The latest data from the American Community Survey (ACS), reflecting the U.S. population in mid-2025, shows a total foreign-born (also called immigrant) population of 50.4 million — up slightly from the 50.2 million in the 2024 ACS, but growing at a much slower pace than in prior years. For 2026, previously released data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) shows not just a slowdown in growth but an outright decline in the foreign-born population.
A few observations about the 2025 ACS:
- Unfortunately, the 2025 ACS reflects only the population through mid-2025 (July), so in terms of the foreign-born, it may not tell us a lot about the possible impact of Trump policies.
- The survey does show a big slowdown in growth of the foreign-born population through mid-2025, with an increase of just 174,000 from mid-2024 to mid-2025, compared to growth of 2.4 million from 2023 to 2024.
- It is almost certain that changes at the end of the Biden administration and then in the first few months of the Trump administration fundamentally altered prior trends, in particular reducing the arrival of new illegal immigrants.
- Two other Census Bureau products, the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) and the monthly CPS, also show a slowdown in growth from 2024 to 2025, though both surveys show a larger foreign-born population than the ACS.
- Data from the 2026 CPS ASEC, which has already been released and reflects the population in March 2026, shows a decline of about 790,000 in the foreign-born population from March 2025 to March 2026. The monthly CPS from the summer shows a decline of about 590,000 in 2026 compared to 2025.
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Topics: Population Projections