Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series
An overview of the immigrant population born in the United States living in Canada

Introduction

The ties between Canada and the United States are deep, and they are reflected by migration in both directions across the border. At its peak in 1921, the U.S.-born population represented 4.3% of Canada’s inhabitants. In 2021, the United States was the sixth most common country of birth for recent immigrants to Canada, representing 3.0% of those admitted in the previous five years.

Even though Americans living in Canada are part of the fabric of Canadian society, little is known about their socioeconomic integration, what might drive it and how it compares with that of other immigrants.

This article highlights historical trends in the migration of U.S.-born individuals to Canada. It then focuses on U.S.-born immigrants (herein referred to as U.S. immigrants), since they represent the largest portion of the U.S.-born population living in Canada.^Note The article outlines the sociodemographic characteristics of the U.S.-born population in the 2021 Census of Population^Note and delves into its labour market and economic outcomes. In particular, the outcomes of the core working age population (25 to 54 years old) of U.S. immigrants are compared with those of Canadian-born non-immigrants (herein referred to as the Canadian-born population); the total immigrant population; and immigrants from two other G7 countries of birth that are also among the top sources of immigrants to Canada and share English or French as their official language, namely the United Kingdom and France.

Americans have had a significant presence in Canada since the beginning of the 20th century

At the time of Canada’s Confederation, there was already a sizable American population living in Canada—close to 64,000 people born in the United States were living in the newly formed nation in 1871. Their numbers grew over the next 30 years to 128,000 in 1901 before more than doubling from 1901 to 1911, reaching close to 304,000 people. This rapid growth coincided with the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905; more than three-quarters (78.0%) of this population increase was linked to Americans settling in these two provinces.

The U.S.-born population living in Canada reached its peak in 1921, at 374,000, representing 4.3% of the total Canadian population. With no new large influx, the U.S.-born population decreased over the next 30 years. In the second half of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, Canada saw a new wave of U.S.-born individuals settling in the country, which largely corresponded to the immigration of U.S. draft resisters and their family members (Kobayashi and Ray, 2005).

Data table for Chart 1

Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
The information is grouped by Census Year (appearing as row headers), Born in the United States (Total), Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted more than 10 years prior, Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted 6 to 10 years prior, Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted in the last 5 years, Canadian citizens by descent born in the U.S. and Enumerated non-permanent residents born in the U.S., calculated using number of U.S. born persons units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Census year	Born in the United States (Total)	Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted more than 10 years prior	Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted 6 to 10 years prior	Immigrants born in the U.S. admitted in the last 5 years	Canadian citizens by descent born in the U.S.	Enumerated non-permanent residents born in the U.S.
	number of U.S. born persons
Note ... not applicable Note: There was a break in the historical series between 1981 and 1986. Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 1871-2021; and National Household Survey, 2011.
1871	64,647	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable
1881	77,753	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable
1891	80,915	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable
1901	127,899	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable	... not applicable
1911	... not applicable	93,569	58,215	151,896	... not applicable	... not applicable
1921	... not applicable	194,250	93,420	86,354	... not applicable	... not applicable
1931	... not applicable	257,968	28,787	57,819	... not applicable	... not applicable
1941	... not applicable	270,291	22,921	19,261	... not applicable	... not applicable
1951	... not applicable	245,786	9,553	26,671	... not applicable	... not applicable
1961	... not applicable	252,412	17,852	38,533	... not applicable	... not applicable
1971	... not applicable	207,665	27,330	74,645	... not applicable	... not applicable
1981	... not applicable	203,895	54,435	43,190	10,490	... not applicable
1986	... not applicable	220,075	30,765	31,180	8,785	... not applicable
1991	... not applicable	193,660	24,480	30,940	22,385	18,155
1996	... not applicable	191,400	24,275	29,020	19,630	16,380
2001	... not applicable	186,480	21,695	29,745	20,155	20,500
2006	... not applicable	187,610	24,155	38,770	20,235	27,600
2011	... not applicable	186,545	31,920	45,010	21,900	30,795
2016	... not applicable	187,225	33,435	33,060	53,720	30,780
2021	... not applicable	185,550	30,655	39,880	90,490	26,805

