Kansas
| Summary Demographic State Data (and Source) | |
|---|---|
| Population (2008 CB est.): | 2,802,134 |
| Population (2000 Census): | 2,688,418 |
| Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.): | 174,625 |
| Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census): | 134,735 |
| Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.): | 6.2% |
| Share Foreign-Born (2000): | 5.1% |
| Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.): | 308,000 |
| Share Immigrant Stock (1997 est.): | 11.5% |
| Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.): | 60,210 |
| Share Naturalized (2006): | 34.7% |
| Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1997-2006): | 39,035 |
| Refugee Admission ( DHS 1997-2006): | 1,731 |
| Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.) | 70,000 |
| Costs of Illegal Aliens (2005 FAIR) | $235,000,000 |
| Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR) | 3,800,814 |
Kansas : Extended Immigration Data
STATE POPULATION
Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 Kansas’s population had increased to 2,802,134 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 13,700 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.5 percent per year.
NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)
Based on the Current Population Survey, the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2008 the state’s population increased by about 46,740 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 5,630 residents, i.e., more than two-fifths (41.1%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).
The 2000 Census found 2,688,418 persons resident in Kansas. This was an increase of 210,844 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (8.5%) was slightly below the average rate in the country.
The 2000 population is about 20,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its most recent state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau has concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.
Between 1980 and 1990, the overall population of Kansas grew by 4.8 percent (from 2,364,236 to 2,477,574 residents).
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
Based on the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Kansas was 164,652 persons in 2006. The ACS is a large-scale, continuous sampling process designed to replace the need for a long-form in the 2010 Census. However, because the ACS does not have the same follow-up procedures as the Census to include non-respondents, it may underestimate the foreign-born population.
FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Kansas was about 174,625 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 6.2 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 4,805 people, which is more than one-third (35.1%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 29.6 percent compared to a 2.9 percent increase in the native-born population.
Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. A 12.4 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 4,965 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 9,770 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than seven-tenths (71.3%) of the state’s overall population increase.
The 2000 Census found that 55.1 percent of Kansas's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it is a much higher share than the national average (43.7%).
An indicator of the change in the immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000 the share of non-English speakers at home in Kansas increased slightly from 5.7 percent to 6.2 percent. Fewer than half (44.9%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.
| Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Kansas in the 2000 Census) | |
| Spanish | 137,245 |
| German | 16,820 |
| Vietnamese | 10,395 |
| French | 6,535 |
| Chinese | 5,435 |
| Korean | 3,665 |
| Laotian | 3,145 |
| Arabic | 2,835 |
| Tagalog | 2,235 |
| Russian | 1,995 |
| (Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004) | |
The Census Bureau estimated from its American Community Survey that in 2006, the foreign born population was 173,394 representing a change of 28.7 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 62,840 to 134,735 between 1990 and 2000, a difference of 114.4 percent.
The ten countries above constituted 71.1% of the foreign-born population in Kansas in 2006. Mexico accounted for almost half (46.6%) alone.
| Foreign-Born Change Since 1980: Top Ten Countries 1990-2006 | ||||||||
| Rank | Country | 1990 | Country | 2000 | Country | 2006 | ||
| 1 | Germany | 6,541 | Mexico | 63,358 | Mexico | 80,768 | ||
| 2 | Canada | 2,930 | Vietnam | 9,105 | Vietnam | 8,989 | ||
| 3 | U.K | 2,850 | China | 5,088 | India | 8,796 | ||
| 4 | Mexico | 2,725 | India | 4,975 | China | 5,668 | ||
| 5 | Vietnam | 2,173 | Germany | 4,953 | Korea | 4,070 | ||
| 6 | Laos | 2,041 | Canada | 3,635 | Germany | 4,024 | ||
| 7 | Korea | 1,801 | Korea | 3,553 | Canada | 3,494 | ||
| 8 | Soviet Union | 1,662 | United Kingdom | 2,849 | Philippines | 2,933 | ||
| 9 | Soviet Union | 1,654 | Laos | 2,722 | El Salvador | 2,352 | ||
| 10 | Denmark | 1,174 | Philippines | 2,717 | England | 1,966 | ||
| All Other | 17,765 | All Others | 31,780 | All Others | 50,154 | |||
| Total | 43,316 | Total | 134,735 | Total | 123,240 | |||
Between the 2000 Census and the Census Bureau estimate for 2006, the foreign-born population in Kansas increased by nearly 38,700 persons (28.7%). Latin America (including Mexico) accounted for an increase of more than 23,500 immigrants (31.9%). Mexico alone accounted for an increase of more than 17,400 additional immigrants (up 27.5%). Immigrants from Asia rose by 28.6% (about 11,100 people). Immigrants from Africa more than doubled (about 4,500 persons). The immigrant population from Europe and Canada decreased by more than 400 persons (-2.3%).
CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSIONS DATA
THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 308,000 people in Kansas in 2000 who were "immigrant stock." That is a term that refers to immigrants and their children born here after their arrival. Based on that estimate, and a population estimate of 2,688,418, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 11.5 percent.
As the graph below shows, the amount and share of Kansas’ population change due to the increase in the foreign stock is rising rapidly. Over the past 34 years the new immigrants and children born to them have added about 205,400 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 42 percent of the state’s population increase.
NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 60,210 residents, or 34.7 percent, of the foreign-born population in Kansas were citizens, compared to 44,763 residents, or 33.2 percent, in 2000.
Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006
Refugee Settlement
Kansas has received 1,731 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 150 persons in FY’06 year.
Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $156,357 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Kansas based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 623 refugees (an average of $251 per refugee). This allocation does not include a larger share (55%) of funding programs for communities heavily affected by recent Cuban and Haitian entrants, communities with refugees whose cultural differences make assimilation especially difficult, communities impacted by federal welfare reform changes, educational support to schools with significant refugee students, and discretionary grants. ORR grants for FY’05 and FY’06 respectively were $556,916 and $705,238.
LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS
Data are not available nationally on immigrant students (either legally or illegally resident in the United States) who are enrolled in primary and secondary schools (K-12). However, many of these students are enrolled in Limited English Proficiency/English Language Learning (LEP/ELL) instruction programs. Many may be U.S.-born, but the majority of these students may be assumed to be either immigrants or the children of immigrants, with the exception being areas with native Americans who speak a native language other than English.
In Kansas, overall enrollment in 2002 (468,140) was 3.7 percent above enrollment in 1993. By contrast, LEP enrollment (28,383 - 6.1% of all enrollment) was 311 percent higher than a decade earlier.
Data on enrollment in LEP/ELL programs are collected by the federal government from school systems that receive Title VII funds for these special instruction programs. The data on LEP/ELL enrollment are understated because data from private schools that do not apply for Title VII assistance are sketchy.
FOREIGN STUDENTS
The 2006/07 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Kansas as 6,139. Three schools in Kansas are listed as having a major concentration of these students:
Univeristy of Kansas had enrollment of 1,771 foreign students, 6.0% of total enrollment.
Kansas State had enrollment of 1,201 foreign students, 5.2% of total enrollment.
Wichita State Univeristy had enrollment of 1,197 foreign students, 8.4% of total enrollment.
Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Kansas from 1960-2000.
For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.
ILLEGAL ALIENS
FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the state’s illegal alien population as of 2008 is as many as 70,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.
INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated in February 2003 that the resident illegal population in Kansas was 47,000 as of January 2000. This number was 27,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.
Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 40,000 to 70,000 as of 2005.
COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs- Kansas has received partial compensation under the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) that was established in 1994 to compensate the states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of "undocumented," aliens who are serving time for a felony conviction or at least two misdemeanors.
The recent SCAAP amounts that Kansas has received were:
| FY’99 | — | $1,266,792 |
| FY’00 | — | $1,618,764 |
| FY’01 | — | $1,329,405 |
| FY'02 | — | $1,559,101 |
| FY’03 | — | $624,943 |
| FY’04 | — | $757,840 |
The amount of SCAAP awards has been declining in both total distributions and even more as a share of the state’s expenses. In FY’99 the state received 38.6% of its costs for 172 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention had more than doubled to 350 prisoner years, while compensation increased by 23 percent but then fell steeply.
Medical Costs Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals with emergency rooms are required to treat and stabilize patients with emergency medical needs regardless whether or not they are in the country legally or whether they are able to pay for the treatment. Congress in 2003 enacted an appropriation of $250 million per year (for 4 years) to help offset some of the costs due to use of this service by illegal aliens. This amount has been allocated among the states based upon estimates of the illegal alien population and data on the apprehension of illegal aliens in each state. This amount compensates only a fraction of the medical outlays. For Kansas, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $1,120,805.
Educational Costs - In our study Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red, we estimated based on 2004 data that educational expenditures for illegal immigration were costing the Kansas taxpayer $82.5 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($34.4 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($48.1 million).
Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Kansas taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $235 million because of illegal aliens residing in the state. That estimate was based on only expenditures for education, emergency medical care and incarceration. We projected that those costs will rise unless we gain control over our borders and our worksites. If a new amnesty and increases in immigrants and guest workers were enacted, as proposed by business and ethnic advocacy groups, we project that the cost to the state’s taxpayers for those same programs would rise to $396 million per year in 2010 and to $685 million per year in 2020.
