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Massachusetts

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2008 CB estimate):	6,497,967
Population (2000 Census):	6,349,097
Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.):	960,230
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census):	772,983
Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.):	14.8%
Share Foreign-Born (2000):	12.2%
Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.):	1,708,000
Share Immigrant Stock (2000 est.):	26.9%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 Census):	430,545
Share Naturalized (2006):	47.4%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1997-2006):	250,028
Refugee Admission (DHS 1997-2006):	15,714
Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.):	225,000
Projected 2050 Population - (2006 FAIR)	10,663,863

Immigration is fueling population growth in Massachusetts, as it is around the country. In some areas, immigrant settlement accounts for particularly large portions of the population. In Lawrence and Somerville, almost one in three residents are immigrants, up from one in five in 21990. In Randolph, more than one in five residents (22 percent) are immigrants, up from 12 percent in 1990.

Massachusetts: Census Bureau Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 Massachusetts’s population had increased to 6,497,967 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 17,935 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.3 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 212,930 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 25,655 residents, i.e., more than the state’s total increase (143%), and that is not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States.

The 2000 Census found 6,349,097 persons resident in Massachusetts. This was an increase of 332,672 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (5.5%) was lower than the national average (9.9%).

The 2000 population is about 400,000 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 the 1980 and 1990 Censuses, the population of Massachusetts grew by 4.8 percent (from about 5,743,000 to 6,016,425).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

Based on the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Massachusetts was 913,417 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 Massachusetts was about 960,230 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 14.8 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 22,560 people, which is, again, more than the state’s total (186.1%) annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 24.2 percent compared to a 0.7 percent decrease 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 29.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 23,320 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 41,250 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., much more than the total (255.8%) of the state’s overall population increase.

A comparison of the increase in the immigrant population since 1990 with the change in the overall population during the same period shows that immigrant settlement directly accounted for more than half (59.9%) of the state's overall population increase over that decade. The effect of immigration on population change is still greater when the children of the immigrants born here after their arrival are included with their immigrant parents in the calculation. The amount of the overall impact of immigration (immigrants plus their children) on population change is likely to be closer to 75 percent, which is based on the increase in the share of those who speak a language other than English at home in Massachusetts.

The 2000 Census found that 40.4 percent of Massachusetts' foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, although it is slightly lower 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 Massachusetts increased by over two-fifths, from 15.2 percent to 18.6 percent. Less than half (41.2%) 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 Massachusetts in the 2000 Census)
Spanish	370,010
Portuguese	159,745
French	84,040
Italian	59,810
Chinese	56,850
French Creole	43,520
Russian	32,580
Vietnamese	30,400
Greek	28,820
Polish	27,630
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the state’s foreign born population was 908,271 residents, an increase of 17.5 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 573,733 to 772,983 residents between 1990 and 2000, an difference of 34.7 percent.

The ten countries below constituted 44.2% of the foreign-born population in Massachusetts in 2006. Brazil accounted for 8.2% alone.

Foreign-Born Change: Top Ten Countries 1990-2006
Rank	Country	1990		Country	2000		Country	2006
1	Portugal	70,814		Portugal	66,627		Brazil	74,931
2	Canada	52,438		Dom.Rep	46,744		.China	66,920
3	Italy	38,288		Canada	40,247		Portugal	62,604
4	U.K.	26,807		China *	39,255		India	40,044
5	China	20,367		Brazil	36,669		Canada	34,974
6	Ireland	20,224		Haiti	33,862		Vietnam	33,933
7	Dom.Rep	19,514		.Vietnam	30,457		Italy	25,769
8	Haiti	18,804		Italy	28,319		El Salvador	24,706
9	Sov.Un.	15,350		India	28,086		Russia	21,744
10	Germany	14,229		U.K.	25,403		Ireland	16,206
	All Other	276,898		All Others	397,314		All Others	506,440
	Total	573,733		Total	772,983		Total	401,831

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK

The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 1,708,000 people in Massachusetts 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 the population of 6,016,425, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 26.9 percent in 2000. That share of immigrant stock is the seventh highest in the country.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Massachusetts’ 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 1,017,200 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for all of the state’s population increase and then some (134.6%), because the state had a net loss of native-born residents.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 430,545 residents, or 47.4 percent, of the foreign-born population in Massachusetts were citizens, compared to 337,617 residents, or 43.7 percent, in 2000.

