Data Shows Impact of Immigration on Michigan’s Population
(Kurt Metzger, Jan 12, 2025)
Oakland County, MI- December’s release of state population estimates demonstrated the importance of Immigrants to Michigan’s population growth.
While 68,000 Michigan residents have left for other parts of the country since 2020, 165,000 immigrants (all categories including permanent residents, asylees, refugees, and temporary workers, visitors or students) have come to Michigan between 2020 and 2024.
With Immigration one of the key discussions of this past election, and an important component of the Growing Michigan’s Population Taskforce plans, I wanted to take a moment to look at some of the demographic and socioeconomic differences between Foreign-Born (Immigrant) and Native-Born residents.
The first 2 illustrations are called Population Pyramids which illustrate the population share for each 5-year age cohort by gender. Pictures are powerful, and here we see how different the native- and foreign-born age structures are.
While the differences are easy to see, lines 2 and 3 in the following chart give context to the pyramids – a higher percentage of foreign- born women are in their child-bearing years, and a much higher (19 percentage points) share of the foreign-born are of prime working age.
Too often discussions of immigration are based on stereotypes or news stories that don’t show the true level of stability and success that immigrants bring to the community. The chart above shows higher rates of college education, marriage, and income than the native born population.
The charts below shows the place of birth for Michigan residents and Oakland County residents, demonstrating that Oakland County has a slightly larger immigrant population than the state as a whole.
We’ve also decided to take a look at what countries immigrants coming to Michigan have been coming from over the past four years. The top three countries are India, Yemen, and Mexico.
India is the world’s most populous country, According to Migration Policy Institute, more than 2.9 million Indian immigrants live in the United States, making Indians the second largest foreign-born group in the US after Mexicans. Many come for educational and employment opportunities. The report looks at the native Indian populations across the US, stating “Indian adults have much higher rates of educational attainment than both the native- and overall foreign-born populations. In 2023, 81 percent of Indian immigrants ages 25 and older reported having at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 35 percent of all foreign-born and 36 percent of U.S.-born adults. Indians are also much more likely to hold graduate or professional degrees: 49 percent of Indian immigrants held an advanced degree in 2023, versus 16 percent of the total foreign-born and 14 percent of the U.S.-born populations.”
Yemen is one of 16 countries from which the US allows Temporary Protected Status to refugees. This TPS was recently extended to March 3, 2026. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced the extension in 2024, stating “Yemen has been in a state of protracted conflict for the past decade, severely limiting civilians’ access to water, food, and medical care, pushing the country to the brink of economic collapse, and preventing Yemeni nationals living abroad from safely returning home. The steps the Department of Homeland Security has taken today will allow certain Yemenis currently residing in the United States to remain and work here until conditions in their home country improve.”
The only other country of origin in the top 14 list with TPS is Lebanon, which got TPS in 2024 in response to the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.
Immigration from Mexico has been the third largest source in the past few years. Mexicans are the largest group of immigrants in the United States, accounting for about 23 percent of all 47.8 million foreign-born residents as of 2023, though the numbers are higher in SW states, particularly California and Texas, according to Migration Policy Institute.
For more stories about the Census and other interesting numbers, visit the Data-Base Stories Archives on Oakland County Times. Thanks to Data Expert Kurt Metzger for this work!