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Economic Impact of Immigration/Blog/Immigration/Georgia/State Data/State Policy

Immigrants are crucial to Georgia’s economy

FWD.us analysis reveals the state’s contributions of immigrants for a robust economy and a strong labor force.
"Georgia benefits from the contributions of immigrants to grow its economy, and the immigrant labor force cannot be taken for granted."

Immigrants make up nearly a fifth of Georgia’s labor force (17%), quadrupling the share from three decades ago, according to a FWD.us analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.1 With nearly 975,000 workers, Georgia has America’s seventh-largest immigrant labor force, after more populated states like California, Texas, Florida, and New York and more similarly populated states like New Jersey and Illinois.

Source: FWD.us analysis of 1950 to 2000 decennial Census data, 2010 and augmented 2024 American Community Survey data (see 2024 ACS methodology at fwd.us/2024-acs-methodology for more information).

Georgia benefits from the contributions of immigrants to grow its economy, and the immigrant labor force cannot be taken for granted. Immigrants in Georgia’s workforce contribute an estimated $55 billion to the Peach State’s economy annually in personal income, making up more than 1 in 10 of all spending power dollars in the state. Lawmakers in Atlanta should prioritize pro-immigrant policies that support families, and that further expand immigrants’ ability to contribute to the state's economy.

“Immigrants make up nearly a fifth of Georgia’s labor force (17%), and contribute an estimated $55 billion to the Georgia economy annually.”

FWD.us analysis shows that immigrants in Georgia make up significant shares of workers in industries like construction (30%), business services (20%), manufacturing (20%), leisure and hospitality (15%), and health services (13%). Immigrants make up even larger shares of more specific essential industries, including 38% in taxi services, 34% in building services, 32% in crop production, and 31% in landscaping services.

Source: FWD.us analysis of augmented 2024 American Community Survey data.

Georgia’s immigrant population is highly integrated into our state’s communities. Some 91% of immigrants in Georgia speak English, about 60% are homeowners, and 73% have lived in the U.S. for a decade or longer. More than 2.4 million Georgians, more than a fifth of the state’s population, live in a household with at least one immigrant.

“FWD.us estimates that nearly 360,000 workers in Georgia are immigrants without legal status or with temporary protections, representing about 6% of the total workforce.”

About 400,000 immigrant workers in Georgia are naturalized U.S. citizens, an estimated 130,000are lawful permanent residents, and 70,000 have a nonimmigrant status, like H-1B visa workers or other temporary immigrant visas. Together, these U.S. citizens and people with some form of legal status make up 12% of Georgia’s total labor force.

Additionally, FWD.us estimates that as many as 360,000 workers in Georgia are immigrants without legal status or with temporary protections, representing about 6% of the total workforce, one of the higher levels among U.S. states. An estimated 125,000 had a protected status as of the end of 2024, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), an active asylum claim, or other deportation-deferred status.

Many of these individuals work in Georgia with lawful work authorization, and have become critical to the labor infrastructure of the state. These immigrants are particularly concentrated in agricultural occupations (34% of all agricultural jobs), construction jobs (28%), and among building grounds and maintenance workers (17%).

Immigrant workers without legal status or with temporary protections are also highly integrated into Georgia’s communities and society, with 40% owning homes. Through their wages, they contribute more than $14.3 billion to the economy annually, with more than $4 billion in combined federal, state, and local taxes.

Immigrants help power major sectors of the state’s workforce, driving innovation, creating American jobs, and boosting economic growth. If Georgia wants to continue being a leading global economy, then we need to enact policies that build a vibrant, inclusive, welcoming environment for immigrants of all backgrounds.

  1. Figures are based on U.S. Census data for 1950 to 2000 and American Community Survey (ACS) data for 2010 and 2024. Unless otherwise specified, statistics represent analysis from the 2024 ACS. See FWD’s methodology on how immigrant status is assigned to the 2024 ACS.

Jaime Rangel

Regional Government Relations Director

jaime@fwd.us
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