Immigrants Are Key to Economic Growth in Florida

FLORIDA, Dec. 7, 2023—The American Immigration Council released new analysis on Florida’s immigrant population and their contributions to the state. The Map The Impact interactive tool provides state and local immigration data and reports information on demographics, population size, economic contributions, as well as data on undocumented immigrants and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in the state.  

Florida is experiencing an evolving demographic landscape with the growing presence of immigrants. Map the Impact is designed to serve as an invaluable resource for the general public to understand the broad range of contributions immigrants make to communities in Florida.  

Recent findings from Map the Impact reveal that 21% of the state's population were foreign-born and comprised more than a quarter of the state's workforce in 2021. 

In the same year, immigrants constituted at least one in five entrepreneurs nationwide, generating $95.6 trillion in business income. Florida stood out with one-third of its entrepreneurs being foreign-born in 2021 and an increase of 87,500 immigrant entrepreneurs from 2016, the largest nationwide, resulting in over $11 billion in state business revenue. 

The Council’s latest Fortune 500 report revealed that 45% of New American companies on the 2023 list were founded by immigrants or their children. Florida, among the top six states with these companies, generated $219 million in revenue and employed over 1 million people worldwide. 

As of 2021, immigrant-led households in the state paid over $27 billion in federal taxes and over $10 billion in state and local taxes. As consumers, immigrant-led households poured over $125 billion back into Florida’s state economy.   

New data also shows that Florida is currently home to 22,690 active DACA recipients. Florida DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals paid $304 million in federal and state taxes in 2021. 

Undocumented immigrants comprised nearly 4% of Florida’s total population and over 5% of the state's labor workforce. Undocumented immigrants in Florida paid an estimated $1.5 billion in state taxes and $703.6 million in state and local taxes in 2021.  

Drawing from U.S. Census data and other sources, the Council developed Map the Impact which provide the latest demographic and economic contributions of immigrants in each U.S. state and can be accessed here.  

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For more information, contact:  

Brianna Dimas at the American Immigration Council, at [email protected] or 202-507-7557