What percent of jobs in the Chicago, IL area are held by immigrants?
About 23.0% of jobs in 2023. Immigrants are defined as foreign-born residents, including those who became US citizens, are authorized to work in the US, or are undocumented residents.
Data updated January 30, 2025
In 2023
3 in 13
employed workers were immigrants
In 2023
23%
of employed workers were immigrants
While immigrants hold 23.0% of jobs, they make up 22.4% of the total working-age population in the Chicago, IL area. This indicates a slightly higher employment rate than expected. The working-age population includes everyone aged 16 and above.
In 2023, a larger percentage of jobs were held by immigrants in the Chicago, IL area than the US average.
Immigrant participation in the workforce varies across industries. In the Chicago, IL area, the largest gap between foreign-born and native-born workers was in the manufacturing industry, where 15.7% of the foreign-born working-age population were employed compared to 10.0% of native-born workers.
The percentage of employed people varies between different sectors in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area.
Percentage of employed population in 2023
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The labor force participation rate — the percentage of the working-age population working or actively seeking work — for immigrants in the Chicago, IL area was 68.3%, higher than the 66.7% rate for the native-born population. This shows that immigrants were seeking work at a higher rate than the native-born population in the state.
The percentage of jobs held by immigrants varies by metro area.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
US Census Bureau
American Community Survey (ACS)
