The world’s most populous country, India is the source of the largest number of migrants globally. More than 2.9 million Indian immigrants lived in the United States as of 2023, making the country the second most popular global destination for Indians after the United Arab Emirates. Indians make up the second largest foreign-born group in the United States, after Mexicans, accounting for 6 percent of all 47.8 million foreign-born residents as of 2023.
The Indian population in the United States has grown continuously and substantially since 1960, with the greatest number of arrivals between 2000 and 2023. On average, Indian immigrants are highly skilled and earn significant incomes: the vast majority hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, their median income is more than double that of the U.S.- and overall foreign-born populations, and their likelihood of living in poverty is half that of these groups. Indians are also one of the largest groups of international students in U.S. higher education and received nearly two-thirds of H-1B temporary visas for highly skilled workers issued in fiscal year (FY) 2023.
This situation is a reversal from a century ago, when smaller numbers of Indian immigrants tended to come as low-skilled workers. Immigration increased in the wake of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which abolished national-origins quotas that had excluded many Indians and other non-Europeans.
The number of Indian immigrants who enter the United States without authorization is also notable. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encounters of Indian migrants arriving irregularly at a border or airport peaked in FY 2023, at nearly 97,000, but decreased slightly to approximately 90,000 the following year. While most migrant encounters overall take place at the U.S.-Mexico border, almost 44,000 encounters of Indian nationals were at the U.S.-Canada border in FY 2024. A rising number of Indians have arrived irregularly as families over the past several years, but the vast majority come as single adults. Many of these migrants come from parts of northern India where young people—particularly educated ones—face high rates of unemployment and other challenges. Political tensions around a Sikh separatist movement in the state of Punjab and other factors may also be contributing to emigration. Migrants traveling without authorization often pay tens of thousands of dollars to travel facilitators who send them through long chains of countries with accommodating visa requirements—a process known as “donkey flights”—before finally reaching a U.S. border.
This Spotlight provides information on the Indian immigrant population in the United States, focusing on its size, geographic distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics.
Click on the bullet points below for more information:
Size of Immigrant Population over Time
The Indian immigrant population has grown substantially over the past four decades. It increased fivefold from 1980 to 2000, and nearly tripled further from 2000 to 2023 (see Figure 1). This population is increasing significantly faster than the overall U.S. foreign-born population, growing 63 percent since 2010, compared to 20 percent for all immigrants.
Figure 1. Immigrant Population from India in the United States, 1980-2023
Source: Data from U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 and 2023 American Community Surveys (ACS), and Campbell J. Gibson and Kay Jung, “Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000” (Working Paper no. 81, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, February 2006), available online.
Distribution by State and Key Cities
More than half of Indian immigrants lived in one of five states as of the 2018-22 period: California (20 percent), Texas (11 percent), New Jersey (10 percent), and Illinois and New York (6 percent apiece). The next five states—Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida—accounted for a combined 18 percent of Indian immigrants. The top three counties for Indian immigrants were Santa Clara County, California; Middlesex County, New Jersey; and Alameda County, California, collectively home to 12 percent of U.S. Indian immigrants.
Figure 2. Top States of Residence for Indian Immigrants in the United States, 2018-22
Notes: Pooled 2018–22 ACS data were used to get statistically valid estimates at the state level for smaller-population geographies. Not shown is the population in Alaska, which is small in size. For details, visit the Migration Policy Institute’s (MPI) Migration Data Hub for an interactive map showing the geographic distribution of immigrants by state and county, available online.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s pooled 2018-22 ACS.
Click here for an interactive map that highlights the states and counties with the highest concentrations of immigrants from India or another country.
Five cities were home to more than one-third of Indian immigrants as of the 2018-22 period: the greater New York (13 percent), Chicago and San Francisco (6 percent each), and Dallas and San Jose (5 percent each) metro areas. Indian immigrants made up nearly 7 percent of the San Jose metro area and more than 3 percent of the population of the San Francisco area.
Figure 3. Top Metropolitan Destinations for Indian Immigrants in the United States, 2018-22
Notes: Pooled 2018–22 ACS data were used to get statistically valid estimates at the metropolitan statistical-area level for smaller-population geographies. Not shown are the populations in Alaska or Hawaii. For details, visit MPI’s Migration Data Hub for an interactive map showing geographic distribution of immigrants by metro area, available online.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau pooled 2018–22 ACS.
Click here for an interactive map that highlights the metro areas with the most immigrants from India or another country.
Table 1. Top U.S. Metropolitan Areas of Residence for Indian Immigrants, 2018-22
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau pooled 2018-22 ACS.
English Proficiency and Language Diversity
Indian immigrants are much more likely to be proficient in English than the overall foreign-born population. In 2023, 21 percent of Indians ages 5 and over reported speaking English less than “very well,” compared to 47 percent of all immigrants.
