HOUSTON, Texas, July 11, 2024 — On July 10, more than 3,360 people from 121 countries took the oath to become U.S. citizens in a historic ceremony in Houston’s NRG Arena.

Despite the ongoing heatwave and a massive ongoing power loss affecting millions of residents across the city, Texans made a special effort to attend the naturalization ceremony, swearing their oath of allegiance to the United States before a judge.

“This historic event is the latest example of how Houston recognizes the incredible benefits that immigrants bring to the city,” said Chelsie Kramer, Texas organizer at the American Immigration Council. “Houston’s immigrants bring cultural diversity, contribute billions in taxes, fill essential jobs, and help create new jobs across fast-growing industries. When immigrants become U.S. citizens, our communities win and become more prosperous.”

(View photos of the historic ceremony here. Photo credit to the American Immigration Council).

New research from the American Immigration Council highlights immigrants’ contributions in the Houston Metro Area. The study found:

• Houston has a large and thriving immigrant population, making it one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the United States.
  • In 2021, nearly 1 in 4 Houstonians were born in another country; 45 percent of the city’s students under 18 who attended public schools in the metro area were either immigrants or the children of immigrants.
• Houston benefits immensely when immigrants become U.S. citizens.
  • The city is poised to become the Citizenship Capital of the United States: over 700,000 immigrants were naturalized citizens and nearly 250,000 people in Houston were likely eligible to become U.S. citizens as of 2021, out of a population of 1.7 million immigrants.
    • According to the latest available data, in 2021, Houston’s immigrant households earned $66.5 billion in income, with $11.1 billion going to federal taxes and $5.2 billion going to state and local taxes, leaving them with $50.2 billion in spending power that can be reinvested in local communities.
• Houston’s immigrants are working in fast-growing industries and are playing an outsized role in the region's labor force.
  • Immigrants in Houston are 60.7% more likely to be entrepreneurs than their U.S.-born counterparts.
  • Immigrants represent 24.0 percent of the Houston Metro Area’s population, but comprise 35.5 percent of STEM workers, 44.1 percent of agriculture workers, and 50.3 percent of construction workers in 2021, contributing a wide array of skills in fast-growing industries. 

The American Immigration Council has experts available to talk more about our research on the benefits that immigrants bring to communities in Houston and Texas.