Best States for Immigrants

Over 51 million immigrants live and work in the U.S., but not every state provides the same environment and living conditions necessary for them to thrive. To highlight the best states for immigrants and the ones that have the most room to improve, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 17 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of immigrants to state laws on immigration enforcement to the income gap between immigrants & non-immigrants.

You can see the complete results below. If you want to improve the lives of immigrants in your community or people in need around the world but don’t know where to donate, you can also check out our picks for the Best Charities for Community Support in 2025.

• Main Findings
• Methodology

Main Findings

Best States for Immigrants

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	Social Environment & Support Rank	Economic Environment Rank	Legal Environment & Stability Detractors Rank
1	Virginia	63.26	5	9	14
2	North Carolina	58.67	11	7	26
3	Georgia	58.63	9	13	23
4	Arkansas	58.35	18	1	44
5	Delaware	57.61	13	8	27
6	Nebraska	57.36	10	23	16
7	Maryland	57.12	4	34	30
8	South Dakota	55.96	38	2	9
9	New Jersey	55.96	3	42	31
10	Ohio	55.39	19	10	25
11	Illinois	54.82	20	29	2
12	Wisconsin	54.51	25	19	8
13	New York	54.37	1	45	28
14	Texas	53.64	8	32	45
15	Kentucky	53.60	23	18	21
16	Pennsylvania	53.36	21	25	7
17	Minnesota	53.32	17	26	10
18	Utah	53.02	24	20	24
19	Florida	52.82	7	44	20
20	North Dakota	52.59	31	11	13
21	New Hampshire	52.24	26	35	1
22	South Carolina	51.69	29	12	32
23	Wyoming	51.44	41	4	15
24	Tennessee	50.07	28	16	41
25	Washington	50.06	14	28	47
26	Indiana	50.01	30	22	19
27	Iowa	49.76	35	15	17
28	Connecticut	49.24	12	46	5
29	California	48.64	2	49	33
30	Massachusetts	48.31	6	47	34
31	Michigan	47.92	45	5	29
32	Rhode Island	47.37	15	48	3
33	Missouri	47.22	47	3	35
34	Oklahoma	47.17	43	6	36
35	West Virginia	46.69	36	24	22
36	Nevada	46.57	16	39	38
37	Maine	46.40	34	41	4
38	Montana	45.75	37	30	18
39	Idaho	45.66	50	17	11
40	Colorado	44.94	22	36	48
41	Kansas	44.81	42	21	39
42	Alabama	44.55	44	14	46
43	Mississippi	43.89	46	27	12
44	Louisiana	43.19	32	33	49
45	New Mexico	41.58	33	40	43
46	Oregon	40.12	40	37	37
47	Hawaii	39.57	27	50	6
48	Vermont	38.66	39	43	42
49	Alaska	38.24	48	31	50
50	Arizona	37.23	49	38	40

Note: *1 = Best

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

Methodology

To identify the best states for immigrants, SmileHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Social Environment & Support, 2) Economic Environment and 3) Legal Environment & Stability Detractors.

We evaluated those dimensions using 17 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best conditions for immigrants. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for population differences across states.

We determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Social Environment & Support - Total Points: 35

• Community Support Charities per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• “State Kindness” Ranking: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: The United States of Kindness survey administered by kindness.org and commissioned by Verizon and Nextdoor asked 10,000 people across the U.S. questions to determine the kindness of neighbors across the country.

• Share of Immigrants: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)

• Unaccompanied Children Released to Sponsors per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: When a child who is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian is apprehended by immigration authorities, the child is transferred to the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Federal law requires that ORR feed, shelter, and provide medical care for unaccompanied children until it is able to release them to safe settings with sponsors (usually family members), while they await immigration proceedings.

• State-Funded Health Coverage for Immigrant Children and Pregnant People: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric refers to states that do not require a 5-year waiting period before immigrant children and pregnant people are eligible for federally-funded health coverage.

  This is a binary metric:
  

  • 1 - Children and Pregnant People are eligible for federally-funded health coverage;
    
  • 0.5 - Children Only OR Pregnant People Only are eligible for federally-funded health coverage;
    
  • 0 - Neither children nor pregnant people are eligible for federally-funded health coverage.

• Public School System Ranking: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “States with the Best & Worst School Systems”.

Economic Environment - Total Points: 40

• Income Gap Between Immigrants & Non-Immigrants: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)

• Share of Employed Foreign-Born Residents: Double Weight (~8.89 Points)

• Share of Foreign-Born Entrepreneurs: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)

• Job Growth Rate: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)

• Share of Foreign-Born Residents Whose Rent is Less Than 30% of Household Income: Double Weight (~8.89 Points)

• Cost of Living: Double Weight (~8.89 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on The Council for Community and Economic Research’s 2023 annual Cost of Living Index.

Legal Environment & Stability Detractors - Total Points: 25

• “State Laws on Immigration Enforcement” Score: Double Weight (~7.14 Points)
  Note: This metric focuses on state laws that regulate the state’s involvement in immigration enforcement. Analysis reflects impacts of enacted state laws across 20 parameters. For each parameter, laws are evaluated on a 5 count spectrum from protecting to harming immigrants.

• Violent Crime Rate: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)

• Property Crime Rate: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)

• Incarceration Rate: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
  Note: “Incarceration” refers to the long-term confinement of convicted and sentenced offenders.

• Hate Crime Incidents per Capita: Double Weight (~7.14 Points)
  Note: 31% of Americans stress about hate crimes.

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Internal Revenue Service, Administration for Children & Families, KFF, Kindness.org, The Council for Community and Economic Research, WalletHub and Immigrant Legal Resource Center.