Bruce P Corrie, PhD & Dr. Gene Gelgelu
Latest data from the American Community Survey 2021 estimates the population of African immigrants in America to be 2.6 million. African immigrants have a total income of $109 billion. In a relative sense, this income is almost the size of Kenya or Ethiopia which are among the top 4 economies in Africa.
If we add the value of homes that African immigrants own across the country, the African immigrant economy is an estimated $275 billion. This does not include the value of businesses owned by African immigrants.
African immigrants are a significant engine for economic growth all across America.
To this we add the estimate of $166 billion in residential real estate of the African immigrants in America. They own almost half a million homes with a median value of over $300 thousand. This represents a significant presence both in the residential real estate market and the mortgage market.
The over 600 thousand African immigrant renters pay over $865 million in monthly rental payments benefiting property owners all across the country.
African immigrants also reflect a talented and skilled workforce with over 44 percent having a Bachelor’s Degree or higher in academic qualifications – much higher than the overall population in the US (37.9 percent) according to the 2021 American Community Survey.
There were also 1.6 million African immigrant workers in America, filling critical roles in health care, education and other sectors of the economy.
The American Community Survey also allows us to estimate the African immigrant economy all across the country. Below are estimates of the ethnic economy in major American states.
California has the largest African immigrant economy with income of $12.7 billion, followed by Texas, New York, Maryland, & New Jersey as the top 5 states. Residential real estate of African immigrants was $33 billion in California.
From the estimate of African immigrant income of $109 billion, if we assume 20 percent of income goes to federal, state and local taxes, then African immigrants contribute at least $21 billion in federal, state and local taxes.
There is paucity of data on African immigrants in the nation. At a recent national conference of African Immigrant Leaders in 2022, participants agreed to embark on a national research and policy agenda, with a focus on disaggregated data to get a better insights on the diverse African immigrant economy all across the country.
At the conference Professor PLO Lumumba, one of Africa’s prominent leaders, celebrated the role of the African Diaspora across the world and in America and predicted the emergence of the new African Century.
Dr. Gene Gelgelu is President of African Economic Development Solutions and the visionary behind Little Africa. Dr. Bruce Corrie is an economist who has documented the economic contributions of the African Diaspora in US and Minnesota.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