Since 1991, the U.S. immigrant population has remained stable at around 250,000, with some small fluctuations. This relative stability can be explained by older U.S. immigrant cohorts being replaced over time by the ongoing arrival of immigrants from the United States. The number of recent U.S. immigrants—those who were admitted in the five years prior to the census—remained fairly stable from 1991 to 2021, with an average of 35,000. From 2006 to 2021, there were slightly more recent U.S. immigrants, hitting a peak of 45,000 in 2011. In 2021, there were a total of 256,000 U.S. immigrants living in Canada.

Given that the last important wave of U.S. immigrants dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, a relatively large share of U.S. immigrants has been in Canada for a long time. More than one-third (34.9%) of U.S. immigrants were admitted before 1981, compared with 19.5% of all immigrants in 2021.

In addition to U.S. immigrants, in 2021, the U.S.-born population living in Canada also included about 90,000 Canadian citizens by descent born in the United States and 27,000 enumerated non-permanent residents born in the United States. For more information on these populations, see the text box on Canadian citizens by descent and non-permanent residents who were born in the United States and live in Canada.

Canadian citizens by descent and non-permanent residents who were born in the United States and live in Canada

Studying Canadian citizens by descent and non-permanent residents (NPRs) born in the United States presents various analytical challenges. Canadian citizens by descent do not go through the formal immigration administrative process before moving to Canada, there is limited information on their migratory process. Furthermore, a clear path to citizenship for children of Canadian citizens born abroad was only introduced in 1977, when changes were made to the Citizenship Act. Meanwhile, the NPR population is quite heterogenous and needs to be broken down by type of permit for a proper study; this population was first covered in the 1991 Census. Both of these populations represent a relatively small proportion of the U.S.-born population living in Canada. For these reasons, they will not be discussed further in the main body of the text.

Canadian citizens by descent born in the United States

Canadian citizens by birth who are born abroad, also known as Canadian citizens by descent, represent a relatively small population in Canada. In 2021, 322,530 Canadian citizens by descent were living in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2022). Among them, there were 90,490 Canadian citizens born in the United States, making it the top place of birth of Canadian citizens by descent. This high number reflects the fact that the United States was the largest place of residence for the Canadian diaspora (Bérard-Chagnon & Cañon, 2022), with the number of Canadian-born people living in the United States estimated at over 800,000 in 2023.^Note

The population of Canadian citizens by descent born in the United States and living in Canada is relatively young (median age of 25.6 years), —23.5% are children younger than 15 years, and 25.6% are aged 15 to 24 years.

Non-permanent residents born in the United States

In 2021, 26,805 NPRs born in the United States were enumerated in the Census of Population.^Note One-third of U.S.-born NPRs (33.3%) had work permits only,^Note 25.9% had study permits only, 4.3% had both work and study permits, 19.4% were asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups and 17.0% had other types of permits. As is the case for all NPRs, U.S.-born NPRs were very young (median age of 23.6 years), with more than one-third (34.6%) of this population composed of children younger than 15. Among these children, close to half were asylum claimants (47.5%) protected persons and related groups, and more than one-quarter had study permits only (26.3%). Among NPRs aged 15 to 24, more than half had study permits only (52.2%). Finally, about two-thirds of those aged 25 and older (65.5%) had work permits only.

Over half of U.S. immigrants living in Canada were older than 52 years

The U.S. immigrant population has an older median age (52.4 years) than both the Canadian-born population (38.8 years) and the total immigrant population (49.2 years), reflecting the older waves of U.S. immigrants. However, in 2021, the share of children and young adults aged 0 to 24 years in the U.S. immigrant population (20.0%) was much higher than that in the total immigrant population (11.6%). This relatively large share of children and young adults can partly be explained by the fact that, among immigrants admitted in the last 20 years, almost one-quarter of those from the United States (23.9%) were admitted to Canada before they turned 5, more than twice the proportion for all immigrants (8.9%).