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006

Population Projections

Massachusetts -- Projected Population in 2050: Projection Scenarios

Amnesty+	High-trend	Low-trend	Zero-net
10,663,863	10,130,251	9,718,408	7,883,223

Massachusetts' projected population in 2050 could range anywhere from about 7.9 million residents to over 10.7 million. The 800,000 difference between these extremes depends on whether policies aimed at immigration stability are adopted or, instead, currently advocated policies that would accommodate today's illegal alien population, allow a new stream of guest workers and increase legal immigration are adopted.

Without any change in immigration policy or enforcement, i.e., with the current trend in large-scale legal and illegal immigration, the state's population is likely to increase from today's about 2.75 million residents to around 4.3 to 4.4 million persons in 2050 - an increase of 22 to 24 percent.

The largest difference from the current trend comes in comparison with a zero-net immigration scenario (when arriving immigrants balance those who are departing). In that case, the population would still grow, but more modestly by about 10 percent. However, if the currently proposed immigration expansion and illegal alien accommodation proposals were adopted - the amnesty/guest worker/immigration increase scenario - the increase in the projected population over the next 45 years would be nearly 32 percent.

Massachusetts -- Projected Population in 2050: Cohorts

1970 Pop.	Post-'70 Stock	Legal Post-'04	Illegal Post-'04	Amnesty+
5,566,036	2,317,187	1,738,321	508,707	533,612

The projection indicates that the population that was already in the country in 1970 - before the effects of the 1965 major change in immigration law - will increase slowly, by less than 5 percent (about 150,000 persons) over the next 45 years.

Post-1970 immigrants are projected to increase by about 93 percent by 2050. The high rate of growth is influenced by the larger average family size of these immigrants to the state. At the beginning of the projection, this post-1970 immigrant cohort already accounted for about 205,000 of the state's residents. By 2050, this cohort is projected to rise to nearly 395,000 residents simply on the basis of succeeding generations being larger than that of their forebears.

Without any change in the immigration laws, current mass immigration will continue into the state. Massachusetts has had an average of nearly 3,100 legal immigrant admissions per year between 1994 and 2003. More than two-fifths of those admissions have been Asians (43%) and another two-fifths Hispanic (41%). Mexicans alone accounted for more than one-third (35%) of immigrant admissions. This left immigration from countries with predominantly white populations at about 12 percent, and 3 percent from countries with black populations in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. We project that new immigrants and their children from all sources will add nearly 228,000 residents to the state's population over the next 45 years if current trends remain unchanged.

Illegal immigration, like legal immigration to Massachusetts, is heavily Mexican. We estimate that Massachusetts' illegal alien population now numbers about 83,000 persons. The continued addition of illegal immigrants over the next 45 years, assuming it continues at current rates, is projected to add more than 281,000 persons to the population from newcomers and their offspring.

Finally, we project that proposals for amnesty and other provision that are currently being advocated, if adopted, would add a further nearly 296,000 persons to the state's population over the next 45 years. This would result from the family members of amnesty recipients, increased legal immigration, and increased long-term guest worker residents.

Massachusetts -- Projected Population in 2050: Demographic Change

White, not Hispanic	Mexican	Other Hispanic	Black	Asian	Other
5,148,885	184,729	2,969,510	894,846	1,303,070	162,823

The rate of population change for the various scenarios depends on the size and demographic composition of the influx of immigrants, and the differential rates of fertility. The following projections are based on the highest scenario, i.e., amnesty/guestworker increases.

