What percent of jobs in the New York, NY area are held by immigrants?

Data updated May 22, 2024
In 2022, 35.9% of jobs in the New York, NY area were held by immigrants. Immigrants are defined as foreign-born residents, including those who became US citizens, are authorized to work in the US, or are undocumented residents.
Showing data for
In 2022

5 in 14

employed workers were immigrants
In 2022

35.9%

of employed workers were immigrants
In New York City, immigrants hold 35.9% of jobs, while they make up 35.1% of the total working-age population. This indicates a slightly higher employment rate than expected. The working-age population includes everyone aged 16 and above.

In 2022, a larger percentage of jobs were held by immigrants in the New York, NY area than the US average

Immigrant participation in the workforce varies across industries. In New York, NY, the largest gap between foreign-born and native-born workers was in the construction industry, where 8.1% of the foreign-born working-age population were employed compared to 4.4% of native-born workers. This significant gap highlights the differing roles that foreign-born and native-born workers play in the construction industry in New York, NY.

The percentage of employed people varies between different sectors

Percentage of employed population in 2022

Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.


The labor force participation rate — the percentage of the working-age population working or actively seeking work — for immigrants in the New York, NY area was 66.0%, higher than the 64.2% rate for the native-born population. This shows that immigrants were seeking work at a higher rate than the native-born population in the New York, NY area.

The percentage of jobs held by immigrants varies by metro area

Change location to see this data for other areas

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.

  • United States Census Bureau

    American Community Survey (ACS)

    United States Census Bureau logo