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
You can view a listing of local immigration reform organizations here.
STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD
You can view the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration issues in our voting report section.
Kansas : Immigrant Admissions
| Kansas Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year | |
| 1997 | 2,829 |
| 1998 | 3,184 |
| 1999 | 3,263 |
| 2000 | 4,582 |
| 2001 | 4,030 |
| 2002 | 4,508 |
| 2003 | 3,804 |
| 2004 | 4,041 |
| 2005 | 4,514 |
| 2006 | 4,280 |
| Total | 39,035 |
Recent immigrant admissions have jumped 357% since admissions just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 926 immigrants. During the 2002-'06 period, admissions averaged about 4,230 immigrants.
The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative INS immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 868 in FY'69 to 5,620 in FY'91. The cumulative total of admissions to Kansas between fiscal years 1965 and 2006 was about 109,275 immigrants.
The data for fiscal years 1989-91 were artificially raised by the inclusion of former illegal aliens who were amnestied in 1986. According to INS data (1991) the number of amnesty applicants from Kansas numbered 7,791 (3,787 pre-1982 residents and 4,004 agricultural workers).
The data for FY'95, FY'97-'99 and FY'03 were artificially low because the government did not issue green cards to all the eligible applicants for adjustment of status who were already in the United States. In those four years, new immigration could have registered as much as 30 percent higher, if the government had kept up with its workload.
Beginning with FY'01, the INS began to increase admissions as a result of reducing the size of the backlog of Section 245(i) adjustment of status cases, i.e., amnesty, for illegal aliens.
INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'96 - FY'05
The table below furnishes INS data on the 39,058immigrants who have been admitted for residence in Kansas since 1996 by fiscal year and by nationality.
The INS data are for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1996. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.
The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in Kansas during this period.
A dash (-) indicates that the data for that year was not published for that country in the Immigration Statistical Yearbook.* China includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Soviet Union includes Russia and former parts of the USSR. Yugoslavia includes Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro-Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Immigrant settlement from the 31 countries above accounted for over fourth-fifths (81.3%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Kansas during this period. Mexican immigrants accounted for almost one-third (32.3%) of all admissions.
Kansas : Poll Data
A Rasmussen Report poll conducted 500 Likely Voters in Connecticut on December 12, 2007 found
- 85% oppose granting drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
Kansas : Immigration Impact
| State Population (2006 CB estimate) | 2,764,075 |
| State Population in 2000 | 2,692,947 |
| Average Annual Change 2000-2006 | 0.4% |
| Foreign Born Population 2006 1/ | 173,205 |
| Foreign Born Share 2006 | 6.3% |
| Foreign Born Population 2000 | 134,735 |
| Foreign Born Share 2000 | 5.0% |
| Average Annual Change 2000-2006 | 4.5% |
| Population Projection 2010 | 2.8 million |
| Population Projection 2025 | 2.9 million |
| Population Projection 2050 (FAIR) | 3.5 million |
All numbers are from the U.S Census Bureau unless otherwise noted.
Additional Census Bureau, INS, and other immigration-related data are available for Kansas.
Population Change
Kansas population increased by 8.7 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by 2.6 percent between 2000 and 2006, bringing the total population of Kansas to approximately 2.8 million.
Approximately 5.4 percent of the total population increase between 2000 and 2006 in Kansas was directly attributable to immigrants.
FAIR estimates the illegal alien population in 2005 at 75,000 which ranks 26th in the U.S. for the FAIR estimate. This number is 60 percent above the U.S. government estimate of 47,000 in 2000, and 477 precent above the 1990 estimate of 13,000.
According to an estimate of the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 there were an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 illegal aliens living in Kansas.2/
FAIR estimates in 2004 that the taxpayers of Kansasspent $192.5 million per year on illegal aliens and their children in public schools. 3/
| FAIR’s projected annual fiscal costs to Kansas taxpayers for emergency medical care, education and incarceration resulting if an amnesty is adopted for illegal residents. | ||
| Current | 2010 | 2020 |
| $235,000,000 | $396,000,000 | $685,000,000 |
Population Profile
Kansas increased by nine percent, or almost 211,000 people, between 1990 and 2000.
Kansas’s foreign-born population more than doubled during the 1990s. It gained 72,000 immigrants—an increase of 114 percent.
Foreign-Born Population
The foreign-born population of Kansas increased by 28.6 percent between 2000 and 2006. During that period Kansas gained over 38,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to over 173,000.