Because the Mexican or Mexican ancestry population constitutes a large share of the post-70 and continuing immigrant influx as well as potential amnesty beneficiaries, and this population on average has larger than replacement family size, the Hispanic population is projected to rise rapidly: Mexicans by 459 percent and other Hispanics by 166 percent. Hispanics are projected to add about 875,000 residents if current trends remain unchanged.

Non-Hispanic whites over the period of this projection decrease slightly - by about 32,000 persons, or 1.3 percent. The Asian population is also projected rise sharply - adding nearly 120,000 residents - an increase of 183 percent. Blacks are projected to increase by about 114,000 residents, a more modest rate of 43 percent.

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Massachusetts:Societal Issues

A new study, The Changing Workforce: Immigrants and the New Economy in Massachusetts, has found that immigration is profoundly affecting the profile of the state's workforce. The report was compiled by Professor Andrew Sum of Northeast University's Center for Labor Market Studies under the auspices of the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), a local think-tank for economic issues. MassINC's report provides a host of statistics on the shift of the state's immigrant population to one that is low-skilled, poor, and ill-adapted to its economy and society.

• The majority of working-age immigrants to Massachusetts have only a high school degree or less. And in 1990, 41 percent of immigrant family householders lacked high school diploma or equivalent.
• Nearly 33 percent of immigrant households in the commonwealth were female-headed with no spouse present.
• Roughly 23 percent of all Massachusetts immigrant families lived below the poverty line (three times the rate of natives).
• Immigrant families account for 36 percent of all poor families in the state even though they are only 14 percent of the households.
• Immigrant families are also growing poorer relative to native families. In 1989, the median income for immigrant families in Massachusetts was 70 percent of the median income for native families; by 1997, it had dropped to 60 percent.
• 40 percent of the children in immigrant families live in poverty (compared to 11 percent for natives).

In addition to these purely economic indicators, the report mentions anecdotal evidence of the increasing disunity in Massachusetts society. These signs of demographic change appear in many forms and mediums:

• telephone company mailings that provide written communications and greetings in seven different languages;
• the appearance of a growing number of foreign language newspapers on the streets of Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and even Newton;
• ads on the subways for English as a Second Language training by private schools and the recruitment signs for vocational training programs in five different Asian languages;
• the growing number of public service announcements and caution signs in Spanish and English;
• the increasing number of ethnic-oriented grocery stores and restaurants; and
• the large number of foreign students attending colleges and universities in the state, particularly the Greater Boston area.

The Changing Workforce can be ordered from the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth at its website, www.massinc.org.

REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT

Massachusetts has received 15,714 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 857 persons in FY’06

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $1,535,711 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Massachusetts based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 6,119 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 $6,672,112 and $7,212,693

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 Massachusetts, overall enrollment in 2002 (979,593) was 0.5 percent above enrollment in 1993. By contrast, LEP enrollment (46,078 - 4.7% of all enrollment) was 1.5 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 Massachusetts as 28,680. Six schools in Massachusetts are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• Harvard University had enrollment of 4,514 foreign students, 22.5% of total enrollment.
• Boston University had enrollment of 4,484 foreign students, 14.2% of total enrollment.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology had enrollment of 3,042 foreign students, 27.6% of total enrollment.
• Northeastern University had enrollment of 2,223 foreign students, 9.5% of total enrollment.
• University of Massachusetts Amherst had enrollment of 1,739 foreign students, 6.9% of total enrollment.
• University of Massachusetts Boston had enrollment of 2,061 foreign students, 16.7% of total enrollment.

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Massachusetts 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 225,000 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 Massachusettes was 87,000 as of January 2000. This number actually 2,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 150,000 to 250,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Costs - Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts has received were:

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 2,154 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention decreased by 33 percent to 1,453 prisoner years, while compensation decreased by 49 percent, and then fell sharply.

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 Massachusetts, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $2,074,682.

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 Massachusetts taxpayer $494.4 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($206 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($288.5 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Massachusetts taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $580 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 $992 million per year in 2010 and to $1.737 billion 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.

