New Americans in Maine

The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Pine Tree State (Updated January 2012)

Download the Infographic

Download the Fact Sheet (2010 Census Data)

Download the Previous Fact Sheet (2008 Census Data)

Immigrants and their children are significant shares of Maine’s population and electorate.

• The foreign-born share of Maine’s population was 3.4% in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Maine was home to 45,666 immigrants in 2010.

• 56.6% of immigrants (or 25,847 people) in Maine were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2010—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 3.6% (or 28,849) of registered voters in Maine were “New Americans”—naturalized citizens or the U.S.-born children of immigrants who were raised during the current era of immigration from Latin America and Asia which began in 1965—according to an analysis of 2008 Census Bureau data by Rob Paral & Associates.

Maine is home to significant numbers of Latinos and Asians.

• The Latino share of Maine’s population grew from 0.7% in 2000 to 1.3% (or 16,935 people) in 2010.  The Asian share of the population grew from 0.7% in 2000 to 1.0% (or 13,571 people) in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• In Maine, 79.5% of children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens in 2009, according to data from the Urban Institute.

• In 2009, 97.2% of children in Latino families in Maine were U.S. citizens.

Immigrant, Latino, and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs to Maine’s economy.

• The 2010 purchasing power of Maine’s Latinos totaled $542.4 million—an increase of 605.4% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $367.2 million—an increase of 355% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

• Maine’s 1,107 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $279.3 million and employed 2,550 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 979 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $163.2 million in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are important to Maine’s economy as workers.

• Immigrants comprised 2.8% of the state’s workforce in 2008 (or 19,937 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised less than 1% of the state’s workforce (or fewer than 10,000 workers) in 2010, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Maine, the state would lose $137 million in economic activity, $60.9 million in gross state product, and approximately 1,080 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.

• The importance of immigrant workers is growing as Maine’s population becomes older. Over the next two decades, the ratio of seniors (age 65 and older) to prime-working-age adults (age 25 to 64) in Maine will increase by 93%, according to a study by the University of Southern California.

Immigrants contribute to Maine’s economy as students.

• Maine’s 1,233 foreign students contributed $37 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2009-2010 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Immigrants have helped revitalize Lewiston.

• Roughly 3,500 Somali migrants came to Lewiston between 2001 and 2007, and now comprise 10% of the town’s population—the highest concentration of Somalis in America, according to a report by the United Nations Development Program.

• Although enrollment at the University of Maine has declined statewide since 2002, the student population at its Lewiston campus increased 16% between 2002 and 2007.

Immigrants excel educationally.

• The number of immigrants in Maine with a college degree increased by 20.9% between 2000 and 2009, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.

• 27.9% of Maine’s foreign-born population age 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2009, compared to 26.9% of native-born persons age 25 and older.

• In Maine, 83.1% of children with immigrant parents were considered “English proficient” as of 2009, according to data from the Urban Institute.

• The English proficiency rate among Latino children in Maine was 94.1% as of 2009.

Published On: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 | Download File