Immigrants in the Michiana region contributed $3.1 billion to the region’s GDP, and paid $212.8 million in federal taxes and $103 million in state and local taxes, according to a new research brief released by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with United Religious Community, South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership, and the City of South Bend.

The report details the significant role the foreign-born population in the Michiana region plays in labor force growth and new business creation, as well as their high levels of education. In 2016, 29 percent of the immigrants ages 25 and up held at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 23.5 percent of the U.S.-born population in the region.

The brief, New Americans in Michiana, finds:

• Immigrants contributed $3.1 billion to the Michiana region’s GDP in 2016. Foreign-born households earned $1.2 billion in income in 2016. Of that, $212.8 million went to federal taxes and $103 million went to state and local taxes, leaving them with $880.3 million in spending power—6.9 percent of all spending power in the region.
• Immigrant households support federal social programs. The foreign-born contributed $119.3 million to Social Security and $33.8 million to Medicare in 2016.
• Immigrants in the Michiana region area help create or preserve local manufacturing jobs. Because of the role immigrants play in the workforce helping companies keep jobs on U.S. soil, immigrants in the region helped create or preserve approximately 2,095 jobs that would have otherwise vanished or moved elsewhere.
• Despite making up just 6.3 percent of the overall population, immigrants represented 7.9 percent of the employed labor force in Michiana in 2016. Foreign-born residents also made up 9.3 percent of the regions STEM workers.
• Immigrants represented 8.6 percent of the entrepreneurs in the region in 2016. About 2,168 foreign-born individuals worked for their own businesses, generating $48.9 million in business income.
• In 2016, 29 percent of the immigrants ages 25 and up held at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 23.5 percent of the U.S.-born population in the Michiana region. About 14.5 percent of the immigrants held an advanced degree, compared with 8.6 percent of the U.S.-born population in the region.

Read the full research brief here.