Illegal immigrant tax contributions in 2024
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Executive summary
Undocumented immigrants in recent analyses are estimated to have paid roughly $96.7 billion in combined federal, state, and local taxes in 2022 — a figure widely cited in 2024 coverage and policy papers and often rounded to “nearly $100 billion” in media accounts [1] [2]. Researchers project that giving current undocumented workers legal work authorization would raise that figure by about $40.2 billion to roughly $136.9 billion, with most of the increase flowing to the federal government [3] [1].
1. Tax tallies and how they were calculated: a model, not a headcount
The headline numbers come from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s microsimulation approach, which applies effective federal, state, and local tax rates to estimated undocumented-worker incomes and consumption patterns to produce a $96.7 billion 2022 estimate and per‑person figures such as $8,889 in taxes paid per undocumented person [4] [1] [3]. Those methods combine prior ITEP “Who Pays?” rate tables and custom model runs rather than direct tax‑record enumeration, which means the results are model‑based estimates dependent on assumptions about earnings, filing behavior, and remittances [4].
2. What types of taxes are included — and who benefits
The ITEP breakdown shows substantial payroll tax contributions — for example, about $25.7 billion to Social Security and $6.4 billion to Medicare in 2022 — alongside state and local consumption and property taxes that fund schools, roads and local services [5] [6]. TaxPolicy Center and other analysts emphasize that many undocumented filers pay into federal programs through payroll taxes yet are largely ineligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits under current law, meaning they subsidize programs they typically cannot access [7].
3. State hotspots and distributional detail
The national total masks wide geographic variation: California alone accounted for an estimated $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, with Texas ($4.9B), New York ($3.1B), Florida ($1.8B), Illinois ($1.5B) and New Jersey ($1.3B) also among the largest contributors by state [1] [8] [9] [6]. State and local shares in many places skew toward sales and property taxes — for instance, about 46% of California’s undocumented‑resident state and local tax contributions were sales and excise taxes in the study’s calculations [8].
4. Policy scenarios: legalization, deportation, and revenue effects
ITEP’s scenario work estimates legalization (work authorization) would raise tax payments by roughly $40.2 billion annually — about $33.1 billion to the federal government and $7.1 billion to states and localities — largely through higher wages and increased tax compliance [3] [1]. Conversely, brief calculations in the literature warn that large‑scale removals would cost public coffers; one cited figure suggests roughly $8.9 billion in lost tax revenue for every 1 million undocumented immigrants deported, reflecting both lost payroll taxes and declines in consumption tax bases [3].
5. Caveats, competing narratives, and who uses these numbers
The ITEP estimates have been widely cited by advocacy groups and local fiscal institutes to argue that undocumented workers are net contributors to public finance, while media accounts have described ITEP as comprehensive but model‑dependent and occasionally labeled it as having a policy tilt [2] [1]. Independent outlets and policy centers report comparable ballpark totals — for example, the American Immigration Council notes roughly $89.8 billion from undocumented‑led households in 2023 — but differences in year, definition (household vs. individual), and method account for variations across reports [10]. Reporting should be read with the understanding that these totals rest on 2022 income baselines and simulation choices; the underlying sources do not provide direct audit‑level confirmation of every dollar [4] [1].