New Americans on Long Island

Fiscal Policy Institute Institute

Copyright © 1996-2014Fiscal Policy Institute

Abstract

October 27, 2011. Immigrants – documented and undocumented combined – make up 16 percent of the population of Long Island, and account for 17 percent of total economic output. This report presents data on jobs, earnings, family income, taxes, and home ownership. Immigrants’ economic role is examined town by town and in a national context as well. Among the 50 most affluent suburban counties in the country, Nassau and Suffolk are neither at the top nor the bottom of any of several measures of immigration. Driving immigrants away from Long Island would exact a high price to the social fabric and to the local economy.