{"id":13588,"date":"2015-04-09T11:58:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T16:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/6-key-findings-about-black-immigration\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:19:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:19:59","slug":"6-key-findings-about-black-immigration","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/04\/09\/6-key-findings-about-black-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"6 key findings about black immigration to the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black immigrants make up a small but growing segment of the U.S. black population. Although the United States has long had a sizable black population as a legacy of slavery, voluntary black immigration to the U.S. is a relatively new development and is <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/03\/09\/u-s-immigrant-population-projected-to-rise-even-as-share-falls-among-hispanics-asians\/\">projected to grow<\/a> in the coming decades. A new <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2015\/04\/09\/a-rising-share-of-the-u-s-black-population-is-foreign-born\/\">Pew Research Center report<\/a> examines this trend and provides a statistical portrait of the nation\u2019s black immigrant population.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are six key findings about the foreign-born black population in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2015\/04\/09\/chapter-1-statistical-portrait-of-the-u-s-black-immigrant-population\/#citizenship-status\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ececec\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ececec;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"370\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/FT_15.04.09_blackImmigrantsOrigin.png?resize=310,370 310w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-25178 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/FT_15.04.09_blackImmigrantsOrigin.png\" alt=\"Caribbean Is Top Birth Region; African Immigration Soared Since 2000\" ><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The black immigrant population has more than quadrupled since 1980.<\/strong> Only around 800,000 blacks were foreign-born in that year, and by 2013 the number had climbed to 3.8 million, according to a Pew Research analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Immigrants are also making up a larger share of the overall black population \u2013 8.7% of blacks were foreign-born in 2013, a share that is <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/03\/09\/u-s-immigrant-population-projected-to-rise-even-as-share-falls-among-hispanics-asians\/\">projected to almost double<\/a> by 2060.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more-->The number of black immigrants from African nations has rapidly grown. <strong>Between 2000 and 2013, the black African immigrant population grew from 570,000 to 1.4 million, an increase of 137%. <\/strong>Africans make up 36% of the overall foreign-born black population, up from 24% in 2000. Still, half of all black immigrants were born in the Caribbean, with Jamaica and Haiti being the two largest birth countries, accounting for 18% and 15% of black immigrants, respectively.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Black immigrants make up a double-digit share of the overall black population in some large metro areas.<\/strong>\u00a0 In 2013, about one-in-three blacks (34%) living in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area in Florida were immigrants. In the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, foreign-born blacks made up 28% of the black population. And in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, 15% of the area\u2019s blacks were foreign-born.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>When compared with U.S. immigrants overall, foreign-born blacks are less likely to be in the U.S. illegally, more likely to be U.S. citizens and more likely to speak English at a higher rate. <\/strong>About 575,000 black immigrants were living in the U.S. without authorization in 2012, accounting for 16% of all black immigrants, according to Pew Research Center estimates. By comparison, about a quarter of the nation\u2019s 42.5 million immigrants have an unauthorized status. Black immigrants are also more likely to be U.S. citizens than immigrants overall (54% versus 47%). And given that many black immigrants are from English-speaking Caribbean nations, 74% of those ages 5 and older are proficient in English, compared with 50% of all immigrants.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2015\/04\/09\/chapter-1-statistical-portrait-of-the-u-s-black-immigrant-population\/#educational-attainment\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e1e8e6\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e1e8e6;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"530\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/FT_15.04.09_blackImmigrantsEducation.png?resize=310,530 310w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-25183 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/FT_15.04.09_blackImmigrantsEducation.png\" alt=\"One-third of Black Immigrants from Africa Have a College Degree, a Higher Share than Among the U.S. Population\" ><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, black immigrants earn college degrees at a slightly lower rate than Americans in general, but<strong> the share of foreign-born blacks from Africa with a college degree is higher than that of the overall U.S. population. <\/strong>About one-quarter (26%) of foreign-born blacks ages 25 and older had at least a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2013, which falls somewhat below that of the overall U.S. population, at 30%. However, black immigrants ages 25 and older from Africa have high levels of educational attainment \u2013 35% have a college degree, a higher share than Americans overall.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>There are some distinct differences between U.S.- and foreign-born blacks when it came to age, education, marriage and income. <\/strong>In comparison with U.S.-born blacks, foreign-born blacks are older, with a median age of 42 versus 29 for U.S.-born blacks, according to 2013 figures. Among those 25 and older, a higher share of immigrant blacks have a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher (26% vs. 19%). They\u2019re also much more likely to be married \u2013 nearly half (48%) of black immigrants ages 18 and older were married in 2013, compared with 28% of U.S.-born blacks, a difference that may be tied to the foreign-born blacks\u2019 higher median age. Black immigrants are in general faring better economically than blacks born in the U.S.\u00a0 Household incomes for foreign-born blacks are on average $10,000 higher than U.S.-born blacks, and black immigrants are less likely to live in poverty (20% vs. 28%).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although the U.S. has long had a sizable black population as a legacy of slavery, voluntary black immigration here is projected to grow in coming decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063796","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[149,384,27,28],"bylines":[940],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[529,526,519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-13588","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-black-americans","category-immigrant-populations","category-immigration-migration","category-race-ethnicity","bylines-monica-anderson","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-global-migration-and-demography","research-teams-internet","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short 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