U.S. immigrants were almost twice as likely to live in British Columbia than the Canadian-born population

The U.S. immigrant population had a different provincial distribution than the total immigrant population and the Canadian-born population. While half of all immigrants in 2021 lived in Ontario (50.3%), this share was lower for U.S. immigrants (43.5%) but still higher than for the Canadian-born population (34.8%). Close to one-quarter (23.4%) of U.S. immigrants lived in British Columbia, a share higher than that of all immigrants (17.1%) and almost double the share of the Canadian-born population (12.2%). By contrast, a smaller share of U.S. immigrants lived in Quebec (9.7%), compared with the Canadian-born population (25.6%) and total immigrant population (14.5%).

Considering the population size of each province and territories, U.S. immigrants made up a higher relative share of the population in Yukon (1.34%) and British Columbia (1.22%) than in Canada as a whole (0.70%). Toronto and Vancouver were the top two census metropolitan areas (CMAs) for U.S. immigrants: 18.8% of U.S. immigrants lived in Toronto, while 10.8% lived in Vancouver. These shares were higher than those for the Canadian-born population (11.1% and 5.1%, respectively), while the overall immigrant population was more likely to live in Toronto and Vancouver (34.2% and 13.0%, respectively). Two CMAs on Vancouver Island had high relative shares of U.S. immigrants in their population, namely Victoria (1.67%) and Nanaimo (1.22%). There were also relatively high concentrations of U.S. immigrants in Windsor (1.62%) and St. Catharines–Niagara, two CMAs in Ontario located right next to the U.S. border.

More than one-third of recent immigrants from the United States had parents who were both born outside the United States and Canada

Among U.S. immigrants, 33.5% had at least one parent who was born outside the United States and Canada, and 25.8% had parents who were both born outside the United States and Canada. Asia (40.3%) and Europe (24.1%) were the top two regions of birth of these parents.

The share of individuals with at least one parent who was born outside Canada and the United States was even higher among recent U.S. immigrants (those admitted in the last five years), as 46.9% had at least one parent born outside the U.S. and Canada and more than a third (39.6%) had both of their parents born outside the United States and Canada. Asia (48.0%) and Africa (23.1%) were the top two regions of birth of these parents born outside the United States and Canada with India (20.8%) and Nigeria (14.0%) as their top two places of birth.

Black and South Asian populations each represented more than 10% of recent U.S. immigrants

In 2021, a higher share of U.S. immigrants were part of a racialized group (23.6%) than the Canadian-born population (11.1%). In particular, Black (7.3%) and Latin American (3.0%) populations represented the two largest racialized groups within the U.S. immigrant population. Moreover, among recent U.S. immigrants, about two in five (40.5%) belonged to racialized groups, with Black (13.9%), South Asian (10.7%) and Latin American (4.0%) populations representing the most common racialized groups. Even though relatively large shares of recent and overall U.S. immigrants were part of racialized groups (40.5% and 23.6%, respectively) compared with the Canadian-born population (11.1%), these shares were much lower than those found among the recent and total immigrant population (83.0% and 69.3%, respectively).

Data table for Chart 2

Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2 Black, South Asian, Latin American, Chinese, Arab and Other racialized groups, calculated using percent of racialized groups units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Black	South Asian	Latin American	Chinese	Arab	Other racialized groups
	percent of racialized groups
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
Canadian-born	2.4	2.8	0.5	1.8	0.7	3.0
U.S. immigrants	7.3	5.4	3.0	2.6	1.6	3.8
U.S. recent immigrants	13.9	10.7	4.0	3.9	2.8	5.2
Immigrants (total)	9.4	18.2	4.4	13.0	5.4	18.8
Recent immigrants (total)	14.0	24.6	4.3	9.9	9.7	20.5

Focus on the characteristics and labour market experiences of the U.S. immigrant population of core working age

