H-1B and Related Data by State
H-1B Data
OPT Data
Ron Hira: Lots of businesses are bringing in H-1b's, not because I can't find American workers but because the h-1B workers are both cheaper and they're indentured.
Sarah Blackwell: So the end game of this business model is to offshore all the jobs overseas so that they can pay six to twelve thousand dollars a year for a job you're paying sixty to eighty thousand dollars a year in the US.
The H-1B program is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to hire non-citizens. For that reason, it's possible to get an estimate of the number of H-1B workers by looking at the citizenship status of workers in Census data. These numbers will include all non-immigrant visas such as students on F-1 visas working on OPT (Optional Practical Training).
The fact that these workers are cheaper and indentured puts them at a disadvantage. It also puts workers who are citizens at a disadvantage in that many companies will prefer to hire these cheaper and indentured servants. For this reason, it seems useful to look at the citizenship status of software developers in various locales. The rest of this article looks at the citizenship status of software developers in the United States by locale.
The output in this article was generated by an expanded version of the R Shiny app at this link. This app uses Census data from IPUMS-USA (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from the United States). The specific samples included are the 5% State sample for 1980 and 1990, the 5% Sample for 2000, and the ACS (American Community Survey) for the years 2001 through 2018. These surveys are all described at this link.
The following table shows the 50 U.S. counties with the lowest percentage of U.S. born software developers, sorted by that percentage. It should be noted the "U.S. born" in relation to citizenship status is not quite identical to "U.S. born" in relation to birthplace. The difference is that the former category also includes children who are born abroad to U.S. parents. For this reason, some of the percentages for U.S. born shown below are slightly larger than the corresponding percentages shown at this link.
Computer software developers (229): 2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 2018 Middlesex County NJ 18,228 57.1 24.2 18.7 2 2018 Hudson County NJ 13,746 63.1 15.6 21.2 3 2018 Forsyth County GA 5,898 54.5 24.1 21.4 4 2018 Tolland County CT 1,432 75.7 0.0 24.3 5 2018 Santa Clara County CA 88,430 51.8 22.7 25.5 6 2018 Alameda County CA 48,897 43.8 30.4 25.8 7 2018 Somerset County NJ 6,526 35.1 34.4 30.5 8 2018 Mercer County NJ 3,861 24.3 45.2 30.5 9 2018 New Castle County DE 3,964 44.6 24.1 31.4 10 2018 El Paso County TX 1,318 13.8 54.6 31.6 11 2018 San Mateo County CA 17,104 45.0 22.1 33.0 12 2018 Passaic County NJ 1,748 36.2 29.0 34.8 13 2018 San Joaquin County CA 1,787 20.8 44.3 35.0 14 2018 Will County IL 1,471 28.1 35.7 36.2 15 2018 Fort Bend County TX 3,425 14.2 49.1 36.7 16 2018 Lorain County OH 1,155 42.9 19.0 38.1 17 2018 Contra Costa County CA 12,080 27.7 33.7 38.7 18 2018 Richmond County NY 2,217 7.2 51.6 41.1 19 2018 Bergen County NJ 7,455 30.4 28.5 41.1 20 2018 McLean County IL 2,005 44.6 13.4 41.9 21 2018 Collin County TX 18,895 33.5 23.8 42.7 22 2018 Benton County AR 1,909 33.8 23.1 43.1 23 2018 Henrico County VA 3,773 50.1 6.1 43.8 24 2018 Broward County FL 6,694 22.1 33.7 44.3 25 2018 Chester County PA 7,391 42.5 11.9 45.6 26 2018 Orange County CA 23,486 19.5 34.2 46.3 27 2018 King County WA 80,283 39.5 13.7 46.7 28 2018 Yolo County CA 1,378 29.1 24.2 46.7 29 2018 Mecklenburg County NC 8,839 40.9 11.5 47.6 30 2018 Albany County NY 1,779 32.7 19.7 47.7 31 2018 Delaware County OH 2,818 36.4 15.3 48.3 32 2018 Essex County NJ 3,106 31.4 20.0 48.6 33 2018 Lake County IL 7,041 32.2 17.1 50.7 34 2018 Dallas County TX 17,573 40.5 8.6 50.9 35 2018 Denton County TX 10,928 32.2 16.5 51.3 36 2018 Fairfield County CT 8,295 35.8 12.9 51.3 37 2018 Loudoun County VA 14,311 21.0 27.6 51.4 38 2018 Champaign County IL 1,403 10.6 37.8 51.5 39 2018 Harris County TX 18,668 35.7 12.6 51.7 40 2018 Jefferson County AL 2,739 28.6 18.6 52.8 41 2018 Johnson County KS 9,543 22.2 24.9 52.9 42 2018 Oakland County MI 13,294 34.4 12.4 53.2 43 2018 Morris County NJ 4,937 12.9 33.5 53.7 44 2018 Bronx County NY 3,092 14.9 31.4 53.7 45 2018 Los Angeles County CA 44,444 22.2 23.4 54.3 46 2018 DuPage County IL 12,402 28.7 17.0 54.4 47 2018 Montgomery County MD 13,303 12.7 33.0 54.4 48 2018 Hartford County CT 6,685 28.9 16.6 54.5 49 2018 Duval County FL 6,060 36.0 9.5 54.5 50 2018 Queens County NY 8,711 20.0 25.3 54.7 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=2018&maxyear=2018&STATE=&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=6&sortdir=Ascending&mincount=1000&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following table shows the 50 U.S. counties with the highest percentage of non-citizen software developers, sorted by that percentage.
