There is no such thing as the typical immigrant. Immigrants come from all walks of life, they are male and female, old and young, skilled and unskilled. They all provide a valuable part of the makeup of the United States, as the number of immigrants just continues to increase and is projected to do so even more in the future.
That said, looking at the statistics reveals that the typical immigrant is getting younger. This is true across certain lines, such as gender — it applies to both men and women. Let’s take a look at how this shift has happened.
A change from the 1960s
In 1960, the largest percentage of female immigrants was between 60 and 64 years old. For males, it was even older, with the largest percentage between 65 and 69 years old. Even those in their 70s were more highly represented, for both genders, than most other age groups.
If you jump ahead toward more current statistics, there’s a major shift. For instance, in 2018, the largest percentage of male immigrants was between 40 and 44 years old. The second largest was between 35 and 39 years old. For women, there was a tie, but the two largest age groups encompassed all those between 40 and 49 years old.
So, while most immigrants do tend to be middle-aged adults, they’ve clearly gotten much younger over the decades. It will be interesting to see if this continues as immigration increases in the future.
What do you need to do to come to the United States?
This change means that many people coming to the United States will have children and families to consider. If you do, you need to know about all of the legal steps you’ll need to take.