How many immigrants live in the US without legal status, and how has the number changed since 1990?

The latest estimates are 10.99 million unauthorized immigrants in January 2022 (DHS), 14.0 million in July 2023 (Pew Research Center), 14.6 million in 2024 (Center for Migration Studies, new method; 12.2 million in July 2023 under its earlier method) and 13.5 million in July 2026 (Center for Immigration Studies, preliminary; 13.1 million before its undercount adjustment), compared with 3.5 million in 1990 in Pew's series, the only one that reaches back to 1990.

Choose a figure

Unauthorized immigrants living in the US

12.2

million unauthorized immigrants living in the US, 2023

Low trust, 58 of 100 The sources disagree: their figures run from 10.99 to 14.

Each source by year: million unauthorized immigrants living in the US

DHS
Pew
CMS
CMS 2024
CIS

Recorded change in how a source reports; hover or focus the ring for details.

Show the data as a table

Year	DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2018-January 2022 (Baker and Warren, April 2024)	Pew Research Center, U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023 (Passel and Krogstad, August 2025), detailed table by country of birth, 1990-2023	Center for Migration Studies of New York, undocumented population estimates (Warren, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2021, 2024 and 2025)	Center for Migration Studies of New York, new 2024 estimates of the undocumented population (Allen and Warren, announced May 2026)	Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrant population estimates from the Current Population Survey (Camarota and Zeigler, 2022-2026)
1990	–	3.5	–	–	–
1995	–	5.7	–	–	–
1998	–	7.25	–	–	–
2000	8.46	8.6	–	–	–
2003	–	10.1	–	–	–
2005	10.49	11.1	–	–	–
2006	11.31	11.6	–	–	–
2007	11.78	12.2	–	–	–
2008	11.6	11.7	–	–	–
2009	10.75	11.3	–	–	–
2010	11.59	11.4	11.73	–	–
2011	11.51	11.5	11.32	–	–
2012	11.43	11.2	11.11	–	–
2013	11.21	11.2	11.01	–	–
2014	11.46	11.1	11.05	–	–
2015	11.44	11	11.05	–	–
2016	11.75	10.7	10.79	–	–
2017	11.41	10.5	10.64	–	–
2018	11.57	10.5	10.57	–	–
2019	11.11	10.2	10.35	–	11.48
2020	10.51	–	10.21	–	–
2021	–	10.5	10.29	–	10.22
2022	10.99	11.8	10.94	–	11.35
2023	–	14	12.2	–	–
2024	–	–	–	14.6	14
2025	–	–	–	–	15.8
2026	–	–	–	–	13.5

What this number counts

Counts: People born abroad who live in the US without lawful permanent residence, citizenship, refugee or asylum status or a valid temporary visa, including those with temporary protection from deportation (TPS, DACA, parole, pending asylum)
Where: United States (50 states and DC)
When: Each source's latest estimate: January 2022 (DHS), July 2023 (Pew), July 2023 (CMS, earlier method), 2024 (CMS, new method), July 2026 (CIS) (each source's latest year)

The CMS figure (2023). When sources differ, we show the middle one, with better sources counting more.

Where the number comes from (5 sources)

