New Census data looks at Utah's immigrants
By Lee Davidson

Deseret News

Published: Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 12:08 p.m. MST

New Census survey data estimates that one of every 12 Utahns was born in a foreign country — nearly half in Mexico. Those immigrants tend to have lower incomes, more children and less education than natives. But their employment rate is about the same as other Utahns, and they receive less cash welfare assistance — but more Food Stamps.

That's according to 2007 American Community Survey data released Thursday about people born abroad who were not U.S. citizens at birth.

It estimates that about 216,000 people out of Utah's overall population of 2.65 million are foreign-born, about 8 percent.

About 63 percent of them were born in Latin America; 17 percent in Asia; 11 percent in Europe; 3 percent from Canada; 3 percent from Pacific islands; and 2 percent from Africa.

Mexico by itself provided about 98,000 of Utah's immigrants, or 44 percent of those born abroad. (It was the only country with an immigrant population large enough in Utah that the Census could provide statistically reliable data specifically about that group).

Foreign-born Utahns tend to have less education. For those over age 25, nearly a third of foreign-born Utah residents have not earned a high school diploma (a rate about three times higher than for all Utahns). For immigrants from Mexico, an estimated 54 percent have not received a high school diploma.


Household incomes of foreign-born Utahns are about a third lower than average. Their median is $43,975, compared to $62,432 for all Utahns. Those from Mexico have household incomes that are even less: a median of $38,415.

Immigrants are finding jobs at about the same rate as natives. For those over age 16, 70.4 percent of immigrants were in the labor force compared to a rate of 69.5 percent for all Utahns. Mexican immigrants had a higher rate in the labor force: 75.1 percent.

Immigrants tend to have more blue-collar jobs than natives. For example, a third of all immigrants worked in construction, mining, maintenance and repair occupations — much higher than the 19.6 percent of all Utahns who do.

Meanwhile, the rate of immigrants in management or professional occupations is about half that for all Utahns: 18.4 percent of immigrants worked in such jobs, compared to 32.8 percent for all Utahns.

Immigrants tend to have more children. About 22 percent of immigrant women gave birth in the past year, compared to 15 percent of all Utahns. Again, those from Mexico had an even higher fertility rate — 33 percent of Mexican immigrant women gave birth in the past year.

Immigrants have higher poverty rates: 16.2 percent of them live in poverty, compared to 9.7 percent of all Utahs. The poverty rate for Mexican immigrants was even higher: 19.5 percent.

But fewer immigrants receive cash public assistance than average: 0.8 percent of immigrants receive it compared to 1.3 percent of all Utahns.

But a higher ratio of immigrants receive Food Stamps: 7.1 percent compared to 4.9 percent of all Utahns. The rate for Mexican immigrants is a bit higher: 8.7 percent.

Not surprisingly, immigrants have less ability with English than natives. Just 15.4 percent of Utah immigrants report speaking "English only" at home, compared to 86.1 percent of all Utahns. And 53.5 percent of immigrants speak English "less than very well" compared to 6 percent of all Utahns.

Mexican immigrants appear to be less fluent in English than others. The survey estimated 75.3 percent of them speak English "less than very well," and only 3.9 percent of them live in homes where only English is spoken



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