Immigrants pay billions in taxes
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Texas immigrants are contributing billions of dollars in tax revenue each year.
Why it matters: The figures illustrate immigrants' fiscal impact as the Trump administration seeks increased funding for detentions and deportations, and immigrant support organizations face uncertainty.
How it works: The American Immigration Council, a nonprofit advocacy group, compiled findings based on 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.
The big picture: About 47.8 million American immigrants paid nearly $652 billion in taxes.
- Undocumented immigrants, who pay taxes but are not eligible for many government benefits, paid nearly $90 million of that total.
Zoom in: Nearly 18% of Texas residents are foreign-born. Immigrants also make up 22% of Texas's labor force, AIC found.
By the numbers: Over 5.4 million immigrant Texans paid about $58 billion — averaging $10,675 per person — in taxes in 2023.
- Mexico (45%) was their largest country of origin, followed by India (7%) and El Salvador (4%).
Fun fact: Twenty-two Fortune 500 companies in Texas were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, per the AIC.
- And nearly 500,000 immigrant entrepreneurs in Texas made a combined $15.3 billion in income in 2023.