Which U.S. states received the largest numbers of Somali refugees between 2015 and 2025?
Executive summary
Between 2015 and 2025, the largest concentrations of Somali refugees in the United States were concentrated in a handful of states long known as Somali hubs—most prominently Minnesota and New York, with Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Washington also among the top destinations reported by public health and resettlement analyses [1]. These patterns reflect both formal resettlement placements and later secondary moves toward established communities rather than a single-year surge limited to the 2015–2016 window [2] [1].
1. The headline: Minnesota and New York top the list
State-level health and refugee-profile reporting shows Minnesota and New York welcoming the largest numbers of Somali primary refugee arrivals in recent decades, with Minnesota repeatedly identified as the largest single hub for Somali newcomers in official and health-agency summaries [1]; reporting and historical accounts document how Minnesota’s Twin Cities and greater region accumulated large Somali populations beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the 2010s and beyond [3] [2].
2. The second tier: Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Washington
Public-health and resettlement analyses list Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Washington as the next-largest states receiving Somali primary arrivals after Minnesota and New York, reflecting both initial VOLAG placements and later relocation choices by refugees seeking work, family or community services [1] [2]. Historical data compiled by state historians and resettlement agencies underscore that Ohio and Arizona, for example, hosted substantial Somali inflows during the 2000s and 2010s, while Texas and Washington have been consistent destinations for arrivals and secondary movers [2] [1].
3. Why these states — networks, jobs and volunteer sponsors
The geography of Somali settlement is shaped less by arbitrary policy and more by social networks, employment opportunities and the practices of voluntary agencies that originally sponsored resettlement placements; Minnesota’s growth as a hub traces to early labor opportunities (meatpacking, hospitality) and a reinforcing diaspora “pull” that encouraged subsequent arrivals to concentrate there [2] [3]. State public-health profiles and resettlement literature explicitly note that many Somali refugees subsequently relocate to states with established communities, meaning initial placements often understate where populations stabilize over time [1] [2].
4. Data strengths and limits: what the sources can — and can’t — tell us
Available public sources give clear, repeated rankings of states that have received the most Somali primary arrivals across multiyear spans, and the Minnesota Department of Health explicitly names Minnesota and New York as leading destinations followed by Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Washington [1]; however, granular national totals strictly limited to the calendar window 2015–2025 by state and nationality are not fully presented in the supplied snippets, and federal flow reports cover refugee arrivals by state and by year but may round or aggregate cells for privacy [4]. Therefore precise numeric tallies for the exact 2015–2025 interval by state cannot be asserted from the provided documents alone without access to the detailed tables referenced in the DHS/Office of Homeland Security Statistics and Resettlement Program Center reports [4] [5].
5. Political narratives and competing framings to watch
Coverage of Somali communities and recent enforcement or legal actions has attracted sharply divergent narratives—local and national reporting highlights Minnesota’s large Somali population and community impacts [3] [6], while opinion pieces and some commentators frame Somali resettlement as a policy “crisis,” reflecting clear political agendas that aim to shape public perception [7]. Readers should distinguish between empirical resettlement and health data identifying top destination states [1] [4] and politically charged commentary that uses selective incidents to generalize about an entire refugee population [7] [6].
6. Bottom line and reporting caveat
The best-supported statement from the supplied reporting is that Minnesota and New York received the largest numbers of Somali primary refugee arrivals in the modern resettlement era, with Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Washington trailing as additional major destinations, and that these patterns reflect both initial placements and secondary migration into established communities [1] [2]. Exact state-by-state numeric rankings limited to the 2015–2025 window require consulting the detailed tables in the DHS/OHSS annual flow reports and the Resettlement Program Center’s nationality-by-state data to produce authoritative counts [4] [5].