A comprehensive report edited by RSF grantee Mary Waters and Marisa Pineau details new findings from a study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Integration of Immigrants. Supported in part by the Russell Sage Foundation, the study examined the factors that affect immigrants’ integration into society, including legal status, racial disparities in socio-economic outcomes, and low naturalization rates.

The committee confirmed that across all measurable outcomes, immigrants’ integration in the U.S. increases over time. In other words, immigrants become more like the native-born the longer they reside in the country, with the second and third generations more like other native-born Americans than their parents were. Integration furthermore improves immigrants’ educational attainment, occupational distribution, income, and language ability.

The committee also found that immigrants tend to be healthier in general than native-born Americans, and that cities and neighborhoods with large immigrant populations have much lower crime rates than similar places without significant concentrations of immigrants. Yet, evidence suggested that these benefits diminish as immigrants became more assimilated. The panel recommended more research into this area, noting, “If this trend is confirmed, it may be an unwelcome aspect of integration.”

In addition to panel chair Mary Waters, a number of other RSF authors, scholars, and grantees served on the committee, including Richard Alba, Frank D. Bean, Irene Bloemraad, Michael Fix, Nancy Foner, Charles Hirschman, Daniel T. Lichter, Douglas S. Massey, Karthick Ramakrishnan, Audrey Singer, Kevin J.A. Thomas, Stephen Trejo, Richard Wright, and RSF trustee Hirokazu Yoshikawa.

Click here to download a PDF of the report.