At the same time, just 12 percent of Indian immigrants spoke only English at home, versus 17 percent of all immigrants. Besides English, immigrants from India speak a variety of languages at home, including Hindi (24 percent as of 2022), Telugu (14 percent), Gujarati (11 percent), Tamil (9 percent), and Punjabi (8 percent).
Age, Education, and Employment
In 2023, Indian immigrants tended to be younger than the overall foreign-born population but older than the U.S. born. Their median age was 42 years old, compared to 47 for all immigrants and 37 for the native-born population. This is due to the high number of working-age adults: 81 percent of all Indian immigrants were ages 18 to 64, a group that comprised 76 percent of the overall foreign-born population and 58 percent of the native born. Meanwhile, Indians were less likely than both the native- and foreign-born populations to be 65 or older (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Age Distribution of the U.S. Population, by Origin, 2023
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 ACS.
Indian adults have much higher rates of educational attainment than both the native- and overall foreign-born populations. In 2023, 81 percent of Indian immigrants ages 25 and older reported having at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 35 percent of all foreign-born and 36 percent of U.S.-born adults. Indians are also much more likely to hold graduate or professional degrees: 49 percent of Indian immigrants held an advanced degree in 2023, versus 16 percent of the total foreign-born and 14 percent of the U.S.-born populations.
Figure 5. Educational Attainment of the U.S. Population (ages 25 and older), by Origin, 2023
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2023 ACS.
Click here for data on immigrants’ educational attainment by country of origin and overall.
About 268,900 students from India were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions during the 2022-23 school year, according to the Institute of International Education, representing 25 percent of the 1,057,200 international students that year. India was the second largest origin country behind China (289,500, or 27 percent); the two countries collectively sent more than half of all international students in the United States. Additionally, Indian nationals were the main beneficiaries of H-1B temporary visas for highly skilled foreign workers, accounting for 72 percent of all H-1Bs approved in FY 2023, followed by Chinese and Filipinos (12 percent and 1 percent, respectively).
Indians in the United States participate in the labor force at higher rates than both the native and overall foreign-born populations. In 2023, 74 percent of Indian immigrants ages 16 and older were in the civilian labor force, compared to 63 percent of the U.S. born and 67 percent of all immigrants. Compared to these two groups, those born in India were far more likely to work in the management, business, science, and arts occupations (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older), by Occupation and Origin, 2023
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 ACS.
Income and Poverty
On average, Indians have much higher incomes than the total foreign- and native-born populations. In 2023, households headed by an Indian immigrant had a median annual income of $166,200, compared to $78,700 for all immigrant-led and $77,600 for native-led households.
In 2023, Indian immigrants were roughly half as likely to be in poverty (6 percent) as immigrants overall (14 percent) or the U.S. born (12 percent). (The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as having an income below $30,900 for a family of four in 2023.)
Immigration Pathways and Naturalization
Indians are slightly less likely to be naturalized citizens than other immigrant groups, which may reflect the large numbers arriving on temporary visas and the relative recency of arrival. About 48 percent of Indian immigrants were U.S. citizens in 2023, compared to 52 percent of all immigrants. However, Indians were the second largest group to naturalize in FY 2023, after Mexicans, accounting for 7 percent of all immigrants who received U.S. citizenship that year. Indians tended to spend 5.9 years as lawful permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders) before naturalization in FY 2023, a shorter period than the 7-year median for immigrants overall.
Compared to all immigrants, Indians are more likely to have arrived since 2000. Half arrived in 2010 or later, compared to 35 percent of the overall foreign-born population (see Figure 7).
Figure 7. Indian and All Immigrants in the United States, by Period of Arrival, 2023
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 ACS.
India was the third largest country of origin for immigrants who obtained a green card in FY 2023, after Mexico and Cuba. Of the nearly 1.2 million people receiving a green card that year, about 78,100 (7 percent) were from India. That year, 60 percent of Indians who received a green card did so either as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or green-card holder or as another family member of a citizen. At the same time, 37 percent of Indians obtained a green card through employment-based preferences, a share more than double that of all new LPRs (see Figure 8).
Figure 8. Immigration Pathways of Indian and All Lawful Permanent Residents in the United States, FY 2023
Notes: Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens: Includes spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens. Family-Sponsored Preferences: Includes adult children and siblings of U.S. citizens as well as spouses and children of green-card holders. The Diversity Visa lottery was established by the Immigration Act of 1990 to allow entry to immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The law states that 55,000 diversity visas in total are made available each fiscal year. Individuals born in India were not eligible for the 2025 lottery. Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS), “Table 10: Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Broad Class of Admission and Region and Country of Birth: Fiscal Year 2023,” updated September 16, 2024, available online.
Unauthorized Immigrant Population
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that approximately 375,000 (or 3 percent) of the 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States as of mid-2022 were from India. Per this estimation, India ranked fifth in origin countries—and the top Asian origin—for all unauthorized immigrants in the United States.
