Census Foreign-Born Income Data,
Explained by Birthplace (IPUMS: BPL)

Introduction

The goal for this project was to produce a workflow that allows data to represent, and manifest visually, U.S. immigration laws, for better interpretations of their effects. For example, if a law was passed in the 1990s that made immigrating to the U.S. harder for those coming from Asian countries, this workflow would perhaps be able to show the effects of this law.

The major response variable for this workflow is income (adjusted for inflation), with predictor variables including education level, and continent of origin. While specific countries of origin may show more patterns related to specific laws, sorting countries into their respective continents made for easier to digest visualizations. However, further exploring how to represent data for specific countries may benefit this workflow in the future.

Below, are a few interactive visualizations used for this workflow, as well as respective laws represented in the data…

Note: Around 5% of the data (income below $15,000 and above $50,000) is excluded from the maps below in order to make each continent comparable. This may harm the ability to see some patterns. However, considering the maps measure averages, it seemed like an appropriate step. However, if this seems to obscure/destroy too much, this can be undone.

1990 Census - Income Map - Mouseover for Birthplace [BPL]

Historical events that have some impact on census data (Pre-1990):

• Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act)
  • Set main principles for immigration regulation
  • System of preferences: family reunification (75%), employment (20%), refugees (5%)
  • Capped immigration from within the Americas for 1st time
• Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) 1986
  • Provided amnesty for established residents, increased border enforcement, enhanced requirements of employers, expanded guestworker visa programs

2000 Census - Income Map - Mouseover for Birthplace [BPL]

Historical events that have some impact on census data (Pre-2000):

• Immigration Act of 1990
  • Revised IA of 1965, implemented H-1B visa program for skilled temp. workers
  • Diversity visa lottery for populations unable to enter through preference
• Chinese Student Protection Act 1992
  • Permitted Chinese students to gain legal permanent status
  • In response to Chinese crackdowns on student protests in Tiananmen in 1989
• Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) 1996
  • Enforced immigration restrictions by adding resources for border policing & verification of employment credentials
• Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central America Relief Act (NACARA) 1997
  • Allowed certain Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, fleeing violence/poverty in homelands to file for asylum

The 1990 and 2000 Census maps show the distribution of income across the US, with a selection tab to specify which region to focus on. These two years were chosen because 1990 was when the Census Bureau started to track the variables we used.

Income by Education Barplot

The Income By Education bar plot, based on the 1990 Census, shows the distribution of education levels from “no high school diploma” to “Doctorate’s degree” with each region as its own bar and color. For example, we noticed:

• Across the regions we focused on, all of them benefitted from higher education, which led to more income earned on average.

• Immigrants from Europe and Asia are more likely to obtain higher education.

• Average income for people with less than a Bachelor’s degree tend to be in the same general area, but European immigrants tend to earn more than the other regions.

Income by Continent Line Plot