The next part of the article highlights key characteristics of U.S. immigrants to help contextualize their labour market experiences, addressed subsequently. The following section focuses on 2021 data for the core working age population (aged 25 to 54 years), where labour force participation is the highest. This helps mitigate some of the impacts related to the age structure of the U.S. immigrant population, which is concentrated in both the younger and older age groups. In addition to being compared with the Canadian-born population and all immigrants, U.S. immigrants are also compared with immigrants from the United Kingdom and France to highlight key aspects of their outcomes. All three countries are among the top sources of core working age immigrants in Canada, with the United Kingdom (119,000) ranking 5th, the United States (88,000) 7th and France (69,000) 12th. The sole official languages in these countries are English or French, and this is reflected in the overwhelming majority (upwards of 99%) of recent immigrants from these three countries who could speak one of Canada’s official languages. Furthermore, the United Kingdom and France were selected because they are similar to the United States, being G7 countries.

Higher share of U.S. immigrants in the core working age population have a bachelor’s degree or higher than the Canadian-born population

Among individuals in their core working years (ages 25 to 54), U.S. immigrants in Canada tended to be more educated than the Canadian-born population. More than half (51.6%) of U.S. immigrants had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with almost 3 in 10 Canadian-born individuals (29.8%). In particular, 21.9% of U.S. immigrants had a university certificate, diploma or degree above bachelor level, more than twice the rate for the Canadian-born population (8.8%).

The share of U.S. immigrants with a bachelor’s degree or higher was also slightly greater than that for all immigrants (51.6% versus 49.3%, respectively). A slightly higher share of U.S. immigrants had a bachelor’s degree or higher compared with immigrants from the United Kingdom (43.4%). However, a higher share of immigrants from France had a bachelor’s degree or higher than U.S. immigrants; over 62.5% of French immigrants had a university degree, and 42.4% had a degree above bachelor level.

Data table for Chart 3

Data table for Chart 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3 Canadian born, Immigrants (Total), U.S. immigrants, United Kingdom immigrants and France immigrants, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Canadian-born	Immigrants (Total)	U.S. immigrants	United Kingdom immigrants	France immigrants
	percent
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
No certificate, diploma or degree	8.5	8.1	3.8	3.3	2.5
High (secondary) school diploma or equivalency certificate	23.4	17.4	21.6	19.6	6.1
Postsecondary certificate or diploma below bachelor level	38.3	25.3	23.0	33.6	28.9
Bachelor's degree	21.0	29.3	29.8	27.3	20.1
University certificate, diploma or degree above bachelor level	8.8	20.0	21.9	16.1	42.4

U.S. immigrants were more likely to have pre-admission Canadian work experience than immigrants overall

Among the core working age population (aged 25 to 54), close to half (48.9%) of U.S. immigrants had pre-admission experience^Note in Canada before obtaining their permanent residence. Further, 35.9% of U.S. immigrants had pre-admission work experience, which has been found to help boost entry wages upon admission (Picot et al., 2022). This proportion was much higher than the corresponding figure for all immigrants (19.9%), similar to that for immigrants from the United Kingdom (36.5%) and lower than that for immigrants from France (55.7%).

Data table for Chart 4

Data table for Chart 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 4 Immigrants (Total), U.S. immigrants, United Kingdom immigrants and France immigrants, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Immigrants (Total)	U.S. immigrants	United Kingdom immigrants	France immigrants
	percent
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
Work permits only before admission	12.1	26.1	32.7	39.0
Work and study permits before admission	7.8	9.9	3.8	16.7
Study permits only before admission	3.0	8.9	4.9	5.2
Asylum claim before admission	6.4	1.7	0.3	0.4
Other permits before admission	0.3	2.3	0.5	0.2