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Massachusetts: Immigrant Admissions

Massachusetts Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
1997	17,317
1998	15,869
1999	15,180
2000	23,483
2001	28,695
2002	31,615
2003	20,127
2004	26,767
2005	34,236
2006	35,560
Total	250,028

Recent immigrant admissions have slightly increased by 79 percent since adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 16,640 immigrants. During the 2002-'06 period, admissions averaged about 29,845 immigrants.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 11,455 in FY'65 to 35,560 in FY'06. The cumulative total of admissions to Massachusetts between fiscal years 1965 and 2002 was 787,583 immigrants.

Legal immigrant settlement in Massachusetts since 1990 ranks the state seventh most popular location in the country for recent 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 Massachusetts numbered 18,110 (9,865 pre-1982 residents and 8,245 agricultural workers).

The data for FY'95 and FY'97-'99 were artificially low because the INS did not issue green cards to all the eligible applicants for adjustment of status who were already in the United States. In those three years, new immigration could have registered as much as 30 percent higher, if the INS 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'93 - FY'02

The INS data below are furnished for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1993. 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 Wyoming during this period.

The Department of Homeland Security website has detailed data on immigrant admissions since FY’03 by year and by country. (See http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/data/dslpr.shtm).

Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
Country	FY'93	FY'94	FY'95	FY'96	FY'97	FY'98	FY'99	FY'00	FY'01	FY'02	Total
Bangladesh	-	-	-	113	86	75	87	97	-	94	552
Canada	426	490	395	386	303	284	262	494	704	652	4,396
China *	3,583	2,378	1,711	1,860	1,530	1,707	1,484	2,407	2,632	3,183	22,475
Colombia	263	236	273	350	271	273	196	346	415	587	3,210
Cuba	51	38	54	64	48	40	48	87	92	92	614
Dom. Rep.	2,233	2,581	1,970	2,051	1,285	1,138	920	1,180	1,538	2,011	16,907
Ecuador	59	-	57	103	45	62	106	104	115	177	828
El Salvador	332	247	179	313	220	188	210	290	990	866	3,835
Germany	184	166	161	-	148	159	256	364	314	314	2,066
Guatemala	232	171	169	271	198	178	184	263	518	531	2,715
Guyana	42	66	77	70	43	17	12	39	-	81	447
Haiti	795	951	1,287	1,408	1,123	1,046	1,259	1,943	1,822	1,913	13,566
Honduras	187	-	-	-	156	114	123	164	-	175	919
India	907	805	873	1,075	856	958	773	1,227	2,332	2,323	12,129
Iran	195	198	155	259	169	158	116	182	158	161	1,751
Ireland	2,152	2,935	-	-	121	101	92	174	-	209	5,784
Jamaica	450	319	437	497	331	340	267	361	354	402	3,758
Japan	-	100	-	-	101	112	82	218	230	231	1,074
Korea	179	194	221	214	197	201	234	234	315	308	2,297
Mexico	99	86	89	141	70	105	114	193	227	284	1,408
Nicaragua	-	-	-	-	14	13	37	79	69	64	276
Nigeria	-	-	195	275	207	202	201	219	-	309	1,608
Pakistan	134	102	150	187	169	225	199	255	269	249	1,939
Peru	146	89	113	158	111	130	109	119	175	205	1,355
Philippines	425	259	229	288	214	179	166	267	313	441	2,781
Poland	682	672	400	390	300	226	192	345	315	380	3,902
Sov. Un. *	2,691	2,438	2,253	1,613	1,321	1,040	1,061	1,745	1,566	2,505	18,233
Trin.& Tob.	-	141	-	-	142	172	110	218	-	202	985
United Kingdom	810	722	529	518	331	335	288	613	720	790	5,656
Vietnam	1,915	1,366	1,247	1,452	976	443	605	902	1,405	1,471	11,782
Yugo. *	-	-	215	269	266	90	148	385	471	836	2,680
Other	5,839	5,132	7,084	8,760	5,965	5,540	5,239	7,969	10,906	9,568	72,002
Total	25,011	22,882	20,523	23,085	17,317	15,869	15,180	23,483	28,965	31,615	223,930

A dash (-) indicates that the data for that year were not published for that country in the INS Statistical Yearbook.
* China data include Hong Kong and Taiwan. Former USSR data continued since break-up (except FY'96-'97 and ‘01 include only Russia and Ukraine). Former Yugoslavia data continued since break-up.

