New Americans in the Prairie State

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

1 in 10 registered voters in Illinois are immigrants or the children of immigrants.

• The foreign-born share of Illinois’ population rose from 8.3% in 1990 [1], to 12.3% in 2000 [1], to 13.8% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Illinois was home to 1,782,423 immigrants in 2008 [2], which is more than the total population of Phoenix, Arizona [3].

• 44.4% of immigrants in Illinois (or 791,685 people) were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 10% of all registered voters in Illinois are “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 [4].

1 in 5 Illinoisans are Latino or Asian—and they vote.

• The Latino share of Illinois’ population grew from 7.9% in 1990 [5], to 12.3% in 2000 [5], to 15.3% (or 1,973,939 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 2.5% in 1990 [6], to 3.4% in 2000 [6], to 4.3% (or 554,767 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Latinos accounted for 5.8% (or 314,000) of Illinois voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians 1.4% (78,000), according to the U.S. Census Bureau [7].

• In Illinois, more than four-in-five (or 87% of) children in immigrant families were U.S. citizens in 2007 [8], according to the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University of Albany.

Immigrants are essential to the Illinois economy as workers.

• Immigrants comprised 17.5% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 1,198,293 people), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Immigrants accounted for 18% of total economic output in the Chicago metropolitan area as of 2007, according to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute [9].  In fact, “immigrants contribute to the economy in direct relation to their share of the population.  The economy of metro areas grows in tandem with the immigrant share of the labor force.”

• Immigrants are a large part of Illinois’ advancing job sectors [10], representing 27.7% of all net job creation in the “health diagnosing” sector from 2000 to 2005.

• In just the Chicago metro area, the consumer expenditures of unauthorized immigrants alone generated more than 31,000 jobs in the local economy and added $5.5 billion annually to the gross regional product, according to a 2002 survey [11] by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Illinois, the state would lose $25.6 billion in economic activity, $11.4 billion in gross state product, and approximately 119,214 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [12].

Latino and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to Illinois’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of Illinois’s Latinos totaled $43.0 billion—an increase of 387.2% since 1990.  Asian buying power totaled $23.2 billion—an increase of 354.1% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [13] at the University of Georgia.

• Illinois’ 39,539 Latino-owned [14] businesses had sales and receipts of $7.4 billion and employed 60,576 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 44,477 Asian-owned [15] businesses had sales and receipts of $14.5 billion and employed 98,305 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2002 Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are integral to Illinois’s economy as students.

• Illinois’ 29,887 foreign students contributed $823.5 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 [16].

Naturalized citizens excel educationally.

• In Illinois, 34.1% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [17] had a bachelor's or higher degree, compared to 23.3% of noncitizens.  At the same time, only 21.0% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 39.6% of noncitizens.

• The number of immigrants in Illinois with a college degree increased by 41.8% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [17] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• In Illinois, 75.6% 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 [17].

• 38% of all college graduates entering the Illinois labor force are foreign-born, according to a 2006 study [10] by Rob Paral and Associates.

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Tue, Aug 11, 2009 | Download File [18]