Massachusetts Immigration Ratings

Hispanic Population

519,000

% of State Population

Undocumented Residents

190,000

View Ratings Information

Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians account for growing shares of the economy and electorate in Massachusetts. Immigrants make up roughly one-in-seven Bay Staters, and nearly half of them are naturalized U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. “New Americans”— immigrants and the children of immigrants—account for nearly one-in-eight registered voters in the state.

Immigrants are not only integral to the state’s economy as workers, but also account for billions of dollars in tax revenue and consumer purchasing power. Moreover, Latinos and Asians wield more than $25 billion in consumer purchasing power, and the businesses they own had sales and receipts of $7.1 billion and employed more than 50,000 people at last count.

U.S. Senatorial Voting Record:
Immigration Legislation Immigration Reform

Senator Kennedy/Brown (D)

Senator Kerry (D)

	HS News Grading
Votes	Kennedy/Brown	Kerry
Border Security- Vote to Deny funding to complete 700 miles of border fence.(S.Amdt 1399 to S.Amdt 1373 to HR 2892)	-	A
Deportation- Vote for Funding of Sanctuary Policies for Unauthorized Immigrants.(SAmdt.2630 to HR 2847)	A	A
Workforce- Vote to NOT mandate that all companies with federal contracts verify all employees through E-verify. (S.Amdt 1371 to S.Amdt 1373 to HR 2892)	-	A
Workforce-Vote Not to extend E-Verify for six years (S.Amdt 604 to HR 1105)	-	A
Co-Sponsored DREAM ACT- Development Relief, and education for Alien Minors Act of 2009.( S. 729)	A	A
Overall State Grade:	A

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council. IPC's mission is to shape a rational conversation on immigration and immigrant integration. Through its research and analysis, IPC provides policymakers, the media, and the general public with accurate information about the role of immigrants and immigration policy on U.S. society. IPC reports and materials are widely disseminated and relied upon by press and policy makers. IPC staff regularly serves as experts to leaders on Capitol Hill, opinion-makers and the media. IPC, formed in 2003 is a non-partisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for office.

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State Facts

Immigrants and their children are growing shares of Massachusetts’s population and electorate.

The foreign-born share of Massachusetts’s population rose from 9.5% in 1990, to 12.2% in 2000, to 14.2% in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Massachusetts was home to 913,957 immigrants in 2007, which is more than the total population of San Francisco, California.
48.2% of immigrants (or 440,823 people) in Massachusetts were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2007—meaning that they are eligible to vote.
12.7% (or 403,915) of registered voters in Massachusetts were “New Americans”— naturalized citizens or the U.S.-born children of immigrants who were raised during the current era of immigration from Latin America and Asia which began in 1965— according to an analysis of 2006 Census Bureau data by Rob Paral & Associates.

1 in 8 Bay Staters are Latino or Asian.

The Latino share of Massachusetts’s population grew from 4.8% in 1990, to 6.8% in 2000, to 8.2% (or 528,880 people) in 2007. The Asian share of the population grew from 2.4% in 1990,11 to 3.8% in 2000,12 to 4.8% (or 309,588 people) in 2007,13 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Latinos accounted for 2.5% (or 77,000) of Massachusetts voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians 2.5% (76,000), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Latino and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to the Massachusetts’s economy.

The 2009 purchasing power of Asian totaled $12.7 billion—an increase of 494.8% since 1990. Latino buying power in Massachusetts totaled $12.4 billion—an increase of 381.5% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
Massachusetts’s 18,081 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $5.0 billion and employed 37,193 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 15,933 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $2.1 billion and employed 15,319 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are integral to Massachusetts’s economy as workers and taxpayers.

Immigrants comprised 17.0% of the state’s workforce in 2007 (or 593,525 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Immigrant-headed households in Massachusetts paid $1.2 billion in state income taxes in 2005, according to a report by the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Immigrant-headed households in Massachusetts paid $346 million in sales and excise taxes in 2006 and nearly $1.1 billion in local property taxes in 2007, according to the same study.
Unauthorized immigrants comprised 4.3% of the state’s workforce (or 140,000 workers) in 2008, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.
If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Massachusetts, the state would lose $12.0 billion in expenditures, $5.3 billion in economic output, and approximately 55,467 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.

Immigrants are integral to Massachusetts’s economy as students.

Massachusetts’s 33,838 foreign students contributed $1.1 billion to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA).

Naturalized Citizens Excel Educationally.

In Massachusetts, 35.1% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2007 had a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to 33.2% of noncitizens. At the same time, only 22.7% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 27.6% of noncitizens.
The number of immigrants in Massachusetts with a college degree increased by 38.9% between 2000 and 2007, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.
In Massachusetts, 78.9% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 in families that spoke a language other than English at home also spoke English “very well” as of 2007.