New Americans in the Show Me State

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

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

• The foreign-born share of Missouri’s population rose from 1.6% in 1990 [1], to 2.7% in 2000 [1], to 3.6% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Missouri was home to 215,214 immigrants in 2008 [2], which is more than the total population of Arlington, Virginia [3].

• 40.5% of immigrants (or 87,108 people) in Missouri were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 3.1% (or 98,271) of registered voters in Missouri 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 [4].

Nearly 5% of Missourians are Latino or Asian.

• The Latino share of Missouri’s population grew from 1.2% in 1990 [5], to 2.1% in 2000 [5], to 3.2% (or 189,171 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 0.8% in 1990 [6], to 1.1% in 2000 [6], to 1.4% (or 82,762 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Latinos accounted for 0.7% (or 20,000) of Missouri voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians 0.5% (14,000), according to the U.S. Census Bureau [7].

• In Missouri, more than four-in-five (or 82% 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.

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

• The 2009 purchasing power of Latinos in Missouri totaled $4.3 billion—an increase of 496.2% since 1990.  Asian buying power totaled $3.2 billion—an increase of 400.1% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [9] at the University of Georgia

• Missouri’s 6,376 Asian-owned [10] businesses had sales and receipts of $1.9 billion and employed 15,170 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 3,652 Latino-owned [11] businesses had sales and receipts of $682.0 million and employed 5,507 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are integral to Missouri’s economy as workers and taxpayers.

• Immigrants comprised 4.3% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 134,569 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Immigrants accounted for 5% of total economic output in the St. Louis metropolitan area as of 2007, according to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute [12].  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.”

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised roughly 0.8% of the state’s workforce (or 25,000 workers) in 2008 [13], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• Unauthorized immigrants contribute between $29 million to $57 million in property, state income, and excise taxes each year, according to a 2006 [14] study by the Missouri Budget Project.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Missouri, the state would lose $2.3 billion in economic activity, $1.0 billion in gross state product, and approximately 13,859 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [15].

Immigrants are integral to Missouri’s economy as students.

• Missouri’s 11,285 foreign students contributed $270.9 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to the NAFSA: Association of International Educators [16].

Immigrants excel educationally.

• In 2008 [17], 33.3% of Missouri’s foreign-born population age 25 and older had a bachelor's or higher degree, compared to 24.6 percent of native-born persons.

• The number of immigrants in Missouri with a college degree increased by 36.7% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [17] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• In Missouri, 73.1% 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].

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Thu, Mar 04, 2010 | Download File [18]