Honestly, if you try to get a straight answer on how many illegal immigrants are working in the United States right now, you'll probably end up more confused than when you started. It's a numbers game where the goalposts keep moving. One week you hear the population is exploding; the next, you see reports that hundreds of thousands are leaving.
Basically, the "official" numbers always lag behind reality. But as we sit here in early 2026, the picture has sharpened significantly.
According to the latest 2025 and early 2026 data from groups like the Pew Research Center and the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), the number of undocumented workers in the U.S. labor force is currently hovering around 8.5 million to 10.8 million people.
Wait, why the big gap?
It's because 2025 was a weird, transitional year. We saw a massive peak in the unauthorized population in late 2024—reaching a record 14 million people total—but then things shifted fast. By mid-2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that nearly 1.6 million people had left the country, either through deportations or what they call "voluntary self-deportation."
Breaking Down the 8.5 Million Figure
When we talk about how many illegal immigrants are working in the United States, we aren't just talking about people hiding in the shadows. A huge chunk of this workforce—roughly 40%—actually has some form of temporary legal "liminal" status.
These are folks who have work permits but are still technically "unauthorized" in the long-term sense. Think about:
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- Asylum applicants waiting for court dates (about 2.6 million people).
- TPS (Temporary Protected Status) holders from countries like Venezuela or Haiti.
- DACA recipients, the "Dreamers" who have been working here for a decade or more.
The Center for Migration Studies highlights that these 8.5 million workers aren't just random additions to the economy. They are "prime-age" workers. About 79% of them are between the ages of 25 and 54. Compare that to the U.S.-born population, which is aging out of the workforce much faster, and you see why certain industries are so reliant on them.
Where They Actually Work
It isn't just picking fruit. While agriculture is the classic example, the modern undocumented workforce is the backbone of the American "back-of-house" economy.
Construction is the big one. Almost 20% of all undocumented workers—nearly 2 million people—are in construction. If you’ve seen a new subdivision go up lately, there’s a statistical certainty that undocumented labor helped frame it.
Then you've got Accommodation and Food Services. We’re talking about 1.2 million people. These are the line cooks, the hotel housekeepers, and the dishwashers. When the labor supply in this sector dropped in early 2025 due to policy changes, many restaurant owners had to slash hours or close entirely because they just couldn't find "native-born" workers to fill those $15-an-hour roles.
Why the Numbers Dropped in 2025
For the first time in a generation, the total immigrant population in the U.S. actually shrunk in 2025.
It was a perfect storm of policy and economics. The Biden administration's late-term asylum restrictions combined with the Trump administration's aggressive removal push in 2025 created a massive outflow. Brookings Institution analysts noted that net migration actually turned negative in 2025, meaning more people left than arrived.
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This had a weird effect on the job market. While "safer streets" and "taxpayer savings" were the headlines from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the business side was different. In 2025, job growth in "immigrant-reliant" industries like roofing and landscaping basically flatlined.
The Economic Reality Check
There is a common misconception that these workers are all brand new arrivals. Honestly, it’s the opposite.
More than half of the undocumented people working in the U.S. today have been here for at least 10 years. Over a quarter have been here for more than 20 years. They have kids (mostly U.S. citizens), they pay into Social Security (which they can't claim), and they are deeply "baked into" the local economy.
The Migration Policy Institute points out that 14 million U.S. citizens live in a household with at least one unauthorized person. So, when we talk about the workforce, we're talking about the primary breadwinners for millions of American families.
Industry Dependence by the Numbers:
- Construction Laborers: 574,700 workers
- Maids & Housekeepers: 364,200 workers
- Cooks: 335,200 workers
- Landscaping: 378,000 workers
What Most People Get Wrong
People think "illegal" means "unemployed" or "living on welfare." The data shows the exact opposite. Undocumented immigrants actually have a higher labor force participation rate than U.S.-born citizens.
Why? Because they have to. They don't have access to the same safety nets, so if they don't work, they don't eat. In 2024, the foreign-born labor force participation sat at 66.5%, while the native-born rate was only 61.7%.
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Also, let's talk about the "stealing jobs" argument. Economists at the San Francisco Fed noted in 2025 that the surge in immigration between 2022 and 2024 actually helped cool down inflation by filling labor shortages that were driving up costs. When that labor pool started shrinking in 2025, we saw the reverse: "wage-push" inflation in service sectors because there simply weren't enough people to do the work.
Moving Forward: The 2026 Outlook
As we move through 2026, the number of illegal immigrants working in the United States is expected to keep dipping. Net migration is projected to stay near zero or even stay negative.
If you're a business owner or just a curious citizen, here is what you should be watching:
- Labor Scarcity: Expect higher prices in home repairs, roofing, and dining out. With the pool of 8.5 million workers shrinking, businesses are competing for a smaller group of people.
- Status Changes: Watch for legal challenges regarding "liminal" statuses like TPS and DACA. If those work permits are revoked, millions move from the "legal-ish" workforce into the "under-the-table" workforce, which usually means lower tax revenue for the government.
- Official Reports: Keep an eye on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). It’s the most frequent pulse check we have, even if it’s not perfect.
The reality is that the U.S. economy has built a massive dependency on these workers over three decades. Pulling that thread doesn't just change a number on a spreadsheet—it changes the cost of your groceries, the speed of your new home construction, and the stability of millions of American-led households.
To stay truly informed, look past the political talking points and check the quarterly labor force characteristics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). They provide the most granular look at how the "foreign-born" workforce—both legal and unauthorized—is actually shifting in real-time.