Economic Case

The economic case for immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation is compelling.

Immigrants in the United States and their U.S.-born children account for 26% of the overall U.S. population or about 81 million people. (Source: Migration Policy Institute, 04/14/2016)
Immigrants started about 52% of new ventures in Silicon Valley between 1995 and 2005. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
Immigrant-owned businesses generated more than 5.1% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2010, representing about $775 billion in sales. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
Immigrant-owned businesses employ about 10% of the American workforce in the private sector and pay approximately $126 billion in wages each year. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
Immigrant entrepreneurship is accelerating more quickly than entrepreneurship among native-born American citizens. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
Between 1996 and 2011, the pace of startups increased 50% among immigrants and but declined by 10% among American-born entrepreneurs. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
In 2012, immigrant-founded engineering and technology companies (clustered in California) generated about $63 billion in sales and employed approximately 560,000 workers.
Immigrants were almost twice as likely to start businesses in 2014 as native-born Americans. (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
Between 2013 and 2014, the foreign-born population increased by 1 million, or 2.5%. (Source: ACS data)
About 42.4 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2014, representing about 13.3% of the 318.9 million living in America. (Source: ACS data)
28.5% of new entrepreneurs in 2014 were immigrants, up from 13.3% in 1997. (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
Immigrants account for about 13% of the U.S. population yet launch more than 25% of businesses. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
In 2014, more than one in five Inc. 500 CEOs were immigrants. (Source: Inc. Magazine, 02/2015)
24 of the top 50 venture-backed companies in America had at least one foreign-born founder (2011). (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
Immigrant founders from top venture-backed firms created an average of 150 jobs per company. (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
About 25% of the engineering and technology companies started in the United States between 2006 and 2012 had at least one immigrant founder. (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
Immigrant-founded engineering and technology firms employed approximately 560,000 workers and generated $63 billion in sales (2012). (Source: Kauffman Foundation)
25 engineering companies created between 2006–2010 were founded by foreign-born entrepreneurs. These firms employed an average of 21.37 workers. (Using this figure and the average firm survival rate, a so-called Startup Visa could create 1,592,842 jobs after 10 years.) (Source: Kauffman Foundation)

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