Informing Strategy
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Connecting Communities
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Tracking Progress
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Informing Strategy
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Connecting Communities
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Tracking Progress
For a more inclusive and equitable California
Welcome to the California Immigrant Data Portal, a resource and progress tracker for immigrants and those serving immigrant communities across the state of California. This portal presents data and case studies that can be used to better understand and promote the well-being of immigrants, their families, and their communities.
Click here to see what's new on our site!
Data indicators are organized into four categories, which include general demographics and three additional categories based on a three-part definition of immigrant inclusion:
The data portal is a project of the University of Southern California's Equity Research Institute (ERI), formerly known as the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). For more information about our institute, click here. For more analysis on current issues facing immigrants, visit our blog here. Stay up to date on upcoming California Immigrant Data Portal updates and webinars by subscribing to our mailing list here.
Our perspective on immigrant inclusion is anchored by three guiding principles:
For more on our guiding principles, click here.
Our Work
A special note:
While this website provides data on immigrant, migrant, and refugee communities, we recognize that California is home to Native Nations on whose land we are living. We want to challenge the uplifting but inaccurate narrative that the state was “built by immigrants.” Instead, we want to acknowledge that the land we reside on was taken by a settler-colonial society that exploited native, immigrant, migrant, and enslaved people – stealing labor, knowledge, and skills – to build what we now call California. Today, California is home to the largest population of Native Americans in the United States. Currently there are over 150 tribes throughout the state. Immigrant communities, like U.S.-born Californians, must grapple with what it means to live on stolen land, understand our role and responsibilities as guests on Native American homelands, and be committed to supporting the struggle for Native Nations’ sovereignty and self-determination.
For more information on California’s Native Nations, click here.
Thank you for visiting our site! While not comprehensive in scope, this site is meant to provide general data and narrative on immigrant populations, who are often people of color. Highlighting some of the demographic and economic realities facing our communities now, the data also points to the state’s future and the work needed to shape immigrant inclusion for the next decade and beyond. We hope that this data portal is a helpful tool in your work and beyond.
October 29, 2025: Our demographic and economic mobility indicator pages have been updated with new data, insights and analyses, and narratives. In addition to these 11 updated pages, we've also added a new economic mobility indicator, working poverty, which provides data on how immigrant workers are faring across the state. Stay tuned - we'll be releasing more updated data and analyses in the next month!
October 22, 2025: Check out our new estimates on undocumented immigrants in Orange County and a special Op-Ed piece published in the Orange County Register that highlights this new data.
July 2025: Check out our new estimates on undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles. In a few months the rest of our site will be updated with new estimates but in the meantime, please visit this page for a slide deck featuring data on LA County's undocumented immigrant communities.
May 2025: We have new data on Black immigrants in California! Check out our new webpage in our "Data Hub" special projects section, developed in partnership with Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), featuring interactive charts and data that support the lived experiences of California's Black immigrants.
Below are a few indicators on our site:
Special Project: Black Immigrants in California
California is home to a very large and diverse immigrant population, including Black immigrants. Understanding the demographic, social, and economic realities of California’s Black immigrant communities is essential to advancing racial and immigrant justice statewide. USC Equity Research Institute, in partnership with Black Alliance for Just Immigration, produced a series of interactive charts and slides on Black immigrants statewide to support the lived experiences of Black immigrants. By creating comprehensive data visualizations—both statewide and by region—we aim to provide a clearer picture of these communities, their contributions, and the challenges they face.
Data is a powerful tool to support advocacy work. In the fight for racial and immigrant justice, it helps substantiate the lived experiences of Black immigrants with concrete evidence. By making this data accessible, we hope to strengthen the work of advocates and community leaders by providing evidence that supports their efforts to challenge inequities, push for transformative policies, and uplift the voices of Black immigrants across California.
Among the 2.8 million Black Californians, about 218,000 are immigrants. Nearly one in four Black residents are either immigrants or children of immigrants.
