New Americans in the Sunflower State

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

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

• The foreign-born share of Kansas’s population rose from 2.5% in 1990 [1], to 5.0% in 2000 [1], to 5.9% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Kansas was home to 164,118 immigrants in 2008 [2], which is nearly the total population of Salt Lake City, Utah [3].

• 36.5% of immigrants (or 59,901 people) in Kansas were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 1.8% (or 22,936) of registered voters in Kansas 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].

1 in 9 Kansans are Latino or Asian.

• The Latino share of Kansas’s population grew from 3.8% in 1990 [5], to 7.0% in 2000 [5], to 9.1% (or 254,994 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 1.2% in 1990 [6], to 1.7% in 2000 [6], to 2.1% (or 58,845 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Latinos accounted for 3.2% (or 39,000) of Kansas voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians 1.6% (19,000), according to the U.S. Census Bureau [7].

• In Kansas, more than four in five (or 85% 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 tens of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to Kansas’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of Latinos totaled $5.2 billion—an increase of 488.1% since 1990.  Asian buying power in Kansas totaled $2.1 billion—an increase of 418.6% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [9] at the University of Georgia.

• Kansas’s 3,547 Asian-owned [10] businesses had sales and receipts of $895.6 million and employed 8,535 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 4,176 Latino-owned [11] businesses had sales and receipts of $659.6 million and employed 7,493 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

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

• Immigrants comprised 7.3% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 112,322 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised roughly 2.8% of the state’s workforce (or 40,000 workers) in 2008 [12], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Kansas, the state would lose $1.8 billion in economic activity, $807.2 million in gross state product, and approximately 11,879 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [13].

Immigrants are important to Kansas’s economy as students.

• Kansas’s 8,668 foreign students contributed $159.4 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 [14].

Naturalized citizens excel educationally.

• In Kansas, 32.6% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [15] had a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to 24.6% of noncitizens.  At the same time, only 26.9% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 43.5% of noncitizens.

• The number of immigrants in Kansas with a college degree increased by 81.6% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [15] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• In Kansas, 75.8% 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: Mon, Feb 22, 2010 | Download File [16]