Close to two-thirds of U.S. immigrants were sponsored by family members

Close to two-thirds (63.4%) of U.S. immigrants admitted since 1980 of core working age (25 to 54 years) had been sponsored by family members. This was more than twice the rate observed for all immigrants (29.8%) and immigrants from the United Kingdom (29.2%) and more than four times the rate for immigrants from France (13.6%). The vast majority (87.1%) of sponsored family members from the United States were spouses or partners; this was also the case among those from the United Kingdom (84.5%) and France (87.7%). Conversely, U.S. immigrants were much less often economic immigrants (32.2%) than immigrants overall (55.3%) and immigrants from the United Kingdom (70.0%) and France (85.5%). Given that economic immigrants have been selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economy while immigrants sponsored by family were granted permanent resident status based on their relationship to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, this could impact the economic outcomes of U.S. immigrants. Similar to immigrants from the United Kingdom (0.5%) and France (0.7%), a small share of U.S. immigrants were admitted as refugees (3.4%), while 13.7% of all immigrants were refugees.

Data table for Chart 5

Data table for Chart 5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 5 Immigrants (Total), U.S. immigrants, United Kingdom immigrants and France immigrants, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Immigrants (Total)	U.S. immigrants	United Kingdom immigrants	France immigrants
	percent
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
Economic immigrants	55.3	32.2	70.0	85.5
Immigrants sponsored by family	29.8	63.4	29.2	13.6
Refugees	13.7	3.4	0.5	0.7
Other immigrants	1.2	1.0	0.3	0.3

U.S. immigrants in the core working age group had lower participation rates and higher unemployment rates than the Canadian-born population and immigrants from other high-income countries

In 2021, U.S. immigrants of core working age (25 to 54 years) had lower labour force participation rates (83.2%), compared with the Canadian-born population (86.6%). Most of this difference can be attributed to the lower participation rate of U.S. immigrant women (78.6%), compared with their Canadian-born counterparts (84.4%). Similar participation rates were found among U.S. immigrant men (88.7%) and Canadian-born men (88.9%). The overall participation rate of U.S. immigrants was slightly lower than that of all immigrants (83.8%), while immigrants from the United Kingdom (89.5%) and France (93.7%) showed much higher participation rates.

In 2021, the unemployment rate of U.S. immigrants aged 25 to 54 years (7.9%) was slightly higher than that of the Canadian-born population (7.7%). Conversely, U.S. immigrants had a lower unemployment rate than all immigrants (9.9%), but it was significantly higher than the rates for immigrants from the United Kingdom (6.5%) and France (5.0%).

Data table for Chart 6

Data table for Chart 6
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 6 Participation rate and Unemployment rate , calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Participation rate	Unemployment rate
	percent
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
Canadian-born	86.6	7.7
Immigrants (Total)	83.8	9.9
U.S. immigrants	83.2	7.9
United Kingdom immigrants	89.5	6.5
France immigrants	93.7	5.0

U.S. immigrants in the core working age group were more likely to have professional occupations in education, law and social, community and government services

U.S. immigrants of core working age (25 to 54 years) had a different occupational profile than the Canadian-born population and all immigrants. In 2021, U.S. immigrants (19.4%) more commonly had occupations in education, law and social, community and government services than the Canadian-born population (15.6%), all immigrants (10.4%), and immigrants from other high-income countries such as the United Kingdom (15.3%) and France (15.7%). U.S. immigrants (13.6%) were particularly concentrated in the professional jobs that usually require a university degree within this broad occupation group, compared with the Canadian-born population (8.6%) and all immigrants (5.4%). In particular, university professors and post-secondary assistants (3.6%) and secondary, elementary and kindergarten school teachers (3.6%) were the top two professions held by U.S. immigrants. U.S. immigrants (7.8%) were also more than twice as likely to work in occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport than the Canadian-born population (3.6%) and all immigrants (2.7%). Conversely, U.S. immigrants (10.8%) were less likely to work in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations than the Canadian-born population (18.2%) and all immigrants (14.9%).