Computer software developers (229): 2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 2018 Tolland County CT 1,432 75.7 0.0 24.3 2 2018 Hudson County NJ 13,746 63.1 15.6 21.2 3 2018 Middlesex County NJ 18,228 57.1 24.2 18.7 4 2018 Forsyth County GA 5,898 54.5 24.1 21.4 5 2018 Santa Clara County CA 88,430 51.8 22.7 25.5 6 2018 Henrico County VA 3,773 50.1 6.1 43.8 7 2018 San Mateo County CA 17,104 45.0 22.1 33.0 8 2018 McLean County IL 2,005 44.6 13.4 41.9 9 2018 New Castle County DE 3,964 44.6 24.1 31.4 10 2018 Alameda County CA 48,897 43.8 30.4 25.8 11 2018 Lorain County OH 1,155 42.9 19.0 38.1 12 2018 Chester County PA 7,391 42.5 11.9 45.6 13 2018 Rensselaer County NY 1,010 42.4 0.0 57.6 14 2018 Winnebago County WI 1,400 41.6 0.0 58.4 15 2018 Mecklenburg County NC 8,839 40.9 11.5 47.6 16 2018 Dallas County TX 17,573 40.5 8.6 50.9 17 2018 King County WA 80,283 39.5 13.7 46.7 18 2018 Delaware County OH 2,818 36.4 15.3 48.3 19 2018 Passaic County NJ 1,748 36.2 29.0 34.8 20 2018 Duval County FL 6,060 36.0 9.5 54.5 21 2018 Fairfield County CT 8,295 35.8 12.9 51.3 22 2018 Harris County TX 18,668 35.7 12.6 51.7 23 2018 Somerset County NJ 6,526 35.1 34.4 30.5 24 2018 Middlesex County CT 1,260 34.7 7.3 58.0 25 2018 Oakland County MI 13,294 34.4 12.4 53.2 26 2018 Fayette County KY 2,373 34.3 0.0 65.7 27 2018 Benton County AR 1,909 33.8 23.1 43.1 28 2018 St. Louis County MO 10,818 33.8 7.1 59.1 29 2018 Collin County TX 18,895 33.5 23.8 42.7 30 2018 Marion County IN 4,174 33.1 3.5 63.3 31 2018 Hillsborough County FL 8,414 32.9 11.2 55.9 32 2018 Albany County NY 1,779 32.7 19.7 47.7 33 2018 Lake County IL 7,041 32.2 17.1 50.7 34 2018 Denton County TX 10,928 32.2 16.5 51.3 35 2018 Douglas County NE 4,419 31.8 4.2 64.0 36 2018 Warren County OH 1,409 31.7 9.2 59.1 37 2018 Snohomish County WA 10,919 31.5 13.5 55.0 38 2018 Essex County NJ 3,106 31.4 20.0 48.6 39 2018 Butler County OH 1,252 30.6 9.0 60.4 40 2018 Bergen County NJ 7,455 30.4 28.5 41.1 41 2018 Yolo County CA 1,378 29.1 24.2 46.7 42 2018 Washington County OR 13,413 29.0 15.3 55.6 43 2018 Hartford County CT 6,685 28.9 16.6 54.5 44 2018 DuPage County IL 12,402 28.7 17.0 54.4 45 2018 Jefferson County AL 2,739 28.6 18.6 52.8 46 2018 Williamson County TN 2,015 28.3 2.5 69.2 47 2018 Will County IL 1,471 28.1 35.7 36.2 48 2018 Montgomery County PA 10,420 28.0 4.6 67.4 49 2018 Contra Costa County CA 12,080 27.7 33.7 38.7 50 2018 Dakota County MN 4,605 27.6 0.0 72.4 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=2018&maxyear=2018&STATE=&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1000&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following two graphs and tables show the change in the citizenship status of software developers in Hudson and Middlesex counties in New Jersey from 1980 to 2018. As can be seen, the percentage of their software developers who were non-citizens were 63.1 and 57.1, respectively. These were the two largest percentages for counties with over 10,000 developers. These two counties border New York City. Hence, many of these jobs may be connected with the financial industry.