The Declining Education Level of Newly Arrived Immigrants
Trend driven by the huge increase in illegal immigration from Latin America under Biden
By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on February 19, 2025
Census Bureau surveys show newly arrived immigrants (legal and illegal together) are much larger in number, less educated, and poorer than newcomers before Covid. Although some immigrants (also referred as the foreign-born) are missed by the surveys, the primary reason for the decline is the enormous increase in illegal immigrants from Latin America, who tend to be significantly less educated than legal immigrants. The recent decline in the education level of newcomers is in stark contrast to the improvement in their education levels in the years prior to the border surge. This deterioration in education levels has profound implications for new immigrants’ social mobility and impact on the United States.
Among the findings:
The Current Population Survey (CPS) in the fourth quarter of 2024 showed that 41 percent of adult immigrants who had lived in the country for less than three years had at least a bachelor’s, compared to 46 percent of new arrivals in 2018 before the border surge.
The CPS also showed that the share of new arrivals with no education beyond high school increased from 36 percent in 2018 to 46 percent in 2024.
This was the first time in more than a decade that new adult immigrants with no education beyond high school outnumbered those with a bachelor’s. The education level of new immigrants increased significantly in the decade and a half prior to Covid.
The decline in educational attainment is more pronounced when measured against the U.S.-born, whose education levels have improved. In 2018 the share of new adult immigrants with no education beyond high school roughly matched the U.S.-born. But by 2024 it was 46 percent for new immigrants and 35 percent for the U.S.-born.
The decline in the overall education of newcomers is due to a huge numerical increase in the number of less-educated immigrants. The number of new adult immigrants with no education beyond high school is up 103 percent since 2018, while the number with at least a bachelor’s is up 44 percent.
The surge in illegal immigration is reflected in a dramatic increase in new arrivals from Latin America, who tend to have the lowest education levels of any sending region. Latin Americans increased from 39 percent of new arrivals in 2018 to 62 percent by 2024.
The decline in education levels has increased the share of new immigrants with low incomes (<200 percent of the poverty threshold). Despite a strong economy, the share of newcomers with low incomes was higher in 2024 (54 percent) than in 2018 (49 percent). Among the U.S.-born, the share fell from 28 to 25 percent, significantly widening the gap with newcomers.
The surge in new arrivals with less education means that immigration has added enormously (3.5 million) to the nation’s low-income population in just the last three years.
Looking only at workers shows that the median earnings of new adult immigrant men fell from 80 percent of the median for U.S.-born men in 2018 to only 52 percent in 2024.
The Census Bureau’s other large survey, the American Community Survey (ACS), also shows a decline in the education and income of newcomers. The deterioration is not as pronounced as shown in the CPS because the ACS data only goes through mid-2023, so it does not fully reflect the impact of the surge in illegal immigration.
https://cis.org/Report/Declining-Education-Level-Newly-Arrived-Immigrants
