Immigrants and Welfare: New Analysis Shows Lower Per-Capita Use Than Natives

A new analysis from the Cato Institute finds that immigrants and their U.S.-born children use significantly less welfare per capita than native-born Americans, even when dependent children are included. The study addresses criticisms from the Center for Immigration Studies, which argued that counting immigrant children as natives underestimates fiscal costs.

Researchers Alex Nowrasteh and Jerome Famularo reclassified immigrant households to include their U.S.-born children and compared per-person welfare expenditures. They found that immigrant families consumed $8,144 per capita annually, compared to $10,878 for native-born families—a difference of nearly $2,734. Immigrants used less Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, SSI, and TANF, though they did use slightly more Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credit, and WIC.

The report highlights that measuring welfare by household participation rates, as some critics do, can be misleading because it does not account for household size or total benefit amounts. By focusing on per-capita expenditures, the Cato analysis provides a clearer picture of the fiscal impact of immigration.

The authors argue that policymakers concerned about welfare costs should focus on reforming the welfare system rather than restricting immigration, emphasizing that immigrants contribute less per person to public benefit programs than native-born Americans.