Source	Figure and year	Definition	Quality	Counts for
DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2018-January 2022 (Baker and Warren, April 2024)US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) · Model-based estimateRetrieved 2026-10-27	10.992022	DHS calls them the "unauthorized immigrant population": all foreign-born non-citizens who are not legal residents. Residual method: the total foreign-born population that entered in 1980 or later, from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS; the 2000 Census for 2000), adjusted for survey undercount (13% for the newest arrivals, falling with each year in the US) and moved to 1 January, minus the legally resident foreign-born (naturalised citizens, green-card holders, refugees, asylees and resident visa holders) estimated from DHS records. Includes people with Temporary Protected Status, DACA or other prosecutorial discretion, people awaiting removal proceedings, parolees, and applicants for a green card until it is granted. Counted on 1 January of each year. Appendix 2, Table A2-1 (p. 15), recorded in scripts/us-unauthorized-immigrant-population.manual.json; the 2022 total matches Table 1. Where the table gives two values for a year (2010, 2015, 2018), the series keeps the revised one; the earlier ones are in the reporting events.	3 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The report sets out each component, its source and its assumptions (Appendix 1). Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Official statistics from the DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Built on the ACS, a sample of about three million households a year, and full administrative records. No: Raw data downloadable. The estimates are published only as PDF tables; the administrative inputs are not public. No: No known break or quality problem. The series has breaks in 2010, 2015, 2018 and 2022 (new census base or method), no estimates for 2001-2004 or 2021, and DHS says year-to-year changes should be read with caution.	28%
Pew Research Center, U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023 (Passel and Krogstad, August 2025), detailed table by country of birth, 1990-2023Pew Research Center · Model-based estimateRetrieved 2026-10-27 · Data (Excel file)	142023	Pew calls them "unauthorized immigrants" and says the term means the same as undocumented immigrants, illegal immigrants and illegal aliens. Residual method: immigrants counted in the ACS (the March CPS for earlier years) minus lawful immigrants estimated from DHS admission records with death and emigration rates, adjusted upward for people the surveys miss. Includes people with DACA, TPS, pending asylum cases, parole and other temporary protection from deportation (about 6 million in 2023). Counted on 1 July for 2005-2023, 1 March for 1995-2003 and 1 April for 1990. Read from the sheet "Countries-Regions 1990-2023", row "All countries". Pew gives a 90% margin of error of plus or minus 250,000 for 2023. Report: https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/08/21/u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-population-reached-a-record-14-million-in-2023/	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. Pew publishes a three-part methodology with the report. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Estimates by an independent research centre; not official statistics and not peer-reviewed. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Built on the ACS and CPS, nationally representative Census Bureau surveys. No: Raw data downloadable. Yearly totals are downloadable as Excel tables, but not the survey records with assigned status. No: No known break or quality problem. Reference date moves from April (1990) to March (1995-2003) to July (2005-2023); no estimate for 2020; 2022 and 2023 use revised Census Bureau migration estimates.	18%
Center for Migration Studies of New York, undocumented population estimates (Warren, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2021, 2024 and 2025)Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) · Model-based estimateRetrieved 2026-10-27	12.22023	CMS calls them the "undocumented population". It works directly on ACS microdata: non-citizens who arrived from 1982 on, minus those whose answers mark them as likely legal residents (for example jobs that require status, public benefits, close relatives of citizens, refugee origin countries), scaled by a country ratio and adjusted for undercount. Naturalised citizens and 1980-1981 arrivals are left out from the start. Includes people with DACA and TPS and most people in the asylum backlog or paroled since 2021. Counted on 1 July. 2010-2017 from Warren (2021) Table 1, 2018-2022 from Warren (2024) Table 1 (both give the same 2018 and 2019 figures), 2023 and the check on 2020 from Warren (2025) text; recorded in the manual file. Sage blocks scripted downloads, so the articles were read from web.archive.org copies of the publisher pages.	3 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. Each article describes the method; the full method is in Warren (2014). Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Published in the peer-reviewed Journal on Migration and Human Security. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Built on the ACS, a nationally representative Census Bureau survey. No: Raw data downloadable. The yearly totals are published only as article tables and text. No: No known break or quality problem. From 2022 CMS used a much higher undercount rate (42%) for people who arrived after 2020, so 2023 is not measured the same way as earlier years.	28%
Center for Migration Studies of New York, new 2024 estimates of the undocumented population (Allen and Warren, announced May 2026)Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) · Model-based estimateRetrieved 2026-10-27	14.62024	CMS calls them the "undocumented immigrant population". New estimates by Allen and Warren, announced by CMS in May 2026 and forthcoming in the Journal on Migration and Human Security, putting 2024 at 14.6 million. They replace CMS's earlier series; the method is not yet published, and the announcement does not say which survey or reference date was used or how undercount was handled. They give separate figures for people with temporary or "liminal" status (DACA, TPS, asylum seekers and other protections), more than one third of the total. Read from a web.archive.org copy of the CMS announcement (cmsny.org blocks scripted downloads). The revised series for earlier years could not be read, so this line has one point.	0 of 5 checks No: Method and definitions published. The method is not yet published; only the announcement is available. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Not yet peer-reviewed: the article is forthcoming. No: Full count or representative sample. The announcement does not say which survey or sample the estimate rests on. No: Raw data downloadable. CMS's data site blocks scripted downloads and no archived copy of its data file exists. No: No known break or quality problem. A new method that replaces the earlier CMS series; the two cannot be joined.	Not counted
Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrant population estimates from the Current Population Survey (Camarota and Zeigler, 2022-2026)Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) · Model-based estimateRetrieved 2026-10-27	13.52026	CIS calls them "illegal immigrants" and says they are also called undocumented, unauthorized or illegal aliens. Residual method following DHS, but on the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS): foreign-born who arrived in 1980 or later minus an estimate of legal immigrants from administrative data, raised 2.25% for people the survey misses. Counted in January (2019, 2021, 2022, 2025), February (2024) and July (2026); the 2026 figure is preliminary. One figure per report; each point and its report are in the manual file. cis.org blocks scripted downloads, so the reports were read from web.archive.org copies of the CIS pages. CIS also gave 14.2 million for July 2025; the series keeps January 2025.	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. Each report describes the steps and names the data used. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Estimates by an advocacy research organisation; not official statistics and not peer-reviewed. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Built on the CPS, a representative Census Bureau survey, though much smaller than the ACS. No: Raw data downloadable. Only the headline figures are published, in report text. No: No known break or quality problem. No estimates for 2020 or 2023; the month varies; CIS says its 2023-2024 figures may be too low and its 2026 figure is preliminary.	26%