Immigrants from the United States showed higher overqualification rates than those from the United Kingdom and France

In 2021, U.S. immigrants aged 25 to 54 with a bachelor’s degree or higher had an overqualification rate of 11.9%. They were slightly more likely to be overqualified than their counterparts born in Canada (10.3%), but significantly less so than immigrants overall (20.1%). In contrast, immigrants from the United Kingdom and France had lower overqualification rates (10.5% and 7.9%, respectively). In this article, the overqualification rate is defined as the share of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher working in an occupation that typically requires a high school diploma or less (training, education, experience and responsibilities [TEER] level 4 or 5).^Note

Data table for Chart 7

Data table for Chart 7
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 7 Overqualification rate, calculated using pecent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Overqualification rate
	pecent
Note: The overqualification rate of university graduates is defined here as the share of people with a bachelor's degree or higher working in an occupation that typically requires a high school diploma or less (TEER 4 or 5). Managerial occupations (TEER 0) are excluded from the denominator. Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.
Canadian born	10.3
Immigrants (Total)	20.1
U.S. immigrants	11.9
United Kingdom immigrants	10.5
France immigrants	7.9

Relatively high employment income inequality observed among U.S. immigrants living in Canada

In 2021, among the core working age population (25 to 54 years), the median employment income of U.S. immigrants was at the same level as the Canadian-born population ($52,000), lower than immigrants from the United Kingdom ($63,600) and France ($57,600), and higher than all immigrants ($43,200). In contrast, the average employment income of U.S. immigrants was $75,500, higher than that for all immigrants ($54,250), the Canadian-born population ($62,100) and immigrants from France ($69,400), but lower than that for immigrants from the United Kingdom ($81,100).

The United States has the highest income inequality of all G7 countries, as measured by the Gini index.^Note This pattern is consistent with the relatively high employment income inequality observed for U.S. immigrants living in Canada. Indeed, of all groups analyzed, U.S. immigrants appeared to have the highest ratio (21.3) between the 90th and 10th percentile of the employment income distribution. This measure, commonly used to gauge income inequality, was higher for U.S. immigrants than for immigrants overall (19.0), immigrants from the United Kingdom (15.3) and the Canadian-born population (13.1), and it was double the ratio for immigrants from France (10.1).

The median entry income of U.S. immigrants was relatively high but tended to stagnate five years after admission

To grasp the general performance of immigrants from different countries, it is important to look at their economic outcomes over time. Employment outcomes generally tend to increase with time since admission, reflecting better labour market integration over time. For instance, according to the Longitudinal Immigration Database, which combines administrative immigration and tax data files, immigrants admitted in 2012 saw their median employment income grow by 68.5% in the 10 years following their admission.

U.S. immigrant tax filers tend to have higher median employment income one year after admission than overall immigrants. In 2022, U.S. immigrants who were admitted a year prior had a median employment income of $52,300, which is significantly higher than that for total immigrants ($41,800) but lower than that for immigrants from France ($60,100) and the United Kingdom ($62,200).

U.S. immigrants, however, see their employment income grow much less than other immigrants and even stagnate over a 10-year period. On average, U.S. immigrants admitted from 2002 to 2012 saw their median employment income grow by 19.7% from the first year after admission to the fifth year following their admission. From the 5th year to the 10th year following admission, their median employment income increased by an average of 1.9 percentage points. U.S. immigrants from these cohorts thus saw their employment income grow by 22.0% in the 10 years following their admission. By comparison, all immigrants from the same admission cohorts saw their median employment income increase by 70.9% during the 10 years following their admission. Immigrants from France and the United Kingdom also had below-average median employment income growth of 55.3% and 27.5%, respectively, during the 10 years following their admission. The lower employment income growth trajectory for immigrants from these three countries is likely associated with the fact that they start with a higher median employment income than other immigrants and thus reach their ceiling faster. However, this does not explain why U.S. immigrants, who have the lowest median entry employment income of the three countries, also experience the lowest employment income growth during the first 10 years following their admission.

These findings show the need to further investigate this topic by taking additional characteristics into consideration, such as age, gender, age at admission, admission categories, occupation and place of residence, to better understand how the different factors at play might drive some of the observed trends.

