Immigrants in Midland contributed millions in taxes and consumer spending. In 2019, immigrant households earned $776.2 million in income, with $123.8 million going to federal taxes and $63.8 million going to state and local taxes, leaving them with $588.6 million in spending power that can be reinvested back into the local community. Immigrants contributed more than $4.6 billion to the Midland metro area’s GDP in 2019. 

Immigrants are helping the metro area meet its labor force demands and will help meet future needs. In 2019, immigrants made up 13.7 percent of the metro area’s population, but accounted for 18.2 percent of the working age population and 17.5 percent of its employed labor force. This means immigrants played an outsized role in the region’s labor force. 

Immigrants are working in fast-growing industries. Immigrants represented 13.7 percent of Midland’s population, but comprised 21.8 percent of STEM workers, 27.2 percent of general service workers, and 27.0 percent of construction workers in 2019, contributing a wide array of skills in fast-growing industries. 

Immigrants help create or preserve local manufacturing jobs. Due to the role immigrants play in the workforce helping companies keep jobs on U.S. soil, our research shows that immigrants living in the metro area helped create or preserve 1,100 manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise been eliminated or moved elsewhere by 2019.