The USA is a nation of immigrants, and California much more so, with twice the nationwide proportion of immigrants. Simply over 1 / 4 of California’s roughly 40 million residents have been born elsewhere, however in lots of components of the Bay Space, immigrants account for over a 3rd of the inhabitants.
Santa Clara County has the state’s highest proportion of immigrants, with 41% of residents born exterior of the nation. San Mateo, San Francisco and Alameda counties are subsequent on the record, with between 34% and 36% immigrants. All 4 of these Bay Space counties have a better charge of immigrants than Los Angeles County, the place one-third of residents are immigrants.
Whereas the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Group Survey doesn’t gather information on the authorized standing of non-citizens, a report from the Migration Coverage Institute estimates that as of 2023, 73% of immigrants within the nation have been naturalized residents, had everlasting authorized standing, or have been on momentary work visas. The remaining 27% of immigrants within the nation are “unauthorized,” based on the report.
In Fremont and Sunnyvale, half of residents have been born exterior of america. Solely one among California’s 100 largest cities has a better proportion of immigrants: Glendale, a metropolis in Los Angeles County adjoining to Griffith Park that’s identified for its giant Armenian inhabitants.
Across the Golden State, there are simply over 24 million naturalized U.S. residents, individuals who have been born elsewhere however now have U.S. citizenship. And there are almost 22 million individuals residing in California who aren’t residents, together with these right here quickly, these with work authorization, these in search of asylum, and people with out formal authorization.
We additionally know that the Bay Space will get a disproportionate variety of the nation’s H1-B visa beneficiaries, largely extremely expert staff, particularly in tech.
Partially as a result of area’s excessive variety of immigrant tech staff, Santa Clara County has a better proportion of each naturalized U.S. residents and non-citizens in comparison with different counties within the area. And the variety of non-citizens has grown by 15% since 2010, greater than in some other Bay Space county.
In San Francisco, Solano, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties, there are actually fewer non-citizen residents than in 2010, whereas San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties have extra non-citizens than 13 years earlier than.
Across the nation, there are actually about 50 million immigrants, greater than ever earlier than. Proportionally, immigrants now make up almost 15% of the nation’s residents, much like the speed within the late 1800s. Within the first a part of the twentieth century, the share of U.S. residents who have been immigrants dropped to simply over 5% by 1970, however that determine has been rising constantly since then.
Statewide, Mexico is by far the commonest nation of beginning amongst immigrants, however the share of immigrants from our neighbor to the south is shrinking. In 2010, there have been 4.3 million individuals residing in California who have been born in Mexico. Now that whole is 3.8 million. Coming in second on the record is the Philippines, the place over 800,000 California residents have been born. One other almost 700,000 residents have been born in China, and India was fourth on the record in 2023, shifting steadily up the ranks over the previous decade.
Within the Bay Space, immigrants are coming from completely different locations than a decade in the past. In 2018, the variety of Indian immigrants in Santa Clara and Alameda counties surpassed the variety of residents born in Mexico.
Initially Printed: June 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM PDT
