LIS Working papers 899, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Francisca M. Antman, 2022. "De facto immigration enforcement, ICE raid awareness, and worker engagement," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 373-391, January.
    3. repec:plo:pone00:0194296 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:osf:socarx:rp37g_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Michael A. Hansen & Jonathan Olsen, 2023. "Identity and Belonging: Emotional Assimilation in Two Immigrant Communities in Germany," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1795-1815, December.
    6. Alberto Ciancio & Camilo García-Jimeno, 2019. "The Political Economy of Immigration Enforcement: Conflict and Cooperation under Federalism," NBER Working Papers 25766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Louise Devos & Louis Lippens & Dries Lens & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral & Stijn Baert, 2025. "Labour Market Disadvantages of Citizens with a Migration Background in Belgium: A Systematic Review," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 121-175, March.
    8. Luigi M. Solivetti, 2024. "Muslim immigrants and perceived discrimination in Europe: a comparative analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1859-1879, April.
    9. Juho Härkönen & Marika Jalovaara & Eevi Lappalainen & Anneli Miettinen, 2023. "Double Disadvantage in a Nordic Welfare State: A Demographic Analysis of the Single-Parent Employment Gap in Finland, 1987–2018," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-27, December.
    10. Mari Toivanen, 2019. "Second Generation and Migrant Capital in the Transnational Space: The Case of Young Kurds in France," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 243-252.
    11. Cascio, Elizabeth U. & Lewis, Ethan G., 2019. "Distributing the Green (Cards): Permanent residency and personal income taxes after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 135-150.
    12. Nolan, Brian & Azzollini, Leo & Breen, Richard, 2023. "Changing Household Structures, Household Employment, and Poverty Trends in Rich Countries," INET Oxford Working Papers 2023-29, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    13. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2021. "How Foreign- and U.S.-Born Latinos Fare during Recessions and Recoveries," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 695(1), pages 193-206, May.
    14. Brandyn Churchill, 2021. "E‐Verify mandates and unauthorized immigrants' health insurance coverage," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(2), pages 487-526, October.
    15. Noa Achouche, 2025. "The Labor Market Challenges and Coping Strategies of Highly Skilled Second-Generation Immigrants in Europe: A Scoping Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, April.
    16. Jácome, Elisa, 2022. "The effect of immigration enforcement on crime reporting: Evidence from Dallas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    17. Ameera Karimshah & Melinda Chiment & Zlatko Skrbis, 2014. "The Mosque and Social Networks: The Case of Muslim Youth in Brisbane," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(2), pages 38-46.
    18. Almuhaisen, Abdulmohsen & Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Furtado, Delia, 2024. "Immigration enforcement and the institutionalization of elderly Americans," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Amanda M. Grittner & Matthew S. Johnson, 2021. "When Labor Enforcement and Immigration Enforcement Collide: Deterring Worker Complaints Worsens Workplace Safety," Upjohn Working Papers 21-353, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    20. Devesh Raval, 2020. "Whose Voice Do We Hear in the Marketplace? Evidence from Consumer Complaining Behavior," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 168-187, January.
    21. Stefano Comino & Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Antonio Nicolò, 2020. "Silence of the Innocents: Undocumented Immigrants’ Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1214-1245, September.
    22. Laird, Jennifer & Santelli, Isaac & Waldfogel, Jane & Wimer, Christopher, 2018. "Forgoing Food Assistance out of Fear: Simulating the Child Poverty Impact of a Making SNAP a Legal Liability for Immigrants," SocArXiv 6sgpk, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:qmn9a_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.