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U.S. States with the Fewest Immigrants

Name the states that have the lowest percentage of residents who were born outside of the United States.
2023 estimates. U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey.
Opposite quiz here
Quiz by joez
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Last updated: September 13, 2024
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First submittedDecember 5, 2016
Times taken60,422
Average score70.0%
Rating4.69
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State
1.8
West Virginia
2.2
Montana
2.6
Mississippi
3.6
Wyoming
3.8
Maine
%
State
4.0
North Dakota
4.0
Alabama
4.3
South Dakota
4.5
Kentucky
4.5
Vermont
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55 Comments
geographyisthebestsubject
+10
Level 65
Aug 15, 2017
Missed Maine and West Virginia.
EvanAviator
+6
Level 60
Oct 6, 2020
how
chickymomo
+121
Level 27
Nov 1, 2020
because he missed them
PontiacLover
+1
Level 45
Jan 27, 2025
I live in West Virginia! I just missed the Dakotas!
skukka
+3
Level 58
Nov 26, 2017
Very interesting quiz!
IsleAuHaulte
+44
Level 91
Nov 11, 2018
Always go for Mississippi and West Virginia in certain categories.
JackintheBox
+5
Level 80
Nov 3, 2020
Which? 😏
MarcellDAvis
+25
Level 78
Sep 21, 2022
The hillbilly ones
ItsLiamHere
+9
Level 38
Feb 2, 2023
in the "least" categories, unless its obesity and stuff
loshy
+5
Level 51
Oct 22, 2024
It's actually sad, they always rank first in bad things.
martay
+3
Level 70
Dec 27, 2018
West Virginia I can understand given where it is and its industries not as robust as they once were. Mississippi and Alabama though are on the Gulf which I thought would promote more immigration than it apparently does. There's also a fair amount of farming in both of those states which often means an influx of migrant workers who are known to overstay. Since there's no direct link to the data source it's hard to know what's being counted as a "resident".
Quizmaster
+15
Level ∞
Sep 18, 2020
Table R0501 here found: here. Not sure the exact methodology used. Counting illegal immigrants is very difficult. I know I wouldn't be eager to talk to the government if I didn't have a valid visa.
IsleAuHaulte
+5
Level 91
Dec 31, 2018
Missouri's surprising with an affordable entry level hell hole in St. Louis.
ctleng76
+2
Level 65
Jan 7, 2019
I am curious to hear on what grounds your opinion of St. Louis is based? If it is the murder rate, you need to do more research on what is considered the "city". The St. Louis area has over 3 million residents. Only ~350,000 of those residents actually reside within the city limits, and the per capita murder rate is based on just this small area. The city limits contain some of the roughest neighborhoods. If our "city" encompassed the metro area, we would rank much lower than Detroit.
IsleAuHaulte
+12
Level 91
Jan 16, 2019
No, I'm talking about the abandoned desolation, 1/3 its 1950 population, urban prairie, 3 houses left on 4 blocks, decrepit city, not some suburb. Right, wrong, whatever that's the type of place where a lot of unsuspecting immigrants first wind up because it's cheap. If you seriously don't think St. Louis is one of the most devastated urban spots in America, start travelling.
POOCH
+6
Level 72
Apr 30, 2019
Well, I don't to need to start traveling - I worked for an airline for almost 30 years and there are very few US cities that I haven't been in. I grew up in Southeast Missouri and am very familiar with St Louis. I don't have any special love or even loyalty for the city, but I don't find it to be any better or worse than many other major urban area in the US. For the last 12 years, I've worked for HUD so I've seen some pretty bad areas and St Louis is actually better than many.
jayhiatt
+10
Level 71
Sep 19, 2022
I'm sure there are lovely parts of St. Louis (and Detroit). That being said, it doesn't really help St. Louis's case to make the argument "if you count our suburbs, we're better than Detroit."
vermiciousknid
+2
Level 90
Sep 25, 2020
I tried every bordering state except Illinois with no luck so assumed Missouri was out, too. Only one I missed.
mf3
+3
Level 89
Sep 19, 2020
So what immigrant community is filling Idaho? I'm guessing there are no Irish potato famine refugees coming in at this point.
Jeremy
+7
Level 76
Sep 20, 2020
Boise is a decently large city, and there are a lot of people just across the border from Spokane and Logan. I assume that's where the majority of the immigrants come from. Also, there still isn't too large of an immigrant population, just more than the 4.3% needed to be on the quiz. 1 in 20 isn't a lot.
reverendmeat
+5
Level 84
Jan 29, 2023
Basques maybe
khalbrucie
+6
Level 88
Jan 29, 2023
There are parts of southern Idaho that have (proportionally) large Hispanic communities. The state as a whole is about 93% native-born American citizens, and about half of the other 7% are Mexican-born.

