About 30% of Americans are either foreign born or have at least one parent that is foreign born. This figure is 60% if we also include those who have at least one grandparent that is foreign born.
(A typo on this post was corrected in July of 2026. Previously, this post said “40% of Americans” when it should have said 30%. That is now updated to 30%.)
While the US does not have the highest foreign born population among all countries, it does have one of the highest. In 2025, 15.8% of the US population was foreign born, the highest in the history of the U.S. since its founding. In the early 1970s, about 4.7% of the US population was foreign born and has risen considerably since then and is forecast to reach over 18% by 2040.
While the media presents the U.S. as “anti-immigrant”, the data do not support that assertion – when nearly 1 in 3 of us are either foreign born or have at least one parent that is an immigrant.
