How many Somali refugees were resettled in the U.S. each year from 2015 to 2025?
Executive summary
A precise, year-by-year count of Somali refugees resettled in the United States for 2015–2025 is not fully available in the supplied reporting; some sources provide multi‑year totals or characterize trends—not annual, Somali‑specific admissions—so any per‑year table must be presented as a mix of documented figures, best‑available estimates, and clear gaps in publicly available reporting [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. What the question actually requires and why official annual numbers are scarce
The user seeks single‑year figures for Somali refugee resettlement from 2015 through 2025, but the materials provided largely offer cumulative totals, period averages, policy context, or agency reports that do not publish an accessible, complete Somali‑by‑year series for that entire window—Pew gives cumulative and multi‑year totals through 2015 [1], the Utah history piece reports multi‑year totals through 2016 [2], and DHS/OHSS flow reports cover refugees generally but the supplied snippet does not include a Somali annual breakdown for 2015–2024 [6].
2. Documented anchors: multi‑year totals and peaks around 2015–2016
Available reporting indicates heavy Somali arrivals in the 2010s: Pew states that between fiscal years 2001 and 2015 the U.S. admitted more than 90,000 refugees from Somalia, and that by 2015 the Somali‑born population in the U.S. was estimated between 140,000 and 150,000 [1], while TheWorldData summarizes that admissions “peaked during 2015–2016 with approximately 16,000 Somali refugees arriving over these two years” [3]; the Utah historical account likewise reports “47,000 or more” Somali resettlements between 2010 and 2016 [2].
3. The policy shock and the likely decline after 2016 — documented trend, not precise counts
Policy changes under the Trump administration, including travel‑related restrictions and vetting adjustments, are documented to have reduced admissions from affected countries and reshaped resettlement procedures, implying lower Somali admissions after the mid‑2010s; Migration Policy documents those impacts on admissions and vetting [4]. The reporting supplied does not, however, publish specific Somali annual counts for 2017–2020 to convert that documented decline into exact yearly numbers [4].
4. 2020–2024: agency reports note flows and rounding but no Somali annual series in supplied excerpts
OHSS produces Annual Flow Reports that list refugee admissions by nationality and state, and the FY2024 report is available, but the provided snippet only describes methodology and state distributions and does not include the Somali‑by‑year dataset needed to enumerate 2020–2024 Somali arrivals [6]. UNHCR reporting notes displacement dynamics and that more than 10,000 Somalis voluntarily returned to Somalia between 2020 and 2024, which addresses returns rather than U.S. resettlement counts [7].
5. 2025: abrupt suspension and halted travel for thousands, including Somali cases
Reporting from the Baker Institute brief documents that the 2025 executive order suspended new refugee arrivals under USRAP and halted travel plans for “over 10,000 refugees,” and it gives at least one concrete example of a Somali refugee in Dadaab whose approved travel was stopped—evidence that 2025 Somali admissions were materially disrupted though not enumerated in the supplied excerpt [5].
6. Best synthesis and the unavoidable caveat
Synthesis of the supplied reporting allows several solid claims: large Somali admissions concentrated in the 2000s and early‑to‑mid 2010s (more than 90,000 from 2001–2015 per Pew) and a documented peak period around 2015–2016 of roughly 16,000 over two years according to TheWorldData, followed by a policy‑driven reduction and an effective suspension in 2025 that stalled thousands of approved refugees including Somalis [1] [3] [4] [5]. The precise annual counts for each year 2015, 2016, 2017 … through 2025 are not reported in the supplied sources; obtaining an authoritative year‑by‑year Somali total requires consulting the Department of State’s refugee admissions data or the detailed OHSS/DOS tables (which the FY2024 OHSS flow report structure would contain) because the excerpts provided here do not contain a complete Somali‑by‑year series [6].