How much did illegal immigrants contribute to state and local taxes in 2024?

1. What the headline numbers mean — nearly $100 billion, and where state/local fits

ITEP’s national analysis is the anchor for most reporting: it estimates undocumented immigrants paid roughly $96.7–$96.9 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022; media and advocacy outlets shorthand that as “nearly $100 billion,” and state and local taxes are included within that aggregate figure rather than broken out as a single national 2024 number in the materials provided ^{[1] [3] [4]}. Law firms, state groups, and advocacy organizations repeatedly cite ITEP’s report and also restate the projection that work authorization would boost total contributions by $40.2 billion annually ^{[2] [3]}.

2. State-by-state breakdowns and local examples — context matters

Several state- and city-level groups have used ITEP’s methodology to publish state estimates: for example, ITEP-based reporting estimates undocumented residents contributed $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in California in 2022 and about $3.1 billion in New York State in the same year, with both projections also forecasting increases under work authorization scenarios ^{[5] [6]}. Texas-focused reporting and local analyses likewise apply ITEP-derived methods to estimate state-level contributions ^[7]. Those state figures are extrapolated from the national modeling and depend on assumptions about population size, incomes, and tax mixes in each state ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Which taxes are included and how they’re estimated

The ITEP approach aggregates income, payroll, property, sales, excise, and other state/local taxes by applying effective tax rates from its Who Pays? model and related microsimulation work to estimated undocumented-worker incomes and spending; it explicitly models consumption taxes on income not remitted and allocates indirect tax burdens across labor and other payers according to industry and tax design ^[1]. The report also quantifies payroll contributions to Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance from undocumented workers (for 2022: $25.7 billion Social Security, $6.4 billion Medicare, $1.8 billion unemployment taxes are cited in reporting that relies on ITEP’s results) ^{[3] [7]}.

4. What changes under work authorization — the counterfactual matter

ITEP’s scenario analysis finds that if all undocumented immigrants received work authorization, total tax contributions would rise by about $40.2 billion annually (to $136.9 billion), with the bulk of that increase — roughly $33.1 billion — estimated to accrue to the federal government and about $7.1 billion to states and localities ^[2]. That projection underpins many advocacy arguments that legalization would raise public revenues, but it is modelled: it assumes higher wages, greater formal employment, and higher tax compliance under authorization ^{[1] [2]}.

5. Disagreements, limitations, and how to read the debate

Reporting and advocacy groups almost uniformly trace their numbers to ITEP’s methodology; some outlets and advocates stress the broader fiscal and economic benefits of immigrant labor, while skeptics sometimes emphasize costs or question assumptions ^{[4] [3]}. The provided sources do not contain an independent government tally for “state and local taxes in 2024” specifically, so claims beyond ITEP’s 2022 baseline and modeled authorization scenario reflect extrapolations or secondary reporting (available sources do not mention a distinct 2024 state/local figure separate from the ITEP 2022/authorization estimates) ^{[1] [2]}.

6. Bottom line for readers and policymakers

Using ITEP’s widely cited analysis, undocumented immigrants contributed nearly $100 billion in combined federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, with state and local components included in that total and state-by-state estimates available via ITEP‑based analyses ^{[1] [3]}. Policymakers weighing reforms should note that the largest single modeled revenue gains from authorization are federal, though states would also see measurable increases; the precise 2024 state-and-local tally is not separately enumerated in the supplied reporting ^{[2] [1]}.