Brookings Report on Immigration and Economic Impact

The Brookings Institution released a report this week indicating that the significant influx of migrants into the United States during former President Joe Biden’s tenure—the largest one-term migration event in the country’s history—has led to rising housing prices and a decrease in wages.

According to the report, “the influx may have reduced average wages of all workers by as much as 1.5%, likely in part because immigrants took lower-wage jobs. However, U.S. natives’ wages increased overall by about 0.9%, and native-born employment remained relatively stable.”

The demand for housing resulting from new immigrants led to rent increases of 1.4 to 1.6%, the study suggests, with wages for native renters actually rising by a greater amount—at least 1.6% after accounting for the rent hike.

The researchers at Brookings portrayed this large-scale migration as beneficial to Americans overall.

The report serves as part of a broader investigation into how Biden’s administration’s immigration policies affected jobs, earnings, and housing costs for Americans.

In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that mass immigration contributed to rising housing prices from early 2021 to early 2024, emphasizing that a growing population increased costs.

The Dallas Fed report mentioned, “…we find that during the boom period, an increase in unauthorized immigrant worker flows [UIWF] equal to 1% of a local area’s initial employment increased local house prices by 2.2% and increased local rents by 1.4%.”

A rough estimate from the report suggests that UIWF could account for roughly 30% of the overall increase in house prices and 20% of rent growth during that boom period in average local markets.

Additionally, a Housing and Urban Development investigation published last year concluded that Biden’s policy of admitting millions of migrants significantly raised costs for low-income Americans who do not receive public assistance.