New research released today in partnership with Miami-Dade County’s Office of New Americans, underscores the critical role immigrants play in population growth, essential services, and business creation in Miami-Dade county. 

The report also features profiles of five Miami-Dade residents: Sandra Campuzano, Gerard Philippeaux, Jeannie Tim Wong, Michael Burtov, and Luisa Santos.

Key Findings:

• Immigration is driving population growth in Miami-Dade County. Without immigrants, the county’s total population would have shrunk by 2.5 percent between 2015 and 2019. Over that time period, Miami-Dade county’s total population grew by 1.8 percent and its immigrant population grew by 8.4 percent. As of 2019, immigrants made up 54.7 percent of the total population.
• Immigrants’ spending power has helped revitalize local businesses. Immigrants punch above their weight when it comes to their power as consumers. In 2019, they held close to $33.9 billion in disposable income, or 60.3 percent of the county’s total spending power. Robust consumer spending by immigrants supports small businesses and keeps local economic corridors vibrant.
• Immigrant households support federal social programs. The foreign-born contributed $4.3 billion to Social Security and $1.1 billion  to Medicare in 2019.
• Immigrants are helping the county meet its rising labor needs in STEM and other critical industries. Despite making up 54.7 percent of the overall population, immigrants represented 65 percent of the employed labor force in Miami-Dade in 2019. Immigrant residents also made up 86.4 percent of agriculture, 76.9 percent of manufacturing, and 61.5 percent of STEM workers.
• Immigrants play a particularly significant role in the county as entrepreneurs. Immigrants represented 73.9 percent of the entrepreneurs in the county in 2019. About 145,100 immigrant individuals worked for their own businesses, generating $2.9 billion in business income. 
• Immigrants are bringing much-needed talent. In 2019, 13,394 students enrolled in colleges and universities in Miami-Dade county were immigrants. International students in Miami-Dade county helped support 4,627 jobs and contributed over $424 million to the local economy in 2019-20 alone.  

Read the full Press Release here.