Dreamers
By the Numbers

2 | AGE
Most Dreamers are younger than 30 years old.

While Dreamers have grown up in America and many have held DACA for many years, most are still relatively young.

All told, more than 1.5 million Dreamers, or more than two-thirds, are younger than 30 years old. The median age for Dreamers is 25.

Nearly 600,000 Dreamers are minors who are less than 18 years old. Nearly all Dreamers younger than 18 are ineligible for DACA, even if new applications were being processed, because they entered the U.S. after 2007, the required year of entry for DACA eligibility. DACA’s arrival requirements have not been updated since the policy was implemented in 2012.

3 | ORIGINS AND ARRIVAL IN U.S.
Dreamers are from all over the world, most have have lived in the U.S. for 10+ years and entered when they were very young.

Dreamers have grown up in America, with nearly three-fourths living in the U.S. for the majority of their lives.

About 1.8 million Dreamers, or nearly three-fourths (73%), entered the U.S. in 2014 or earlier— more than a decade ago.

And nearly the same number—1.7 million, or 68% of Dreamers—arrived before the age of 13, meaning they have spent many of their most formative years in the United States.

Less than half of Dreamers, or about 1 million people, were born in Mexico, while more than half came from a diverse range of countries.

About 410,000, or 16%, are from Central American countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. About 390,000, or 16%, are from Asian countries such as India, China, and the Philippines. About 230,000, or 9%, are from South American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, while 160,000, or 6%, are from European countries or Canada. About 140,000, or 6%, are from Caribbean countries like Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, and 140,000, or 6%, were born in either Africa or the Middle East.

4 | EDUCATION
More than 960,000 Dreamers are currently earning their education in the U.S.

To be likely eligible for a pathway to legal status, potential beneficiary Dreamers would need to be enrolled in school, or have earned a high school equivalency.

The majority of Dreamers would fulfill this requirement by having already completed part of their education. More than 1.8 million Dreamers, or nearly three-fourths (74%), have already completed high school or its equivalent. Some 300,000, or more than 1 in 8 (13%) Dreamers, have also completed a college degree or diploma.

Yet many Dreamers are younger and are still pursuing their education. An estimated 640,000 K–12 students and 320,000 college or university students, or some 960,000 students total, are currently studying in the U.S. Of this group of students, more than 200,000 are currently eligible for DACA; the rest arrived too recently to qualify for DACA protections.

5 | WORKFORCE
Nearly two-thirds of Dreamers are in the U.S. workforce.

More than 1.5 million or some 62% of Dreamers are already trained and employed in critical industries.

More specifically, an estimated 270,000 Dreamers work in leisure and hospitality, 240,000 in wholesale and retail trade, 220,000 work in construction, 190,000 in professional and business services, 160,000 in manufacturing, 140,000 in healthcare, 120,000 in agriculture, and 100,000 in transportation, warehousing, and utilities.

6 | ECONOMIC IMPACT
Dreamers are positioned to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy within the next several years.

Even with limited protections and opportunities, Dreamers contribute tremendously to their communities and the economy. With access to lawful status and, eventually, citizenship, Dreamers would be positioned to contribute even more.

Dreamers already contribute an estimated $65 billion to the U.S. economy each year through their wages, and pay nearly $18 billion annually in combined federal, payroll, state, and local taxes.

According to economic projections, just those eligible for DACA, a subset of Dreamers, and their spouses would contribute some $648 billion in wages over their lifetimes. In all, removing DACA would mean forfeiting a trillion dream, when considering their lost economic contributions, tax revenue, business potential, and past investments.

7 | FAMILIES
Substantial shares of Dreamers are parents of a U.S. citizen child, and many are married to U.S. citizens.

Dreamers have grown up in America, building lives and families here. Establishing a pathway to legal status for Dreamers would directly affect hundreds of thousands of American families and U.S. citizens.

Nearly 500,000 Dreamers, or roughly one-fifth of all Dreamers, are parents of at least one U.S. citizen child. This amounts to about 780,000 U.S. citizen minor children with at least one Dreamer parent.

At the same time, more than 280,000 Dreamers are married to U.S. citizens. This means that nearly half of Dreamers who are married have a spouse who is a U.S. citizen.

Most Dreamers entered the U.S. without a visa and without inspection, and thus are currently ineligible for permanent residency under existing pathways, even though they have immediate family members, including spouses, who are U.S. citizens.