The 31 nationalities above represent more than two-thirds (67.8%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Massachusetts during this ten-year period. The countries that supplied the greatest number of Massachusetts' new immigrants during the period were China, former Soviet Union, Dominican Republic, Haiti, India and Vietnam. Taken together, immigrants from those countries account for more than two-fifths (42.5%) of total admissions.

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Massachusetts : Poll Data

A Rasmussen Report poll conducted of 500 likely voters in Massachusetts on December 5th found:

• 71% oppose granting drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
• 62% say that when police officers pull someone over for a traffic violation, they should routinely check to see if that person is in the country legally.
• 43% believe that if illegal immigrants are discovered in this manner, they should be deported

Boston Globe/WBZ Poll, MA Gubernatorial Election Poll, September, 2006

• 63% of likely voters oppose issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.
• 59% of likely voters oppose allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition. (Boston Globe/WBZ Poll, MA Gubernatorial Election Poll, September, 2006)

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Massachusetts: Immigration Impact

State Population (2006 CB estimate)	6,437,193
State Population in 2000	6,362,604
Average Annual Change 2000-2006	0.2%
Foreign Born Population 2006 1	938,590
Foreign Born Share 2006	14.6%
Foreign Born Population 2000	772,983
Foreign Born Share 2000	12.1%
Average Annual Change 2000-2006	3.4%
Population Projection 2010	6.6 million
Population Projection 2025	6.9 million
Population Projection 2050 (FAIR)	10.1 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 Massachusetts.

Population Change

Massachusetts’ population increased by 5.8 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by 1.2 percent between 2000 and 2006, bringing Massachusetts’s total population to approximately 6.4 million.

FAIR estimates the illegal alien population in 2005 at 154,000 which ranks 14th in the U.S. for the FAIR estimate. This number is 77% above the U.S. government estimate of 87,000 in 2000, and 190 percent above the 1990 estimate of 53,000.

According to an estimate of the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 there were an estimated 150,000 to 250,000 illegal aliens living in Massachusetts This estimate ranks 14th among illegal alien populations in the United States for the PEW estimate.²

FAIR estimates in 2004 that the taxpayers of Massachusetts spent $494.5 million per year on illegal aliens and their children in public schools.³

FAIR’s projected annual fiscal costs to Massachusetts taxpayers for emergency medical care, education and incarceration resulting if an amnesty is adopted for illegal residents.
Current	2010	2020
$580,000,000	$992,000,000	$1,737,000,000

Population Profile

Foreign-Born Population

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Water: Between 2000 and 2006, Massachusetts’ foreign-born population increased by 17.5 percent.⁴ That compares with a 0.8 percent decrease in the native-born population and that includes the children born to immigrants. When the U.S-born children of immigrants are included, immigration accounts for all of the state’s overall growth during that time.⁵ By 2050 the state’s population is expected to rise from 6.4 million in 2006 to over 11.1 million.⁶ Massachusetts has a daily, per-capita water demand of 139.5 gallons.⁷ This means that by 2050 public water usage will have increased by 655.7 million gallons each day

Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Massachusetts residents increased 19 percent during the 1990s, from 23 minutes to 27 minutes in 2000 (versus a national average of 14 percent). ⁸, ⁹ 31 percent of Massachusetts's major urban roads are congested. 71 percent of Massachusetts's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and vehicle travel on Massachusetts' highways increased 16% from 1990 to 2003. ¹⁰

Driving on roads in need of repair costs Massachusetts motorists $2.3 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs --- $501 per motorist. Congestion in the Boston metropolitan area costs commuters $958 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time, and congestion in the Springfield area costs commuters $163 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.¹¹ Travelers in the Providence, MA-Rhode Island area experience an annual delay of 33 hours. ¹² 19 percent of commuters in Massachusetts have a commute that is 45 minutes or more. ¹³