Click here for an overview of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States as of mid-2022.
As of June 2024, fewer than 1,700 Indian immigrants participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, accounting for less than 0.5 percent of the 535,000 active DACA participants. DACA provides temporary deportation relief and work authorization to unauthorized immigrants who arrived as children and meet education and other eligibility criteria.
Click here to view the top origin countries of DACA recipients and their U.S. states of residence.
Health Coverage
Indians have higher health insurance coverage rates than both the overall immigrant and native-born populations. In 2023, just 4 percent of immigrants from India were uninsured, compared to 6 percent of the native born and 18 percent of the overall foreign-born population. Indian immigrants were more likely to be covered by private health insurance than the overall foreign-born and U.S.-born populations, reflecting their strong labor force participation and employment in high-skilled jobs that often come with employer-provided health insurance (see Figure 9).
Figure 9. Health Coverage for Indian Immigrants, All Immigrants, and the U.S. Born, 2023
Note: The sum of shares by type of insurance is likely to be greater than 100 because people may have more than one type of insurance.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 ACS.
Diaspora
The Indian diaspora was comprised of approximately 5.2 million U.S. residents who were either born in India or reported Indian ancestry or origin, according to MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. Of these individuals, around 55 percent were born in India, and the remaining 45 percent were born in the United States or elsewhere. The Indian diaspora was the tenth largest in the country.
Click here to see estimates of the largest diaspora groups in the United States in 2022.
Top Global Destinations
The United States was the second largest destination for Indians living abroad, who numbered nearly 18 million as of 2020, the most recent year for which there are comparative international migration statistics. The top global destination for Indian migrants was the United Arab Emirates (3.5 million) and the third was Saudi Arabia (2.5 million), according to 2020 United Nations Population Division estimates.
Click here to view an interactive map showing where migrants from India and other countries have settled worldwide.
Remittances
India has by far the highest inflow of remittances globally, adding up to $119.5 billion sent by Indian emigrants and others via formal channels in 2023, according to the World Bank. The amount of money individuals remitted to India more than doubled transfers to the second highest country, Mexico ($66.2 billion). Remittances to India have increased by more than 120 percent since 2010 and represented 3.4 percent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023.
Figure 10. Annual Remittance Flows to India, 2000-23
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the World Bank Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), “Remittance Inflows,” June 2024 update, available online.
Click here to view an interactive chart showing annual remittances received and sent by India and other countries.
Sources
Gibson, Campbell J. and Kay Jung. 2006. Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000. Working Paper no. 81, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, February 2006. Available online.
Guerra, Gil and Sneha Puri. 2024. Indian Migrants at the U.S. Border: What the Data Reveals. Niskanen Center commentary, September 16, 2024. Available online.
Institute of International Education (IIE). 2023. International Students: All Places of Origin. Available online.
International Labor Organization (ILO). 2024. India Employment Report 2024: Youth Employment, Education and Skills. Geneva: ILO. Available online.
Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD)/World Bank Group. 2024. Annual Remittances Data. June 2024 update. Available online.
Marrow, Brandon and Jeanne Batalova. 2024. Naturalized Citizens in the United States. Migration Information Source, July 10, 2024. Available online.
Mehrotra, Karishma. 2024. Ever More Undocumented Indian Migrants Follow ‘Donkey’ Route to America. The Washington Post, March 3, 2024. Available online.
Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Migration Data Hub. N.d. U.S. Immigrant Population by State and County. Accessed October 2, 2024. Available online.
Ruiz Soto, Ariel G., Julia Gelatt, and Jennifer Van Hook. 2024. Diverse Flows Drive Increase in U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population. MPI short read, July 2024. Available online.
Smith, Nicola. 2014. ‘Donkey Flights:’ Illegal Immigration from the Punjab to the United Kingdom. Washington, DC: MPI. Available online.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). 2023. India Overtakes China as the World’s Most Populous Country. UN DESA policy brief No. 153, New York, April 2023. Available online.
United Nations Population Division. 2020. International Migrant Stock 2020: Destination and Origin. Available online.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. 2022 American Community Survey. Access from Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek, Daniel Backman, Annie Chen, Grace Cooper, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rodgers, and Megan Schouweiler. IPUMS USA: Version 15.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2024. Available online.
—. N.d. 2023 American Community Survey—Advanced Search: S0201 Selected Population Profile in the United States. Accessed September 30, 2024. Available online.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). 2024. Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers: Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report to Congress. Washington, DC: DHS. Available online.
—. 2024. Count of Active DACA Recipients by Month of Current DACA Expiration as of June 30, 2024. Updated September 2024. Available online.
—. 2024. Naturalization Statistics. Updated May 9, 2024. Available online.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. N.d. Nationwide Encounters. Accessed October 30, 2024. Available online.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS). 2024. 2023 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. Washington, DC: DHS OHSS. Available online.
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