Better and more direct sources count for more. A source that only copies another does not count.

DHS 28%Pew 18%CMS 28%CIS 26%

DHS28%
Pew18%
CMS28%
CIS26%

Shown but not counted: CMS 2024 (its weight is 0).

How the trust score was worked out

Quality20.4 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement15.2 / 30: How close the sources are to each other
Independence12 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness10 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How the score works

Who reports it, and since when

Which kinds of source measure this number, which years each one published, and where the reporting stops or has holes.

Model-based estimate · 5

No source of these kinds: population register, administrative records.

Blind spot: every counted source is the same kind
DHS: no figure here after 2022, while others reach 2026
Pew: no figure here after 2023, while others reach 2026
CMS: no figure here after 2023, while others reach 2026
DHS, 2010: From 2010 the estimates use ACS data tied to the 2010 Census; 2010 was revised from 10.79 to 11.59 million. source
DHS, 2015: Method updated with the 2015-2018 edition; 2015 was revised from 11.96 to 11.44 million. source
DHS, 2018: Resident visa holders counted from CBP arrival and departure records (ADIS) instead of trend modelling; 2018 was revised from 11.39 to 11.57 million. China includes Hong Kong and Macau from this estimate on. source
DHS, 2021: No estimate for January 2021: the Census Bureau judged the 2020 ACS below its quality standards because of the pandemic. source
DHS, 2022: The 2022 estimate uses ACS data tied to the 2020 Census. Each edition publishes the 10 leading countries of birth. source
Pew, 1995: Estimates for 1995-2003 refer to 1 March (CPS); the 1990 estimate refers to Census Day, 1 April. source
Pew, 2005: From 2005 the estimates refer to 1 July (ACS). source
Pew, 2020: No estimate for 2020 "because of the lack of suitable survey data from either the ACS or the CPS". source
Pew, 2022: The 2022 and 2023 estimates incorporate the Census Bureau's December 2024 revision of international migration; the 2023 report supersedes all earlier Pew estimates. Country of birth is published for every year, with Mexico and "Other than Mexico" in the same table. source
CMS, 2010: The country ratios used to separate undocumented from legal residents were derived in 2010 and updated in 2017. source
CMS, 2022: Undercount adjustment raised to 42% for post-2020 arrivals (about 15% before for the newest arrivals). The 2023 article applied it to 2022 and 2023, but printed its revised 2022 figure only in a chart; the 2022 point here is the earlier published 10.94 million. source
CMS, 2024: CMS replaced this series in May 2026 with new estimates (Allen and Warren) that put 2024 at 14.6 million; that figure is a separate line (CMS 2024), never joined to this one. source
CMS 2024, 2024: New CMS method and series replacing the Warren estimates; earlier years under the new method could not be retrieved. source
CIS, 2019: First CPS-based estimate (report of March 2022), following the DHS residual method. source
CIS, 2020: No estimate for 2020; the report explains the gap in its methodology section. source
CIS, 2025: The January 2025 CPS was the first weighted to the Census Bureau's raised migration estimates; CIS says its 2023 and 2024 estimates "may be too low". source
CIS, 2026: July 2026 estimate is preliminary because some administrative data were not yet available. source
DHS: no figure here for 5 years between 2000 and 2022
Pew: no figure here for 11 years between 1990 and 2023
CIS: no figure here for 2020, 2023

