New Americans in the Green Mountain State

The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in Vermont.

Immigrants and their children are growing shares of Vermont’s population and electorate.

• The foreign-born share of Vermont’s population rose from 3.1% in 1990 [1] to 3.9% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Vermont was home to 24,525 immigrants in 2008 [2].

• 56.8% of immigrants (or 13,919 people) in Vermont were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 4.3% (or 14,818) of registered voters in Vermont were “New Americans”—naturalized citizens or the U.S.-born children of immigrants who were raised during the current era of immigration from Latin America and Asia which began in 1965—according to an analysis of 2006 Census Bureau data by Rob Paral & Associates [3].

Roughly 2.5% of Vermonters are Latino or Asian.

• The Latino share of Vermont’s population grew from 0.7% in 1990 [4], to 0.9% in 2000 [4], to 1.2% (or 7,455 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 0.6% in 1990 [5], to 0.9% in 2000 [5], to 1.2% (or 7,455 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• In Vermont, more than nine-in-ten (or 94% of) children in immigrant families were U.S. citizens in 2007 [6], according to the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University of Albany.

Latino and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs to Vermont’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of Latinos totaled $251.6 million—an increase of 441.7% since 1990.  Asian buying power totaled $178.7 million—an increase of 402.8% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [7] at the University of Georgia.

• Vermont’s 434 Asian-owned [8] businesses had sales and receipts of $67 million in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 452 Latino-owned [9] businesses had sales and receipts of $38 million and employed 229 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are important to Vermont’s economy as workers and taxpayers.

• Immigrants comprised 4.1% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 14,702 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised less than 0.5% of the state’s workforce (or fewer than 10,000 workers) in 2008 [10], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• More than half of the milk produced in the state comes from the roughly 2,000 Hispanic migrant farm workers living and working in Vermont, according to a survey [11] by the Vermont Farm Bureau.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Vermont, the state would lose $794.8 million in economic activity, $294.6 million in gross state product, and approximately 5,143 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [12].

Immigrants are important to Vermont’s economy as students.

• Vermont’s 1,022 foreign students contributed $28.9 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators [13].

Immigrants excel educationally.

• 36.4% of Vermont’s foreign-born population age 25 and older had a bachelor’s or higher degree in 2008 [14], compared to 31.9% of native-born persons age 25 and older.

• In Vermont, 83.3% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 in families that spoke a language other than English at home also spoke English “very well” as of 2008 [15].

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Thu, Apr 01, 2010 | Download File [16]