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 1.6 million Dreamers, or about two-thirds, are younger than 30 years old. The median age for Dreamers is 26.

More than 600,000 Dreamers are minors who are less than 18 years old. Dreamers younger than 18 are ineligible for DACA, even if new applications were being processed, because they would have 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.

More than 2.1 million Dreamers, more than three-fourths (81%), entered the U.S. in 2016 or earlier—a decade or more ago.

And nearly the same number—almost 1.8 million, or 67% of Dreamers—arrived before the age of 13, meaning they have spent many of their most formative years in the United States.

More than a third of Dreamers, or about 1 million people, were born in Mexico, while others came from a diverse range of countries.

About 440,000, or 17%, are from Central American countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. About 430,000, or 17%, 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 170,000, or 6%, are from European countries or Canada. About 170,000, or 6%, are from Caribbean countries like Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, and 160,000, or 6%, were born in either Africa or the Middle East.

4 | EDUCATION
Nearly 1 million 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 1.9 million Dreamers, or some three-fourths (75%), have already completed high school or its equivalent. Some 360,000, or about 1 in 7 (14%) Dreamers, have also completed a college degree or diploma.

Yet many Dreamers are younger and are still pursuing their education. An estimated 660,000 K–12 students and 320,000 college or university students, or some 980,000 students total, are currently studying in the U.S. Of this group of students, some 140,000 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.

Nearly 1.7 million or some 64% of Dreamers are already trained and employed in critical industries.

More specifically, an estimated 290,000 Dreamers work in leisure and hospitality, 280,000 in wholesale and retail trade, 240,000 work in construction, 2000,000 in professional and business services, 170,000 in manufacturing, 150,000 in healthcare, and 110,000 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 $76 billion to the U.S. economy each year through their wages, and pay nearly $24 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 770,000 U.S. citizen minor children with at least one Dreamer parent.

At the same time, nearly 200,000 Dreamers are married to U.S. citizens. This means that about a third 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.