Migration Information Source Releases Data on the Foreign Born from India in the United States

Washington, D.C. -- One million immigrants from India live in the United States, making it the third largest source country for immigrants in the United States following Mexico and the Philippines. The December Spotlight in the Migration Information Source shows that while Indian immigrants account for just over 3.3 percent of the foreign-born population in the United States, the number of immigrants from India more than doubled between 1990 and 2000, from over 450,000 to over one million.

Not only is the number of Indian immigrants increasing, so are the variety of locales in the United States in which they live.

"Immigrants from India remain concentrated in five states, including California, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and Texas," said MPI’s Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco. "Like other immigrant groups, however, the foreign born from India are increasingly moving to non-traditional destination states, such as Georgia, Colorado, Kentucky, and Nevada.”

The Spotlight on the Indian foreign-born population is part of a larger Migration Information Source series focused on immigrants currently living in the United States from the largest sending countries. The Migration Information Source, MPI’s online resource, can be accessed at www.migrationinformation.org. In January, The Source will feature a map collection of the settlement patterns by county of the “Top Five” source countries for migrants to the United States, including Mexico, the Philippines, India, China, and Vietnam.