New research from New American Economy shows that immigrants held 15.2 percent of all spending power in Fort Worth. The report, New Americans in Fort Worth, was prepared in partnership with the Fort Worth Chamber.

In addition to their financial contributions, which included paying $528.3 million in federal taxes and $296 million in state and local taxes, the report highlights how immigrants fill crucial workforce gaps. Although the foreign-born population made up 15.8 percent of the city’s overall population, they represented 20.9 percent of its working-age population. 

Fort Worth immigrants also helped strengthen the local job market by helping to preserve or create 6,100 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise vanished or moved elsewhere by 2019.

Key Findings: 

• Immigrants play an outsize role in entrepreneurship. Despite making up 15.8 percent of the overall population, immigrants made up 24.7 percent of the entrepreneurs in the city in 2019. 
• Immigrants are responsible for a considerable contribution to the social safety net. In 2019, they contributed $374 million to Social Security and $94.1 million to Medicare. 
• Immigrants are helping the city meet its growing labor needs. Immigrants had an outsize impact on key industries vital to the economic stability of Fort Worth. Despite making up 15.8 percent of the overall population, immigrants accounted for 46.7 percent of construction workers, 29.1 percent of manufacturing workers, and 22.9 percent of hospitality workers.

The report is based on NAE’s analysis of microdata from 5-year samples of the American Community Survey from 2014 and 2019 and figures refer to the City of Fort Worth. Click here to read the full report, New Americans in Fort Worth.

To read the press release, click here.