Immigrants make up 28.0% of the overall population of Alexandria but they represent a remarkably high share – 34.2% – of the entrepreneurs, according to a new study released by the City of Alexandria this week.
And that’s not all what immigrants do for Virginia and the United States with their hard work and diversity of talent and skills. Immigrants represented 32.3% of Alexandria city’s working-age population, 30.5% of its employed labor force, and 21.4% of its STEM workers in 2016 – the year the study focuses on being the latest for available statistics.
The study titled New Americans in Alexandriia looks at the contributions of immigrants in several key areas, reporting immigrant households earned $1.4 billion in the year 2016 – the year which saw debate on immigration ratchet to the top of the issues for many voters.
“Given their income, immigrants contributed significantly to state and local taxes, including property, sales, and excise taxes levied by state or municipal governments.”
The immigrants are also a key tax-payer community with $262.4 million going to federal taxes and 102.2 million adding to state and local taxes.
![Photo " The Old Town district of Alexandria, Virginia as seen from the observation deck of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. Photo by Ben Schumin on March 8, 2003. Used via Wikipedia (http://creativecomons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.viewsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Old_Town_Alexandria.jpg)
The Old Town district of Alexandria, Virginia as seen from the observation deck of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. Photo by Ben Schumin on March 8, 2003.
Used via Wikipedia
Looking at the demographic trends the study finds that between 2011 and 2016, the population in the city grew by 10.8%. The immigrant population increased by 22.2%, the study says.
The report puts the number of immigrants living in Alexandria in 2016 at 42,441.
The findings come in the midst of an ongoing political debate on the role of immigrants which opponents say are a drain on the local economies, especially in the area of healthcare. But contributions of Alexandria immigrants cancel out such perceptions.
“Immigrants in Alexandria also support federal social programs. In 2016, they contributed $150.0M to Social Security and $39.0M to Medicare.”
Although, the report says, the foreign-born made up 28.0% of the city’s overall population, they represented 32.3% of its working-age – aged between 16 and 64.
Top five countries of origin for immigrants living in the city are Ethiopia -16.4%, El Salvador – 11.3% Honduras – 5.8% Philippines -3.9% and Bolivia 3.5%.