https://statisticalatlas.com/state/Idaho/National-Origin

luke0lamoreaux
+1
Level 48
Sep 18, 2024
basques. boise actually has one of the biggest basque populations outside of spain surprisingly.
MrScorpion
+5
Level 90
Sep 22, 2020
immigrants must not like the M states
EvanAviator
+1
Level 60
Oct 6, 2020
massachusetts
sumokitty
+2
Level 85
Jan 30, 2023
And Maryland and Michigan and Minnesota...there are a lot of M states!
vermiciousknid
+4
Level 90
Sep 25, 2020
Not too many surprises for me, but for some reason I expected to see Alaska on this quiz. Apparently immigrants comprised 8% of the population in 2018. I wondered where they were coming from, so I did a little research. According to the American Immigration Council:

"The top countries of origin for immigrants were the Philippines (32 percent of immigrants), Mexico (10 percent), Canada (7 percent), Thailand (7 percent), and Korea (5 percent)."

mf3
+1
Level 89
Sep 23, 2022
I was a bit surprised to discover that most of the taxi drivers are Thai in the town formerly known as Barrow. I'm guessing it's a bit cooler than Bangkok.
AkJMB
+1
Level 69
Feb 2, 2023
The majority of the Thailand ones are Hmong. Also, lots of Samoans, but I guess the majority of them must come from American Samoa.
TheRealGrantma
+2
Level 55
Oct 11, 2020
Once again, another terrible thing about West Virginia.
thegipper
+8
Level 44
Nov 1, 2020
I'm from there and it's a charming place but it's really underdeveloped and there isn't much in the way of jobs. it's the only state not to really grow in population since WW2 despite us adding many tens of millions of people to the nation and a comparably high birthrate. People move out quick for work (like me) because unless you want to work in timber, natural gas, or coal (none of which has a particularly rosy growth outlook) there really isn't much else there anymore outside of a couple small cities on the edge of the state and the geography/Infrastructure doesn't lend itself to economically feasible redevelopment
jmellor13
+16
Level 67
Nov 3, 2020
I am pro-immigrant philosophically, but I don't think having a low percentage of immigrants is per se a "terrible thing." There are different reasons these states have low immigration figures. It might be anti-immigrant bias. Or it might just be lack of employment opportunity or lack of established immigrant communities in the first place. Most immigrants would rather go where they have a community than go somewhere they don't, so it becomes cyclical.
nojik
+7
Level 67
Nov 1, 2020
aka the best
Jacktheguy
+10
Level 91
Jan 30, 2023
Considering the only state you’ve been to is Maryland (according to your map), which isn’t even on this list, this statement is pretty much worthless.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Jan 31, 2023
Another years-old comment mysteriously and for no good reason gone missing. Honestly, QM, or whomever is editing the comments sections now... FU. Sick of this cowardly passive aggressive BS. I'm out.
Smokebasics
+7
Level 75
Sep 13, 2024
goodbye and don't ever come back
Apprentice03
+1
Level 64
Nov 1, 2020
Surprised Alaska is not on there.
jmellor13
+4
Level 67
Nov 3, 2020
Northern Exposure has a huge following in Mexico. Bet that explains it.
MungoJerry
+2
Level 61
Nov 5, 2020
It's Canadians
ebagel
+4
Level 65
Jan 31, 2023
Alaska actually has a lot of Filipino immigrants interestingly enough. A lot of them work in the state's naval bases.
Aaron197
+1
Level 75
Sep 19, 2022
Wonder what states were ousted in this new update
mf3
+1
Level 89
Sep 23, 2022
I don't remember... were people flocking to North Dakota but not South Dakota in the last version of this quiz?
sumokitty
+2
Level 85
Jan 30, 2023
North Dakota oil boom, probably.
Koopa
+1
Level 83
Dec 31, 2022
I immediately went south-central (MS, AL, etc.), then went non-coastal (straddling the Mississippi), then New England. After some random tries, I missed only WV.
hwes
+2
Level 87
Jan 29, 2023
Rural New England, Appalachia, and big empty places. Fairly logical of immigrants to avoid.
rabble
+2
Level 68
Jan 29, 2023
Is this quiz about illegal aliens, or people who have legally immigrated to the USA?
QRU
+5
Level 74
Jan 30, 2023
Take a look at the description.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Sep 13, 2024
Answer: I'm not sure.

It most likely counts all people, whether they are in the country legally or not, but there's a good chance that the numbers are way off since this is based on survey data.

GlassMonkeyCode
+2
Level 69
May 19, 2023
As a non-American, that was hard.
mf3
+2
Level 89
Sep 14, 2024
So are Venezuelans pouring into Arkansas or something? If so, why?
luke0lamoreaux
+2
Level 48
Sep 18, 2024
i always found the trends of where immigrants move to odd. for example how minnesota and utah lead the country in somali immigrants. what got them to choose those states? idk it's pretty random. i live in utah and it is nice to see more than white mormons tho.
bigred34
+1
Level 51
Oct 22, 2024
I am somewhat surprised that Kentucky made the list. I live there and its apparent that the statistician never visited the horse farms and tobacco fields for there are many immigrants in those places, albeit they are probably undocumented.
samiam1955
+2
Level 68
Oct 22, 2024
Remarkable that four states on this list - Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Maine - border a foreign country.
PontiacLover
+1
Level 45
Jan 27, 2025
Yeah and all the states bordering Mexico aren't on this list. Something fishy is goin' down in Texas!
christian28932
+1
Level 60
May 29, 2025
wish those numbers were lower
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