Welfare Use by Immigrants and the U.S.-Born, 2024
Comparing program use by foreign- and U.S.-born-headed households
By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on February 4, 2026
Using the 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this analysis follows the Census Bureau’s standard definition of welfare and reports use of means-tested anti-poverty programs by households headed by immigrants and the U.S.-born. We exclude social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare, which individuals pay in to and are not means-tested. The findings show that households headed by immigrants, also called the “foreign-born”, are significantly more likely to receive benefits than households headed by the U.S.-born. The ability of low-income immigrants, including illegal immigrants, to receive benefits on behalf of U.S.-born citizen children is a key reason restrictions on welfare use for new legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants, are relatively ineffective. If we want immigrants to use less welfare in the future, then reducing illegal immigration and changing the selection criteria for legal immigrants to emphasize skills should be considered.
Among the findings:
The 2024 SIPP indicates that 53 percent of households headed by immigrants — naturalized citizens, legal residents, and illegal immigrants — used one or more major welfare programs. This compares to 37 percent for U.S.-born households.
The rate is 59 percent for non-citizen households (e.g. green card holders and illegal immigrants).
Compared to households headed by the U.S.-born, immigrant-headed households have especially high use of food programs (35 percent vs. 22 percent for the U.S.-born), Medicaid (39 percent vs. 27 percent for the U.S.-born), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (15 percent vs. 10 percent for the U.S.-born).
Our best estimate is that 51 percent of households headed by legal immigrants use at least one major welfare program. Among illegal immigrants, also called the undocumented, we estimate the rate is 61 percent. We have no evidence that this is due to fraud.
Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of their U.S.-born children, and illegal-immigrant children can receive free/reduced price school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal-alien adults and children, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS, and many parolees) allowing receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
No one program explains the higher overall use of welfare by immigrants. For example, excluding the extensively used but less costly school lunch/breakfast program, along with the WIC nutrition program, still shows that 47 percent of all immigrant households and 34 percent of U.S.-born households use at least one of the remaining programs.
The presence of extended family or unrelated individuals does not explain immigrants’ higher welfare use, as the vast majority of immigrant households are nuclear families. Of immigrant households comprised of only a nuclear family, 48 percent use the welfare system compared to 33 percent of nuclear-family-only U.S.-born households.
Immigrant welfare use is common among both newer arrivals and established immigrants. Of households headed by an immigrant in the U.S. for less than 10 years, 48 percent access one or more programs as do 54 percent with a head in the U.S. for 10 or more years.
The high welfare use of immigrant households is not explained by an unwillingness to work. In fact, 86 percent of all immigrant households have at least one worker, compared to just 74 percent of U.S.-born households. Income determines welfare eligibility, so many low-wage workers access welfare.
Immigrants’ higher welfare use relative to the U.S.-born is partly, but only partly, explained by the larger share with modest education levels, their resulting lower incomes, and the greater percentage of immigrant households with children.
However, immigrant households without children, those with higher incomes, and those headed by well-educated immigrants tend to be more likely to use welfare than their U.S.-born counterparts.
Most new legal immigrants are barred from most programs, as are illegal immigrants, but this has a modest impact on overall use rates, primarily because: 1) immigrants can receive benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children; 2) the bar does not apply to all programs, nor does it apply to non-citizen children in some cases; 3) most legal immigrants have lived here long enough to qualify for welfare; 4) some states provide welfare to otherwise ineligible immigrants on their own; 5) by naturalizing, immigrants gain full welfare eligibility.
https://cis.org/Report/Welfare-Use-Immigrants-and-USBorn-2024
