New research from New American Economy shows that immigrants make up nearly 30 percent of North Texas’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers. 

The brief, Immigrants in North Texas, shows that immigrants in North Texas contributed billions in taxes in 2017, including $7.3 billion in federal taxes and $3.2 billion in state and local taxes. The foreign-born also play an essential role in bolstering the North Texas workforce. Though foreign-born residents in North Texas made up 18.7 percent of the metro’s overall population, they represented nearly a quarter—24.4 percent—of its working-age population. Immigrants in North Texas also help fill labor shortages and support key industries. In 2017, North Texas immigrants made up nearly 49 percent of construction workers, 29.4 percent of tourism, hospitality, and recreation workers, and 29.4 percent of manufacturing workers.

Key findings include: 

• Immigrants help fill workforce gaps. In 2017, 85.6 percent of the immigrant population in North Texas were of working age, in contrast to 61.1 percent of the U.S.-born population, helping to fill employment gaps across industries..
• Immigrant entrepreneurs help drive business growth. In 2017, North Texas was home to 102,884 immigrant entrepreneurs with a total business income of $2.9 billion.
• DACA-eligible immigrants make significant contributions to the economy. North Texas is home to more than 92,000 DACA-eligible immigrants who paid nearly $200 million in taxes in 2017. 

The report is based on NAE’s analysis of microdata from the 2017 American Community Survey. Read the complete brief here.