Report: Economic Contributions of Immigrants in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Chamber has released a report on the economic contributions of immigrants in the state.

The report says if it wasn't for immigrants the state's overall population would have started declining in 2001.

The top four countries for foreign-born residents are Mexico, Somalia, India and Laos.

Immigrants' spending power is over $12.4 billion a year in the state, while those households paid $4.5 billion in taxes in 2019.

Immigrants in Minnesota have higher rates of labor force participation than the native-born population. In 2019 about 10 percent of the labor force was foreign-born.

The southeast and southwest parts of the state and the Twin Cities metro regions have the highest percentages of foreign-born populations in the state. Here in the central region, about four percent of the people are foreign-born, however, we saw the largest increase over the past 10 years. In 2018 just over 27,000 living in central Minnesota were foreign-born.

The top Minnesota city with the highest percentage of foreign-born residents is Worthington at 31 percent. Other cities in greater Minnesota on the list include Willmar with 16 percent, Austin at 15 percent, and Rochester at 14 percent. The report does not have St. Cloud in the top 25 on the list.

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