A new tool developed by New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy organization supporting immigration policies that help grow the US economy, shows that immigrants are contributing billions of dollars in taxes and spending power to congressional districts across the United States. Andrew Lim, New American Economy’s director of quantitative research, said that he hopes that breaking down this data in this way makes it useful for representatives to understand their districts. “This is data that is tailored to their districts, which we know vary greatly from city and county boundaries,” Lim said.
New American Economy used American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau through 2017 and examined spending and voting power for immigrants and also examined other factors, including home ownership, taxes paid, and the number of immigrant entrepreneurs in each district. Anyone can easily use the tool to look up information on districts or on a state-wide level. In New York District 12, for example, where our firm is located, the tool shows that immigrants make up 26.5% of the population, have paid $4.6B in taxes, and have a spending power of $10.4 billion. Other states, including Texas, also boost high numbers as well. The tool shows that state-wide in Texas immigrants make up about 17% percent of the population, have paid about $35 billion in taxes, and have a spending power of $109.9 billion. “The idea is to show that immigrants at the most familiar level are making giant contributions,” Lim said. “This data tells the story of how immigrants are living and that the conversation around immigration isn’t an abstract but is relevant to our everyday lives.”