Ukrainian Immigrants in the United States

In response to Europe’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration is granting protection to as many as 180,000 Ukrainians through various entry pathways including Temporary Protected Status and the “Uniting for Ukraine” program. “Ukrainian Immigrants in the United States” by the Migration Policy Institute provides information about the size, geographic distribution and socioeconomic characteristics of the Ukrainian immigrant community present in the United States before the current invasion. This community, which is part of the approximately 1.1 million-strong Ukrainian diaspora, grew by almost one-third between 2000 and 2019: from 275,000 to 335,000. Between 2015 and 2019, almost half of Ukrainian immigrants lived in New York, California and Washington, with 37 percent residing in greater metropolitan New York, Chicago and Seattle. In 2019, Ukrainian immigrants had higher levels of educational attainment and median household incomes than both the overall immigrant and U.S.-born populations, while their rates of English proficiency and participation in the U.S. labor market were similar to those of the total foreign-born population. Compared to the overall immigrant population, Ukrainian immigrants became naturalized U.S. citizens at a higher rate (72 percent vs 52 percent) and were less likely to lack health insurance coverage (11 percent vs 20 percent). (Jasmina Popaja for The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)

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