The share of immigrants in the U.S. population is near a historic high. About one-in-seven people (14%) in the U.S. today, or 45 million, are foreign born. While many studies have highlighted the cultural diversity of immigrants, fewer point to the strength of immigrant families. As a group, immigrant families tend to be more stable than families of native-born Americans. Specifically, 72% of immigrants with children are still in their first marriage, whereas the share among native-born Americans is just 60%, according to a new Institute of Family Studies (IFS) analysis of census data.
Behind these numbers are the relatively higher marriage rates and lower divorce rates of immigrants in general. For every 1,000 unmarried immigrants ages 18 to 64 in 2019, 59 got married. The corresponding number for native-born Americans was 39. Likewise, only 13 out of 1000 married immigrants ages 18-64 got a divorce in 2019, compared with 20 out of 1000 among native-born Americans of same age.