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=NJ, COUNTY=Hudson (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Hudson County NJ 740 5.4 16.2 78.4 2 1990 Hudson County NJ 1,992 20.2 19.9 59.9 3 2000 Hudson County NJ 4,507 43.2 21.5 35.3 4 2005 Hudson County NJ 4,738 29.0 31.1 39.8 5 2006 Hudson County NJ 5,239 52.0 27.6 20.4 6 2007 Hudson County NJ 5,482 42.0 24.7 33.3 7 2008 Hudson County NJ 6,118 49.2 14.6 36.2 8 2009 Hudson County NJ 4,847 57.3 11.1 31.6 9 2010 Hudson County NJ 5,793 67.7 12.7 19.6 10 2011 Hudson County NJ 7,817 43.5 28.8 27.7 11 2012 Hudson County NJ 8,703 61.0 20.1 19.0 12 2013 Hudson County NJ 7,022 80.6 10.8 8.6 13 2014 Hudson County NJ 7,728 66.3 14.9 18.8 14 2015 Hudson County NJ 9,209 69.3 12.4 18.3 15 2016 Hudson County NJ 10,092 73.5 9.9 16.6 16 2017 Hudson County NJ 8,836 77.9 9.0 13.1 17 2018 Hudson County NJ 13,746 63.1 15.6 21.2 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=NJ&COUNTY=Hudson&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20Graph
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=NJ, COUNTY=Middlesex (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Middlesex County NJ 2,060 9.7 5.8 84.5 2 1990 Middlesex County NJ 5,449 19.2 11.2 69.6 3 2000 Middlesex County NJ 14,303 50.5 20.1 29.4 4 2005 Middlesex County NJ 13,286 56.8 28.7 14.4 5 2006 Middlesex County NJ 11,687 59.6 18.6 21.8 6 2007 Middlesex County NJ 14,980 48.0 24.9 27.0 7 2008 Middlesex County NJ 16,213 58.6 23.2 18.2 8 2009 Middlesex County NJ 13,138 45.7 31.1 23.2 9 2010 Middlesex County NJ 14,448 52.7 32.4 14.8 10 2011 Middlesex County NJ 14,470 53.3 26.3 20.4 11 2012 Middlesex County NJ 14,885 56.3 28.5 15.3 12 2013 Middlesex County NJ 12,948 52.7 29.4 17.9 13 2014 Middlesex County NJ 14,795 51.5 35.3 13.2 14 2015 Middlesex County NJ 13,812 51.9 30.1 17.9 15 2016 Middlesex County NJ 13,830 57.3 27.5 15.1 16 2017 Middlesex County NJ 15,402 47.7 33.8 18.5 17 2018 Middlesex County NJ 18,228 57.1 24.2 18.7 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=NJ&COUNTY=Middlesex&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following three graphs and tables show the change in the citizen status of software developers in Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties in California from 1980 to 2018. As can be seen, the percentage of their software developers who were non-citizens were 43.8, 51.8, and 45.0, respectively. These counties are in the area known as "Silicon Valley". Regarding the boundaries of this area, Wikipedia says the followins:
The geographical boundaries of Silicon Valley have changed over the years, traditionally Silicon Valley is known as Santa Clara County, southern San Mateo County and southern Alameda county. However, over the years this geographical area has been expanded to include San Francisco County, Contra Costa County, and the northern parts of Alameda County and San Mateo County, this shift has occurred due to the expansion in the local economy and the development of new technologies.
