Mexicans are the largest immigrant group in the United States, but their numbers declined by more than 500,000 between 2007 and 2024, according to a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that specializes in migration issues.
In a report published last week, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) said that during “the past four and a half decades, the size of the Mexican-born population increased fivefold, from 2.2 million in 1980 to an estimated 11.1 million in 2024.”
There are many fewer Mexican immigrants in the U.S. now than there used to be.
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“However,” the think tank added, “the number has declined slightly, from a peak of more than 11.7 million in 2007.”
Still, per the 2024 estimate, Mexicans accounted for 22% of the total U.S. immigrant population in 2024, which was 50.2 million, according to MPI.
The exact numbers in the MPI report showed that the number of Mexican-born U.S. residents fell by 567,000 between 2007 and 2024.
The think tank said that “future declines in the Mexican immigrant population may accelerate due to heightened immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border and within the U.S. interior,” where the Trump administration is carrying out an aggressive deportation agenda.
“Authorities’ encounters of migrants of all nationalities crossing the southern border without authorization fell to about 238,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2025 — the lowest level in 55 years and a sharp departure from post-2021 patterns in which annual encounters consistently exceeded 1 million,” MPI said.
“Mexicans represented 47 percent of those FY 2025 unauthorized crossings, epitomizing the significant diversification in flows arriving at the border since the early 2000s, before which Mexican crossings dominated.”
Among the Mexican-born population of the United States, around one-third to one-half are potentially vulnerable to deportation. In a 2024 report, BBVA research put the number of Mexicans in the U.S. at 12 million. The Spanish bank’s research division said that 4.1 million of that number were undocumented.
However, in its report, MPI said it estimated that “about 5.5 million unauthorized immigrants were from Mexico as of mid-2023.”
That number is just under 50% of the 11.1 million Mexican-born U.S. residents in 2024, per MPI’s numbers.
Citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey, MPI said that “an estimated 40.5 million U.S. residents traced their ancestry or heritage to Mexico.” That includes people born in Mexico and people born in the U.S. or elsewhere, MPI said.
A profile of Mexicans in the US
MPI said that Mexican immigrants in the United States “are concentrated in a handful of states and metropolitan areas.”
It said that between 2020 and 2024, 70% of all Mexicans who lived in the U.S. were concentrated in five states: California (35%); Texas (22%); Illinois (6%); Arizona (5%); and Florida (2%).
“During the same period, close to 35 percent of Mexican immigrants lived in one of five greater metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and Riverside,” MPI said.
The think tank also said that Mexican immigrants in the U.S. “have relatively low average educational attainment and income but a high labor-force participation rate and are especially likely to be of working age.”
MPI said that in 2024:
- The median age of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. was 47, “which equaled that of the overall foreign-born population but was higher than that of the U.S. born (37).”
- Just 10% of Mexican immigrant adults (ages 25 and older) held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 36% of all immigrants and 37% of the U.S.-born population.
- 49% of Mexican immigrant adults lacked a high school diploma.
- About 65% of Mexican immigrants aged 5 and older reported speaking English less than “very well,” compared to 47% of all immigrants.
- Mexican immigrants had a civilian labor-force participation rate of 68%, equal to that of the overall foreign-born population and higher than the U.S.-born population (63%).
- Mexican immigrants with jobs were primarily working in services (26%), followed by natural resources, construction, and maintenance (25%) and production, transport and material moving (20%).
- Mexican immigrants had a median household income of US $68,700, below the median incomes of immigrant households overall ($82,400) and U.S.-born-led households ($81,400).
- Approximately 16% of Mexican immigrants were living in poverty, slightly higher than rates for the overall foreign-born population (14%) and the U.S.-born population (12%).
- Around 34% of Mexican immigrants were U.S. citizens, compared to 51% of immigrants overall, while many more Mexicans were lawful permanent residents of the United States.
- About 77% of Mexicans arrived in the United States prior to 2010, “making this a long-settled population.”
At her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum noted that her sister has lived in the United States for more than 30 years.
“As is the case with my family, I think all Mexicans have a close or distant relative who lives in the United States,” she said.
“That link” between Mexico and the United States “will never be broken,” Sheinbaum added.
With reports from El Economista
