Geographic Concentration of Immigrants in Construction
In some states, . More than half (53%) of the three million immigrant construction workers reside in the four most populous states in the U.S. — California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
California and Texas have over half a million foreign-born construction workers each. Combined, these two states account for more than a third (35%) of all immigrant construction workers. Florida and New York combined account for an additional 18%.
These are not only the most populous states in the U.S., but as traditional gateway states, they are also particularly reliant on foreign-born construction labor. Immigrants comprise 41% of the construction workforce in California. In Florida and Texas, 38% of the construction labor force is foreign-born. In New York, 37% of construction industry workers come from abroad.
The reliance on foreign-born labor continues to spread outside of these traditional immigrant magnets. This is evident in states such as New Jersey that registered the second highest share of immigrant workers (40%) in 2023, closely following California. Nevada and Maryland, where immigrants (as of 2023) account for over a third of the construction labor force (36%), also illustrate spreading reliance on immigrant labor.
Related: See a breakdown by trade of the share of immigrants and labor shortages in the workforce.
In Georgia, Connecticut, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, Massachusetts and Illinois, more than a quarter of construction workers are foreign-born. At the other end of the spectrum, seven states — Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont, Maine, West Virginia, and Alaska — have shares of immigrant workers of less than 5%.
Because immigrant workers are disproportionately concentrated within the construction trades, immigrant presence among craftsmen is higher than their overall representation in the industry across all states. In California and D.C., immigrant workers account for more than half of all tradesmen in construction. In New Jersey and Texas, these shares are similarly high at 49%. In Maryland, Nevada, Florida, New York and Georgia, between 40% and 47% of craftsmen are foreign-born.
