New Americans in the Tar Heel State

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

Immigrants and their children are growing shares of North Carolina’s population.

• The foreign-born share of North Carolina’s population rose from 1.7% in 1990 [1], to 5.3% in 2000 [1], to 7.0% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  North Carolina was home to 641,130 immigrants in 2008 [2], which is roughly equal to the total population of Charlotte, North Carolina [3].

• 28.3% of immigrants (or 181,436 people) in North Carolina were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 1.9% (or 79,033) of registered voters in North Carolina 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 one-in-ten North Carolinians are Latino or Asian.

• The Latino share of North Carolina’s population grew from 1.2% in 1990 [5], to 4.7% in 2000 [5], to 7.4% (or 682,459 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 0.8%  in 1990 [6], to 1.4% in 2000 [6], to 1.9% (or 175,226 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Latinos comprised 1.8% (or 77,000) of North Carolina voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians about 1% (or 43,000), according to the U.S. Census Bureau [7].  Although the numbers of Latino and Asian voters were relatively small, they far exceeded the very narrow margin of victory (14,177 votes [8]) by which Barack Obama defeated John McCain.

• In North Carolina, nearly half (or 46%) of the children in immigrant families were U.S. citizens in 2007 [9], 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 tens of thousands of jobs to North Carolina’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of North Carolina’s Latinos totaled $12.8 billion—an increase of 1,424.0% since 1990.  Asian buying power totaled $6.0 billion—an increase of 743.2% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [10] at the University of Georgia.

• Spending by Latinos in North Carolina generated 89,600 spin-off jobs and an additional $2.4 billion in labor income, $455 million in state tax revenue, and $661 million in federal tax revenue in 2004, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill [11].

• North Carolina’s 13,695 Asian-owned [12] businesses had sales and receipts of $3.5 billion and employed 32,759 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 9,043 Latino-owned [13] businesses had sales and receipts of $1.8 billion and employed 11,615 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are essential to North Carolina’s economy as workers and consumers.

• Immigrants comprised 9.1% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 436,889 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised 5.3% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [14] (or 250,000 workers), according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from North Carolina, the state would lose $14.5 billion in economic activity, $6.4 billion in gross state product, and approximately 101,414 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [15].

Immigrants are integral to North Carolina’s economy as students.

• North Carolina’s 12,220 foreign students contributed $276.6 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 immigrants excel educationally.

• The number of immigrants in North Carolina with a college degree increased by 84.3% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [17] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• 38.8% of North Carolina’s foreign-born population age 25 and over who were naturalized U.S. citizens had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2008 [17], compared to 21.9% of noncitizens and 26.0% of native-born citizens.

• In North Carolina, 68.0% 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 [18].

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Mon, Aug 03, 2009 | Download File [19]