Data table for Chart 8

Data table for Chart 8
Table summary
The information is grouped by Years since admission (appearing as row headers), Immigrants (Total), U.S. immigrants , United Kingdom immigrants and France immigrants, calculated using Employment income growth (100 = year 1) units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Years since admission	Immigrants (Total)	U.S. immigrants	United Kingdom immigrants	France immigrants
	Employment income growth (100 = year 1)
Note: 100 = Employment income at 1 year after admission. Source: Statistics Canada, Longitudinal Immigration Database, 2023.
Year
1	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
2	112.6	108.7	110.8	112.4
3	121.8	113.3	115.6	118.4
4	130.4	118.0	119.1	124.8
5	137.9	119.7	121.3	131.5
6	145.1	120.0	121.6	136.3
7	151.0	121.6	122.5	141.3
8	156.7	121.5	124.0	146.3
9	163.8	122.1	125.5	151.3
10	170.9	122.0	127.5	155.3

Conclusion

Immigration from the United States was a major driver of population growth at the beginning of the 20th century. The U.S.-born population living in Canada arrived under different contexts, some as Canadian citizens by descent, some as non-permanent residents and some as immigrants. The last significant wave of U.S.-born immigrants was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Since then, the number of immigrants from the United States moving to Canada has remained fairly stable.

The U.S. immigrant population living in Canada was diverse in terms of the place of birth of parents and of racialized groups. More than one-third of the U.S. immigrant population living in Canada had at least one parent who was born outside the United States and Canada, and close to one-quarter were members of a racialized group. These shares were even higher among recent immigrants, indicating that this population is increasingly diversified.

Many U.S.-born immigrants arrived in Canada with advantages such as a knowledge of an official language, high education levels and prior Canadian work experience. These factors suggest that they are likely to thrive in the Canadian labour market. Indeed, U.S. immigrants appeared to fare better than overall immigrants. However, as is the case for most immigrants, their labour market outcomes were not as good as those of the Canadian-born population. Moreover, both their labour market and income outcomes were not on par with those of immigrants from the United Kingdom and France. In particular, U.S. immigrants had relatively lower participation rates than the Canadian-born population and immigrants from the United Kingdom and France, higher unemployment rates, higher overqualification, higher income inequality, and lower entry employment income and growth in the 10 years following their admission. These lower outcomes of U.S. immigrants, compared with those of immigrants from the United Kingdom and France, might be related to the fact that most of them do not come to Canada as economic immigrants who are selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economy, but rather as immigrants sponsored by family members. Future studies on these populations should use multivariate analysis to try to unpack some of the findings of this article.

Canada and the United States have forged very close economic and social ties over decades. Significant migration flows can be expected to continue in both directions across the border in the future. Given this, it will be important to keep monitoring the socioeconomic success of U.S. immigrants in Canada.

Definitions

Canadian citizens by descent born in the United States: Individuals born in the United States to at least one Canadian-citizen parent.

Canadian-born population: Individuals born in Canada who are not immigrants.

Non-permanent residents born in the United States: Individuals born in the United States and living in Canada who have work or study permits or who have claimed refugee status (asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups). Family members living with work or study permit holders are also included, unless these family members are already Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Pre-admission experience refers to the category under which an immigrant was authorized to enter Canada for temporary residence purposes before admission as a landed immigrant or permanent resident.

Recent immigrants: Individuals who were admitted to the country permanently in the five years preceding a census. In the 2021 Census, this period is January 1, 2016, to May 11, 2021.

U.S. immigrants: Individuals born in the United States and living in Canada as permanent residents. Immigrants who have obtained Canadian citizenship by naturalization are included in this category.

References

Bérard-Chagnon, Julien, and Lorena Cañon. 2022. The Canadian diaspora: Estimating the number of Canadian citizens who live abroad. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Hou, Feng, and Yuqian Lu. 2025. “Recent trends in United States temporary foreign workers in Canada.” Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Kobayashi, Audrey, and Brian Ray. 2005. “Placing American emigration to Canada in context.” Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Accessed February 11, 2025.

Picot, Garnett, et al. 2022. “Immigration selection factors and the earnings of economic principal applicants.” Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada. 2022. A portrait of citizenship in Canada from the 2021 Census. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.