Boston is already the country’s seventh most congested city, and traffic continues to worsen. Congestion costs each Boston motorist three days and $1,255 each year. Rush hour lasts for four hours every morning and every evening, costing the average commuter 107 gallons of wasted gas every year.¹⁴

Disappearing open space: Each year, Massachusetts loses 42,400 acres of open space and farmland due to development.¹⁵ In 1970, just 22 percent of the land in the 43 communities in the I-495 area was developed, but by 1999, 60 percent of the area’s land had been developed.¹⁶

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 226.8 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Boston metropolitan area, and 15.4 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase. In the Worchester, MA - Connecticut metro areas sprawl consumed an additional 54.3 square miles and population increase accounted for 49 percent of the increase.¹⁷

Crowded housing: In 2005 over 37,000 Massachusetts households were defined as crowded or severely crowded by housing authorities.¹⁸ Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.¹⁹, ²⁰

Poverty: In 2005 13.9 percent of immigrants in Massachusetts had incomes below the poverty level, a 15.1 increase since 2000. Among non-citizens, the rate climbs to 17 percent.²¹

Education: Between 1990 and 2000, Massachusetts’s elementary and high school enrollment increased 20 percent.²² “The thing that’s been impacted the most by the increase in population is our school system, which is now overcrowded,” said James Nihan, clerk of Bridgewater’s Board of Selectmen. Bridgewater is trying to raise $76 million to build an additional high school and is considering enlarging its middle and elementary schools to accommodate the rising student population—despite having just built a new elementary school in 1999.²³

In Westborough, where the population increased 27 percent in the 1990s, school enrollment rose by 59 percent in the last ten years and is expected to increase 83 percent more in the next decade. More students has meant higher taxes; the average single-family property tax bill has increased 31 percent since 1995.²⁴

In Holden, some high school students are bused to another school for study hall to ease the high school enrollment crunch.²⁵

Solid Waste: Massachusetts generates 1.29 tons of solid waste per capita. ²⁶

Air Qaulity: 9 of Massachusetts’s 14 counties received a grade of “F” from the American Lung Association in their “State of the Air 2005” report. ²⁷

Endnotes:

1. FAIR estimate based on the 2006 Current Population Survey.
2. "Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for States based on the March 2005 CPS", Pew Hispanic Center.
3. Martin, Jack. “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red,” A Report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
4. U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
5. Jack Martin. “Issue Brief: Estimation of Foreign Born Birthrate.” FAIR. 2008.
6. Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050.” FAIR. March 2006.
7. U.S. Geological Survey 2000
8. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
9. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
10. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
11. Ibid
12. "The 2005 Urban Mobility Report", Texas Transportation Institute.
13. “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
14. Karen E. Crummy, “Time for a Tailgate Party: Gridlocked Hub Makes Top 10,” Boston Herald, June 21, 2002.
15. “State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-federal Land Developed,” Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
16. John J. Monahan, “Growth Could Outpace Stat’s Water Resources,” Worcester Telegram & Gazette, October 13, 2002.
17. Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, “Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities,” NumbersUSA, March 2001.
18. Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
19. Haya El Nasser, “U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded,” USA Today, July 7, 2002.
20. Randy Capps, “Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families,” Urban Institute, 2001.
21. “Massachusetts State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
22. Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990 and 2000, Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
23. Teri Borseti, “Bridgewater’s Growing, So Schools Must Too,” Boston Globe, April 6, 2002.
24. Teri Borseti, “Bridgewater’s Growing, So Schools Must Too,” Boston Globe, April 6, 2002.
25. Peter Schworm, “Child Influx Packs Schools in Four Towns Surging Demand Means Higher Bills for Taxpayers,” Boston Globe, June 30, 2002.
26. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
27. “State of the Air 2005: Massachusetts”, American Lung Association.

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