As can be seen, the percentage of software developers who are non-citizens has been generally rising in all three counties but has been rising most steadily in Santa Clara County, surpassing 50 percent for the first time.
<Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=CA, COUNTY=Alameda (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Alameda County CA 2,260 4.4 1.8 93.8 2 1990 Alameda County CA 6,794 9.4 11.3 79.2 3 2000 Alameda County CA 20,473 41.7 16.7 41.6 4 2005 Alameda County CA 18,805 36.0 21.5 42.4 5 2006 Alameda County CA 19,851 40.5 23.5 36.0 6 2007 Alameda County CA 24,022 41.1 25.7 33.2 7 2008 Alameda County CA 17,616 32.9 33.2 34.0 8 2009 Alameda County CA 21,447 32.6 28.8 38.6 9 2010 Alameda County CA 20,199 33.6 32.0 34.4 10 2011 Alameda County CA 20,975 35.5 33.2 31.3 11 2012 Alameda County CA 24,480 40.1 32.5 27.4 12 2013 Alameda County CA 25,526 40.3 32.1 27.5 13 2014 Alameda County CA 29,970 42.9 23.7 33.4 14 2015 Alameda County CA 38,938 41.7 28.6 29.7 15 2016 Alameda County CA 44,341 40.3 27.9 31.8 16 2017 Alameda County CA 39,393 47.9 22.1 30.0 17 2018 Alameda County CA 48,897 43.8 30.4 25.8 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&COUNTY=Alameda&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20Graph
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=CA, COUNTY=Santa Clara (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Santa Clara County CA 6,900 7.5 7.5 84.9 2 1990 Santa Clara County CA 12,993 11.8 15.9 72.3 3 2000 Santa Clara County CA 47,667 39.8 19.5 40.7 4 2005 Santa Clara County CA 39,754 47.3 22.9 29.8 5 2006 Santa Clara County CA 52,282 47.5 22.2 30.3 6 2007 Santa Clara County CA 47,764 40.3 30.2 29.5 7 2008 Santa Clara County CA 52,573 44.2 32.4 23.4 8 2009 Santa Clara County CA 48,555 42.7 27.0 30.3 9 2010 Santa Clara County CA 52,260 43.1 27.6 29.3 10 2011 Santa Clara County CA 54,744 37.7 32.4 29.9 11 2012 Santa Clara County CA 58,637 48.0 26.3 25.7 12 2013 Santa Clara County CA 63,361 44.9 26.1 29.0 13 2014 Santa Clara County CA 74,352 48.2 27.1 24.7 14 2015 Santa Clara County CA 78,269 46.4 25.3 28.3 15 2016 Santa Clara County CA 85,011 47.6 26.9 25.6 16 2017 Santa Clara County CA 90,412 49.4 23.6 26.9 17 2018 Santa Clara County CA 88,430 51.8 22.7 25.5 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&COUNTY=Santa%20Clara&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20Graph
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=CA, COUNTY=San Mateo (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 San Mateo County CA 1,500 6.7 10.7 82.7 2 1990 San Mateo County CA 2,921 9.2 13.0 77.7 3 2000 San Mateo County CA 10,766 33.1 19.8 47.0 4 2005 San Mateo County CA 8,419 28.4 21.3 50.4 5 2006 San Mateo County CA 9,331 35.4 26.8 37.8 6 2007 San Mateo County CA 6,837 18.1 28.7 53.2 7 2008 San Mateo County CA 9,581 37.0 22.0 41.0 8 2009 San Mateo County CA 9,639 29.4 29.0 41.6 9 2010 San Mateo County CA 11,318 25.6 28.1 46.4 10 2011 San Mateo County CA 9,649 32.1 26.3 41.6 11 2012 San Mateo County CA 9,173 38.2 17.5 44.4 12 2013 San Mateo County CA 10,824 28.8 32.7 38.5 13 2014 San Mateo County CA 13,686 45.0 21.1 33.9 14 2015 San Mateo County CA 14,335 28.2 30.0 41.8 15 2016 San Mateo County CA 16,200 41.6 15.8 42.6 16 2017 San Mateo County CA 19,108 42.3 23.4 34.2 17 2018 San Mateo County CA 17,104 45.0 22.1 33.0 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&COUNTY=San%20Mateo&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for Forsyth County, Georgia, a suburban community just north of Atlanta. It shows rapid growth in the percentage of software developers who are non-citizen in the last few years, especially in 2018 when in surpassed 50 percent for the first time. This article mentions the increase in H-1B workers, stating the following:
Sharma said most Indians are involved in the tech field.