Environmental and Quality of Life Profile
Water: Kansas increased its foreign-born population by 28.9 percent between 2000 and 2006.4/ This compares with a 1.4 percent increase in the native-born population and that included the children born to immigrants. When the U.S.-born children of immigrants are included, immigrants account for over nine-tenths (90.7%) of the state’s growth.5/ By 2050 the state’s population is expected to rise from 2.8 million in 2006 to nearly 3.5 million.6/ Kansas has a daily, per-capita water demand of 142 gallons. This means that by 2050, human water demand in Kansas may have increased by up to 111.8 million gallons each day.7/
Water shortages, particularly in Western Kansas are a real concern. The Ogallala Aquifer is the main source of water in the region, which relies heavily on this resource for grain and cattle production.8/ Unfortunately, water levels of the Ogallala Aquifer are declining.
Despite knowledge of the Ogallala’s declining levels, analysis by the Kansas Water Office concludes that in the past 25 years "there was no discernible change in the rate of water level declines in the Ogallala region." 9/ In some areas water levels of the Ogallala have declined in excess of 150 feet since large-scale pumping began.10/ Although the Ogallala Aquifer is an enormous water source, even it is not inexhaustible, as long as pumping exceeds replenishment.
The Ogallala is critical to farming in the center of the nation. However, it is replenished slowly because of the relatively dry area. At least 12 billion cubic meters are being drawn from it every year. It's drying up. At the current rate, the aquifer may be dry in less than 25 years.11/ Limited water resources are being exacerbated by growing human consumption. When the aquifer finally runs dry, the High Plains Region will be little more than desert.
Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Kansas’s residents increased ten percent during the 1990s, from 17.2 minutes to 20 minutes in 2000.12/,13/
In the Kansas City MO Kansas travelers experience an annual delay of 17 hours. 14/ 7 percent of commuters in Kansas have a commute that is at least 45 minutes long. 15/
Sprawl: Each year, Kansas loses 19,300 acres due to development.16/ If growth continues its current pace, Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita will sprawl together into one giant megalopolis, experts say.17/
Disappearing Open Space: A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 268.6 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Kansas City, MO metropolitan area, which spills into Kansas, and 33.6 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase.18/
Crowded Housing: In 2005 over 17,000 Kansas households are defined as crowded or severely crowded by housing authorities. 19/ Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.20/,21/
Poverty: 20.9 percent of immigrant residents in Kansas have incomes below poverty level, and increase of 23.2 since 2000. Among foreign-born non-citizens, the poverty rate rises to 25.5 percent.22/
Air Quality: Wyandotte, Sumner, and Sedgwick counties received a grade of “C” from the American Lung Association in their State of the Air 2005 report. 23/
Solid Waste: Kansas generates 1.73 tons of solid waste per capita. 24/
Schools: The K-12 enrollment is projected to increase by more than 3,700 students by 2015 25/,26/
Some schools are struggling with overcrowding. In Garden City, many teachers don’t have classrooms of their own due to lack of space, and even the portable classrooms are full.27/
Endnotes:
- FAIR estimate based on the 2006 Current Population Survey.
- "Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for States based on the March 2005 CPS", Pew Hispanic Center.
- Martin, Jack. “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red,” A Report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
- U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
- Jack Martin. “Estimating Foreign Born Birthrate.” FAIR. May 2008.
- Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050.” FAIR. March 2006.
- U.S. Geological Survey 2000.
- Bridgette West. “Professor Researches Kansas Aquifer, Water Shortages” Kansas-State Collegian. April 10, 2007.
- Duane Schrag. “State wants comments on water plan.” Salina Journal. May 20, 2008.
- V.L. Mcguire. “Ground Water Depletion in the High Plains Aquifer.” USGS Fact Sheet. 2007.
- Heidi Stevenson. “How Corporations Drain Our Aquifers for Profit (Part 2).” Natural News. June 11, 2008
- “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
- “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
- "The 2005 Urban Mobility Report", Texas Transportation Institute.
- “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
- “State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-federal Land Developed,” Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
- Amy Shafer, “One Giant Mass,” Associated Press, December 18, 2001.
- Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, “Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities,” NumbersUSA, March 2001.
- Selected Housing Characteristics-2005 Data Set. 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
- Haya El Nasser, “U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded,” USA Today, July 7, 2002.
- Randy Capps, “Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families,” Urban Institute, 2001.
- “Kansas State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy.
- “State of the Air 2005: Kansas”, American Lung Association.
- Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
- "Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment, High School Completions, and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005-06', National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, June 2007.
- Projections of Education Statistics to 2015, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
- “Garden City High School Overcrowded, Solutions Hard to Come By,” Associated Press, December 17, 2001.