U.S. Immigrant Population Has Skyrocketed Since 1971

Chart of the Week #16

As I told you this Wednesday, nearly every aspect of life has taken a turn for the worse since the U.S. went off the gold standard 53 years ago. From out-of-control inflation and stagnant wages to plummeting housing affordability and soaring incarceration rates, all the worst trends have exploded since 1971.

Another thing that has exploded since then is immigration. Today’s chart shows the number and percentage of the foreign-born or immigrant population (both legal and illegal) between 1850 and 2024. I’ve also included some projections for the coming decades (see grey bars) if the growth rate under the Biden administration persists.

As you can see, the nation’s foreign-born population share hit an all-time low of 4.7% in 1970, only to dramatically reverse course, soaring to 6.2% in 1980, 11.1% in 2000, and 13.7% by 2020.

This year was especially significant, though, with the immigrant population hitting a new record of 51.6 million in March. That means immigrants now make up 15.6% of the total U.S. population, which is also a record high in American history.

If we rewind two years, the foreign-born population has increased by 5.1 million. That’s the largest two-year increase in American history. The immigrant population has never grown this much, this fast.

Now, keep in mind, I’m not saying all of this has happened solely because America went off the gold standard—the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and Biden’s open border policies have had a much more direct impact on these trends. But you have to admit, it’s pretty interesting when you look at this in the context of all the other not-so-positive things that have mushroomed since 1971.

Okay, but where might things go from here?

Well, since President Biden took office in January 2021, the U.S.’ foreign-born population has jumped by 6.6 million in just 39 months—almost 60% of that due to illegal immigration, by the way. If this pace continues, we could see the immigrant population reach 62.5 million by 2030 and 82.2 million by 2040. That’s more than the combined populations of 30 states plus D.C.

Have a great weekend!

Lau Vegys