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Foreign-born individuals make up a significant proportion of Massachusetts’ workforce, with 1 in 5 workers being foreign-born.
Immigrants play a vital role in supporting key industries including healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, hospitality and food services, and science, with 29.3% of STEM workers in Massachusetts being immigrants.
Massachusetts’ foreign-born population tends to be college educated with approximately 41.2% of foreign born individuals in Massachusetts having a bachelor’s degree or higher.1
Immigrant business owners make a significant contribution to Massachusetts’ economy. With 91,400 immigrant entrepreneurs in the state, together they generate $1.6 billion in business income.
Nationally, 224 of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. On a state level, 17 of the Fortune 500 companies were founded in Massachusetts, 8 of which were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. These businesses include General Electric, TJX, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Moderna, Global Partners, Boston Scientific, Wayfair, and Biogen.2
In 2023, immigrants in Massachusetts had $51.8 billion in spending power (an increase of over $13 billion from 2019), with refugees and temporary protected status holders having $2.5 billion and $463.5 million in spending power, respectively.
In 2023, immigrants in Massachusetts paid a total of $20.4 billion in taxes (an increase in 6 billion from 2019), with $6.6 billion spent on state and local taxes.
Sources:
- Unless otherwise noted, data was gathered from American Immigration Council, https://map.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/locations/massachusetts/#
- New American Fortune 500 in 2023. (2023, August 29). American Immigration Council. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/new-american-fortune-500-2023