"The majority of them are in IT," Sharma said. "They're coming on [H-1B visas, which allows companies to hire foreign workers for specialty positions] or [L-1 visas for managerial, executive or specialized knowledge], then applying for their green cards and then settling here."
Computer software developers (229): 2012-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=GA, COUNTY=Forsyth (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 2012 Forsyth County GA 2,007 28.0 23.9 48.2 2 2013 Forsyth County GA 3,360 26.0 13.8 60.2 3 2014 Forsyth County GA 3,020 36.0 22.5 41.5 4 2015 Forsyth County GA 3,737 44.4 15.4 40.2 5 2016 Forsyth County GA 4,275 37.7 31.2 31.1 6 2017 Forsyth County GA 4,449 35.2 28.6 36.2 7 2018 Forsyth County GA 5,898 54.5 24.1 21.4 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=2012&maxyear=2018&STATE=GA&COUNTY=Forsyth&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina which contains Charlotte. As can be seen, 40.9% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1990-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=NC, COUNTY=Mecklenburg (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1990 Mecklenburg County NC 2,127 1.7 2.1 96.2 2 2000 Mecklenburg County NC 5,538 11.3 6.5 82.2 3 2005 Mecklenburg County NC 4,116 15.5 12.8 71.6 4 2006 Mecklenburg County NC 6,205 34.0 11.4 54.6 5 2007 Mecklenburg County NC 4,826 24.1 18.7 57.2 6 2008 Mecklenburg County NC 5,578 27.0 16.6 56.3 7 2009 Mecklenburg County NC 5,336 31.2 4.5 64.3 8 2010 Mecklenburg County NC 5,944 41.9 8.1 50.0 9 2011 Mecklenburg County NC 6,194 45.1 10.7 44.2 10 2012 Mecklenburg County NC 6,492 35.2 6.4 58.4 11 2013 Mecklenburg County NC 7,519 42.0 7.1 50.9 12 2014 Mecklenburg County NC 7,355 42.8 7.6 49.6 13 2015 Mecklenburg County NC 10,685 37.4 8.9 53.7 14 2016 Mecklenburg County NC 9,557 40.4 14.5 45.1 15 2017 Mecklenburg County NC 10,694 47.7 6.4 45.9 16 2018 Mecklenburg County NC 8,839 40.9 11.5 47.6 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1990&maxyear=2018&STATE=NC&COUNTY=Mecklenburg&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for Chester County, Pennsylvania just west of Philadelphia. As can be seen, 42.5% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=PA, COUNTY=Chester (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Chester County PA 780 2.6 2.6 94.9 2 1990 Chester County PA 1,999 5.3 3.8 90.9 3 2000 Chester County PA 4,712 18.1 4.4 77.5 4 2005 Chester County PA 5,658 28.4 NA 71.6 5 2006 Chester County PA 4,678 22.4 19.2 58.3 6 2007 Chester County PA 4,773 25.4 15.1 59.5 7 2008 Chester County PA 5,900 22.6 7.0 70.4 8 2009 Chester County PA 3,769 16.3 15.2 68.5 9 2010 Chester County PA 5,436 12.9 11.9 75.2 10 2011 Chester County PA 6,655 27.4 16.7 55.9 11 2012 Chester County PA 5,371 34.2 20.6 45.2 12 2013 Chester County PA 5,438 16.7 8.9 74.5 13 2014 Chester County PA 5,965 31.1 16.1 52.7 14 2015 Chester County PA 7,387 31.8 14.9 53.3 15 2016 Chester County PA 6,603 33.4 15.1 51.5 16 2017 Chester County PA 7,853 17.7 16.6 65.7 17 2018 Chester County PA 7,391 42.5 11.9 45.6 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=PA&COUNTY=Chester&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following two graphs and tables are for Dallas and Collin counties, Texas. Dallas County contains the city of Dallas and Collin County is just north of it. As can be seen, 40.5 and 33.5 percent of the software developers in Dallas and Collin counties, respectively, were non-citizens in 2018.