Where Do Undocumented Immigrants Live in the U.S.?

California and Texas are the states hosting the biggest populations of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., according to estimates by Pew Research Center. The two states were supporting undocumented populations of 2 million people and 1.6 million people in 2017 respectively. New York, Florida, Illinois and several more states along the Eastern seaboard also have a large population of undocumented people.

2017 was the first year in which Mexicans were not an absolute majority among undocumented immigrants in the U.S. anymore. In fact, immigrant inflow from the U.S.` Southern neighbor has declined significantly since 2007, while more undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. from Central America, South America and Asia. Mexicans remain the largest single group among the undocumented population in the U.S., accounting for 47 percent. The fifth largest group of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are people from Europe and Canada, with an estimated 500,000 persons in the country in 2017.

In between 2007 and 2017, the total number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. shrank by 14 percent, but they still made up 23 percent of the total foreign-born population in 2017, according to Pew. The typical undocumented immigrant has lived in the U.S. for 15 years, the researchers concluded from 2017 median numbers.