The Urban Institute Immigration Studies Program released a data sheet this week with a description of the basic characteristics of the present undocumented immigrant population in the United States.  According to the data, approximately 9.3 million undocumented immigrants are presently living in the United States.  This population makes up 26 percent of the total foreign-born population. 

Approximately 5.3 million, or 57 percent, of these immigrants are from Mexico.  Latin American immigrants from other countries make up about another 2.2 million, with only 10 percent from Asia and five percent from Europe and Canada.  In this growing population, almost two-third live in six states.  California and Texas have the largest numbers, with 27 percent and 13 percent, respectively.  New York, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey account for the other states with the largest population.  However, the data indicates that the most rapid growth within this population has occurred in other states.

In 10 states, the undocumented immigrants make up over 40 percent of the foreign-born population.  The Rocky Mountains, the Midwest, and the Southeast have all seen an increase in the population since the mid-1990s.  The population in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina may already surpass that of New Jersey.

Of the estimated 9.3 million, approximately 6 million of these undocumented immigrants are working.  They account for 5 percent of the labor force in America.  Those individuals who are working are earning less than US citizens, with two-thirds of undocumented workers receiving less than twice the minimum wage.

Among the undocumented men, 96 percent are in the work force.  The numbers exceed those of legal immigrants or US citizens, since the undocumented workers are less likely to be disabled, retired, or in school.  Women make up approximately 41 percent of this undocumented population.  Undocumented women are less likely to participate in the labor force because they are more likely than US citizens to have children and remain in the home.

About 1.6 million children under 18 are undocumented immigrants, with another 3 million children who are US citizens with undocumented parents because the children were born in the United States.

The full report can be found online at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=1000587.