AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas was among several states to see historic highs of foreign-born, or immigrant, populations at the start of this year, according to a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies.
According to a summary of the report, the report used Census data and government surveys to “examine the size of the foreign-born population at the regional and state level since 1850, focusing on the growth since 1980.”
The study also looked at large increases in the foreign-born population from the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2025 in some states.
The report noted that its authors used “immigrant” and “foreign-born” interchangeably, citing the Census Bureau’s definition of the foreign-born population, which includes anyone who was not a U.S. citizen at birth, including naturalized U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, temporary migrants, humanitarian migrants and unauthorized migrants.
According to the study, in the first quarter of 2025, the foreign-born share of the population hit historic highs in 14 states: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
In those four years, the foreign-born population grew by more than one-third in 16 states (the report stated this finding used a 90% confidence level).
Texas had the second-largest numeric increase of its foreign-born population between 2021 and 2025, following California, per the report. Texas’ foreign-born population increased by one million in that time. California’s was up 1.4 million.
California, Texas and Florida each accounted for more than 10% of the increase in the total foreign-born population between 2021 and 2025. The study broke down the growth from those three states, as well as others that represented a significant share of the country’s overall foreign-born population growth in those four years:
- California: 17.3%
- Texas: 12.4%
- Florida: 10.3%
- Pennsylvania: 5.4%
- Georgia: 5.2%
- Maryland: 4.9%
- Indiana: 4.2%
- Massachusetts: 4.1%
- Washington: 3.9%
- Michigan: 3.6%
- New Jersey: 3.6%
- New York: 3.1%
- North Carolina: 2.6%
- South Carolina: 2.5%
- All other states combined: 16.8%
The study also noted a regional shift in the distribution of immigrants.
“The immigrant population has grown enormously in southern states like Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, and Virginia both numerically and as a share of their populations since 1980,” the study said.
Today, the South has significantly more immigrants than any other part of the country, the study said.
In 1940, the South accounted for 6% of the foreign-born population. In 1980, it was 21%. Now, the South accounts for 37%, according to the study’s findings.
The findings also revealed that Texas and Florida are now the states with the second- and third-largest foreign-born populations, respectively, though they were not traditionally areas of high immigration.