Years each source has a figure here

'02'05'10'15'20'25'26DHSPewCMSCMS 2024CIS

figure no figure here, inside its range no later figure recorded change

Unauthorized immigrants by country of birth, DHS estimates, millions, 2000-2022

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Mexico
Other countries (total minus Mexico)

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Mexico	4.81	2022	52 Low
Other countries (total minus Mexico)	6.18	2022	52 Low

Show every year as a table

Year	Mexico	Other countries (total minus Mexico)
2000	4.68	3.78
2005	5.97	4.52
2006	6.57	4.74
2007	6.98	4.8
2008	7.03	4.57
2009	6.65	4.1
2010	6.83	4.76
2011	6.8	4.71
2012	6.72	4.71
2013	6.45	4.76
2014	6.45	5.01
2015	6.2	5.24
2016	5.97	5.78
2017	5.86	5.55
2018	5.54	6.03
2019	5.35	5.76
2020	4.97	5.54
2022	4.81	6.18

Unauthorized immigrants by country of birth, Pew estimates, millions, 1990-2023

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Mexico
Other than Mexico

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Mexico	4.25	2023	44 Low
Other than Mexico	9.7	2023	44 Low

Show every year as a table

Year	Mexico	Other than Mexico
1990	2.05	1.45
1995	2.9	2.8
1998	3.8	3.45
2000	4.45	4.15
2003	5.6	4.5
2005	6.3	4.8
2006	6.55	5.05
2007	6.95	5.25
2008	6.6	5.05
2009	6.35	4.95
2010	6.15	5.25
2011	6.15	5.35
2012	5.85	5.35
2013	5.85	5.35
2014	5.85	5.3
2015	5.55	5.4
2016	5.45	5.25
2017	4.95	5.55
2018	4.75	5.7
2019	4.35	5.85
2021	4.05	6.4
2022	4.1	7.7
2023	4.25	9.7

CIS figures before and after its own undercount adjustment, millions, 2024-2026

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

After undercount adjustment (CIS)
Counted in the survey, before adjustment (CIS)

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
After undercount adjustment (CIS)	13.5	2026	47 Low
Counted in the survey, before adjustment (CIS)	13.1	2026	47 Low

Show every year as a table

Year	After undercount adjustment (CIS)	Counted in the survey, before adjustment (CIS)
2024	14	13.7
2025	15.8	15.4
2026	13.5	13.1

About this data

Every source on this page (5)

Who is behind the sources

67% Think tank or advocacy group
33% Statistics office

Each publisher, its funding and its own description

Pew Research Center · Think tank or advocacy groupFunding: Nonprofit funded mainly by The Pew Charitable Trusts, plus other philanthropists and institutions; it says it takes no money from governments or political parties. sourceIn its own words: “Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) · Think tank or advocacy groupFunding: Tax-exempt nonprofit founded by the Scalabrinian missionaries, a Catholic order; its foundation funders include Carnegie Corporation of New York and the MacArthur Foundation. sourceIn its own words: “…a think tank and an educational institute devoted to the study of international migration…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) · Think tank or advocacy groupFunding: Contributions and grants from private foundations and individual donors; it also lists past funding from the U.S. Census Bureau and Justice Department. sourceIn its own words: “…we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS), DHS · Statistics officeFunding: U.S. federal budget, through the Department of Homeland Security. sourceIn its own words: “Our mission is to foster transparency and data-driven homeland security decision-making…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27

DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2018-January 2022 (Baker and Warren, April 2024)Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS), DHS (statistics office) · Model-based estimateUsed for 3 numbers; counts toward 3. Years 2022. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
Pew Research Center, U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023 (Passel and Krogstad, August 2025), detailed table by country of birth, 1990-2023Pew Research Center (think tank or advocacy group) · Model-based estimateUsed for 3 numbers; counts toward 3. Years 2023. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Data (Excel file)
Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrant population estimates from the Current Population Survey (Camarota and Zeigler, 2022-2026)Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) (think tank or advocacy group) · Model-based estimateUsed for 3 numbers; counts toward 3. Years 2026. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
Center for Migration Studies of New York, undocumented population estimates (Warren, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2021, 2024 and 2025)Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) (think tank or advocacy group) · Model-based estimateUsed for 1 number; counts toward 1. Years 2023. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
Center for Migration Studies of New York, new 2024 estimates of the undocumented population (Allen and Warren, announced May 2026)Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) (think tank or advocacy group) · Model-based estimateUsed for 1 number; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Not counted where: its weight is 0.Open the publisher's page

Why the numbers differ (5)

All four use a residual: immigrants counted in a Census Bureau survey minus an estimate of those here legally. DHS lists what makes such estimates differ: how much to add for people the survey misses, how many legal immigrants have emigrated, how visa holders, refugees and asylees are counted, how misreported years of arrival are handled, which people the subtraction starts from, and the date the estimate refers to. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Undercount adjustments differ in size: DHS adds 13% for the newest arrivals, falling with time in the US (390,000 people in January 2022); CMS added 1.6 million to an initial 10.6 million for 2023, using 42% for post-2020 arrivals; CIS adds 2.25% to its survey count. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Timing differs: DHS counts on 1 January, Pew and CMS on 1 July, CIS in January or July. For 2022, the one year all three larger series cover, DHS has 10.99 million (January), Pew 11.8 million and CMS 10.94 million (both July). (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
The data differ: DHS, Pew and CMS use the large annual ACS, published many months later; CIS uses the monthly CPS, which Pew says has about 3% as many cases as the ACS and is too small for a precise estimate, but which reflects recent months and was the first survey reweighted (January 2025) to the Census Bureau's raised migration estimates. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Who is subtracted differs: DHS and Pew start from all post-1980 immigrants including naturalised citizens, CMS from non-citizens who arrived from 1982, and CMS removes likely legal residents using survey answers rather than admission records. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)

Common mistakes (4)

This page uses "unauthorized immigrants" as a neutral common term. DHS and Pew use it, CMS says "undocumented", and CIS says "illegal immigrants"; Pew states that these terms and "illegal aliens" mean the same group. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Not everyone counted entered illegally or lacks any permission: about 6 million of Pew's 14.0 million in 2023 had temporary protection from deportation, such as TPS, DACA, parole or a pending asylum case. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Border apprehensions and encounters are events, not people living in the country; one person can be counted several times and many are removed. They cannot be added up to get the population. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Each publisher revises its earlier years when it changes method or census base; compare years within one line, not across lines or across editions. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)

Context (3)

Sources considered and not used (5)

Migration Policy Institute (MPI) unauthorized immigrant profiles: MPI's data hub blocks scripted downloads and no yearly series with a stated method could be read from it, so MPI is left out. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Share of the US population: Pew gives the share only for 2021 (3.1%) and 2023 (4.1%), and DHS, CMS and CIS give none, so there is no consistent yearly series to show. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Fazel-Zarandi, Feinstein and Kaplan (2018) inflow-outflow estimate: A single estimate for 2016 (22.1 million), not a yearly series; DHS replicated it and found the gap with residual estimates comes from assumed growth in the 1990s, for which key data are missing. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
CMS revised series for years before 2024: CMS's new data site blocks scripted downloads and no archived copy of its data file exists, so only the 2024 headline (14.6 million) could be read; it is its own line with one point. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
DHS estimates for 1990-1999 (2003 report): Made with an older method and census base; DHS's current tables start in 2000, so they are not added to the DHS line. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)

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Cite as: RealStats, “How many immigrants live in the US without legal status, and how has the number changed since 1990?”, updated 2026-10-27, with the original sources listed on the page. Scores use formula version 1.0.
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