How many Somali-born residents live in the U.S. in 2025 including naturalized citizens?

1. Conflicting headline numbers: ancestry vs. country of birth

Different outlets report different headline counts because they use different Census Bureau products and categories. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 221,043 people identifying as Somali alone or in combination, while 2023 ACS-derived reporting cited 169,799 people of Somali ancestry and — in that same secondary write-up — 92,401 residents born in Somalia ^[1]. Other compilations using ACS estimates put the Somali population at roughly 163,000–167,000 ^{[4] [5]}. Those larger totals include U.S.-born children and descendants who identify as Somali; they are not direct counts of Somali-born foreign‑born residents or naturalized citizens ^{[1] [4]}.

2. What “Somali-born” means and why it matters

“Somali-born” is a distinct measure from “Somali ancestry” or “Somali alone/combination.” Somali-born counts track place of birth — people born in Somalia who now live in the U.S. — and include naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, TPS holders, refugees and other statuses. Sources in this set occasionally report Somali-born counts (e.g., 92,401 cited by a secondary site from ACS-derived data), but many public-facing summaries conflate ancestry and birthplace categories, producing apparent contradictions ^{[1] [4]}.

3. State-level snapshots underscore concentration, not total

Reporting consistently shows heavy concentration in a few states, especially Minnesota, which hosts the largest Somali community. Minnesota estimates range from roughly 40,000–94,000 Somali residents depending on the metric and year — and one historical estimate cited ~43,000 Somalia-born in Minnesota by 2018 ^{[3] [6]}. These state-level concentrations drive headlines about policy impacts (for example, recent federal actions aimed at Somali migrants) but do not by themselves produce a single nationwide Somali-born total for 2025 ^{[3] [7]}.

4. Small subset on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) highlights nuance

A concrete, narrowly defined count appears for Somali nationals holding TPS: multiple outlets cite a Congressional Research Service estimate of 705 Somalis with TPS nationwide. That figure shows how a policy-relevant subgroup can be precisely measured even when the broader Somali-born population is reported variably ^{[8] [7]}.

5. Why estimates diverge: methodology, timing, and self‑identification

Divergence stems from: (a) use of decennial Census vs. American Community Survey (different years and sample sizes), (b) categories that mix ancestry, race and birthplace, and (c) community estimates that claim higher counts than survey-based numbers ^{[1] [2]}. Secondary aggregators (worldpopulationreview, ZipAtlas, Neilsberg) apply their own processing and sometimes different years of ACS data, yielding totals like ~163,769 or 167,300 that differ from the 2020 Census 221,043 “alone or in combination” figure ^{[4] [5] [1]}.

6. Competing viewpoints and hidden agendas in coverage

News coverage of Somali population figures has become politically charged; for example, reporting about federal moves to end protections for Somali migrants emphasizes both the small TPS count and the large, established Somali communities in Minnesota and Ohio ^{[8] [9]}. Some political rhetoric frames Somali residents as a policy problem, while advocacy groups stress community contributions and the reality that most Somalis in places like Minnesota are U.S. citizens — both positions appear in the sources ^{[8] [9]}.

7. Bottom line and what is missing from current reporting

There is no single, consistent “2025 Somali-born in the U.S.” number in the supplied sources. Available reporting offers: 92,401 Somalia-born cited in a 2023 ACS-derived write-up (secondary site), broader Somali ancestry totals of 169,799 (2023 ACS reporting) and 221,043 (2020 Census alone/combination), and precise subgroup counts such as 705 Somalis with TPS ^{[1] [4] [8]}. Available sources do not mention a definitive 2025 nationwide count exclusively of Somali-born residents that includes all naturalized citizens in a single, authoritative figure.