Analysis Takes Snapshot of Indiana Immigrant Impact

The Whitinger Business Building houses the Miller College of Business and the Indiana Communitites Institute.

Preliminary results of a new study from Ball State University detail some effects immigrants are having on the population and economy of the state. The analysis shows around one in 20 Hoosiers is an immigrant, and immigrants account for 27 percent of Indiana’s population growth from 2000-2015.

Between 320,000 and 326,000 people immigrated to the state over that 15-year time period. Immigrants, the study results suggest, are keeping 20 percent of the state’s 92 counties from losing population.

Other figures include more than 30 percent of Indiana’s foreign-born population earned bachelor’s degrees, higher than the 23.7 percent rate of Hoosiers born in the state

The preliminary study was conducted by BSU Indiana Communities Institute Research Assistant Professor Emily Wornell, who is working with researchers at the University of Notre Dame on analyzing the overall impact of immigrants on the state.