Undercounted and Misunderstood: Measuring Hispanic Immigration and its Effects

Abstract

The United States has experienced an unprecedented immigration boom since 2021, with net annual inflows averaging 2.5 million, over 80% of whom are Hispanic immigrants. Despite the growing importance of immigration in shaping economic and social outcomes, the availability of precise data for recent years remains limited, constraining researchers' ability to assess its impacts. Official estimates likely undercount the Hispanic immigrant population, particularly in smaller geographic areas, posing challenges for local analyses. To address this gap, we develop a novel framework to measure the local presence of Hispanic immigrants using retail sales data from Hispanic-branded products. After validating our measure, we examine its implications for a range of economic and social outcomes, such as housing prices, rent inflation, and crime.

Keywords: Immigration, Crime, Housing, Measurement

JEL Classification: C83, J15, O18, R21, R23, R31