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=TX, COUNTY=Dallas (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Dallas County TX 4,420 2.7 2.3 95.0 2 1990 Dallas County TX 8,219 4.7 3.8 91.5 3 2000 Dallas County TX 15,500 19.3 8.1 72.6 4 2005 Dallas County TX 10,597 35.7 9.4 55.0 5 2006 Dallas County TX 11,483 33.3 3.5 63.2 6 2007 Dallas County TX 9,740 29.8 16.0 54.2 7 2008 Dallas County TX 12,135 21.8 10.6 67.5 8 2009 Dallas County TX 10,692 24.3 15.7 60.0 9 2010 Dallas County TX 10,993 22.4 20.4 57.2 10 2011 Dallas County TX 13,313 44.3 10.1 45.6 11 2012 Dallas County TX 15,642 34.6 11.1 54.3 12 2013 Dallas County TX 16,077 30.2 21.6 48.2 13 2014 Dallas County TX 14,853 27.0 9.1 63.9 14 2015 Dallas County TX 13,934 40.7 13.9 45.3 15 2016 Dallas County TX 17,763 26.7 18.4 55.0 16 2017 Dallas County TX 16,730 35.5 16.5 48.1 17 2018 Dallas County TX 17,573 40.5 8.6 50.9 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=TX&COUNTY=Dallas&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20Graph
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=TX, COUNTY=Collin (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Collin County TX 700 2.9 2.9 94.3 2 1990 Collin County TX 3,000 3.9 5.1 91.0 3 2000 Collin County TX 12,925 19.3 12.7 68.0 4 2005 Collin County TX 14,681 26.0 16.7 57.3 5 2006 Collin County TX 14,303 33.7 17.6 48.8 6 2007 Collin County TX 13,986 35.1 11.4 53.4 7 2008 Collin County TX 15,528 26.8 20.4 52.8 8 2009 Collin County TX 12,437 24.1 21.8 54.2 9 2010 Collin County TX 13,108 30.6 17.1 52.3 10 2011 Collin County TX 13,554 20.2 26.2 53.6 11 2012 Collin County TX 14,937 22.7 26.8 50.4 12 2013 Collin County TX 12,099 34.4 21.9 43.7 13 2014 Collin County TX 18,317 26.6 27.6 45.8 14 2015 Collin County TX 19,712 25.9 26.2 47.8 15 2016 Collin County TX 17,323 30.2 23.8 46.0 16 2017 Collin County TX 19,963 36.5 19.0 44.5 17 2018 Collin County TX 18,895 33.5 23.8 42.7 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=TX&COUNTY=Collin&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for King County, Washington which contains Seattle and Redmond. These cities contain the headquarters for Amazon and Microsoft, respectively. As can be seen, 39.5% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=WA, COUNTY=King (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 King County WA 3,360 4.2 1.8 94.0 2 1990 King County WA 7,023 5.3 4.7 89.9 3 2000 King County WA 27,177 22.0 8.0 70.0 4 2005 King County WA 36,508 33.9 9.7 56.4 5 2006 King County WA 38,857 30.6 8.2 61.2 6 2007 King County WA 35,726 25.1 10.0 64.9 7 2008 King County WA 38,237 33.0 8.5 58.5 8 2009 King County WA 46,159 29.4 10.3 60.3 9 2010 King County WA 44,913 38.8 12.1 49.2 10 2011 King County WA 50,774 37.9 9.4 52.7 11 2012 King County WA 50,675 32.3 15.8 51.9 12 2013 King County WA 54,849 36.6 13.3 50.1 13 2014 King County WA 54,080 37.6 13.9 48.4 14 2015 King County WA 61,957 35.0 11.0 54.0 15 2016 King County WA 66,643 37.6 11.4 51.0 16 2017 King County WA 72,589 42.3 10.3 47.4 17 2018 King County WA 80,283 39.5 13.7 46.7 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=WA&COUNTY=King&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for Somerset County, New Jersey. Somerset County borders Middlesex County which itself borders New York City. As can be seen, 35.1% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=NJ, COUNTY=Somerset (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Somerset County NJ 900 4.4 NA 95.6 2 1990 Somerset County NJ 2,630 8.5 12.7 78.7 3 2000 Somerset County NJ 4,903 24.3 16.8 58.9 4 2005 Somerset County NJ 3,920 28.2 24.4 47.4 5 2006 Somerset County NJ 4,680 31.5 38.0 30.5 6 2007 Somerset County NJ 5,196 47.1 27.1 25.8 7 2008 Somerset County NJ 4,707 26.4 34.2 39.4 8 2009 Somerset County NJ 4,841 36.9 30.2 32.9 9 2010 Somerset County NJ 5,047 20.3 34.4 45.2 10 2011 Somerset County NJ 4,068 32.5 32.0 35.5 11 2012 Somerset County NJ 5,173 34.7 30.0 35.2 12 2013 Somerset County NJ 4,448 50.1 24.5 25.4 13 2014 Somerset County NJ 4,948 40.4 17.7 42.0 14 2015 Somerset County NJ 3,955 27.5 40.7 31.9 15 2016 Somerset County NJ 5,316 34.4 39.0 26.6 16 2017 Somerset County NJ 3,903 20.2 50.8 29.0 17 2018 Somerset County NJ 6,526 35.1 34.4 30.5 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=NJ&COUNTY=Somerset&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for DuPage County, Illinois, just west of Chicago, As can be seen, 28.7% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=IL, COUNTY=DuPage (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 DuPage County IL 2,120 2.8 5.7 91.5 2 1990 DuPage County IL 5,121 7.0 4.3 88.8 3 2000 DuPage County IL 12,832 20.7 12.6 66.7 4 2005 DuPage County IL 9,946 31.3 14.9 53.8 5 2006 DuPage County IL 7,487 15.2 23.4 61.4 6 2007 DuPage County IL 8,297 22.8 15.3 61.9 7 2008 DuPage County IL 9,992 24.0 19.1 56.9 8 2009 DuPage County IL 8,102 21.2 25.0 53.8 9 2010 DuPage County IL 6,459 34.2 20.2 45.6 10 2011 DuPage County IL 7,639 19.9 19.7 60.3 11 2012 DuPage County IL 8,716 34.4 15.4 50.2 12 2013 DuPage County IL 9,134 34.7 16.9 48.4 13 2014 DuPage County IL 9,005 16.6 19.6 63.8 14 2015 DuPage County IL 9,163 18.7 22.1 59.1 15 2016 DuPage County IL 8,223 30.6 23.6 45.8 16 2017 DuPage County IL 9,767 38.1 17.9 44.0 17 2018 DuPage County IL 12,402 28.7 17.0 54.4 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=IL&COUNTY=DuPage&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for Contra Costa County, California, just north of Alameda County in Silicon Valley. As can be seen, 27.7% of the software developers there in 2018 were non-citizens.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=CA, COUNTY=Contra Costa (percent) Year COUNTY Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 Contra Costa County CA 1,300 6.2 9.2 84.6 2 1990 Contra Costa County CA 3,834 8.8 14.6 76.6 3 2000 Contra Costa County CA 8,050 18.5 17.8 63.7 4 2005 Contra Costa County CA 7,292 24.9 18.8 56.3 5 2006 Contra Costa County CA 7,714 32.6 24.2 43.2 6 2007 Contra Costa County CA 7,880 28.6 20.0 51.4 7 2008 Contra Costa County CA 6,319 23.4 34.3 42.3 8 2009 Contra Costa County CA 8,635 29.4 21.7 48.9 9 2010 Contra Costa County CA 7,133 29.5 31.0 39.5 10 2011 Contra Costa County CA 6,661 39.5 21.4 39.1 11 2012 Contra Costa County CA 7,700 22.6 28.7 48.7 12 2013 Contra Costa County CA 7,957 38.8 30.0 31.2 13 2014 Contra Costa County CA 8,330 28.4 27.6 44.0 14 2015 Contra Costa County CA 10,112 31.6 28.7 39.7 15 2016 Contra Costa County CA 11,541 26.9 25.3 47.7 16 2017 Contra Costa County CA 13,197 25.3 35.1 39.6 17 2018 Contra Costa County CA 12,080 27.7 33.7 38.7 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&COUNTY=Contra%20Costa&geo=COUNTY&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for the entire state of Utah. The reason for looking at Utah is that one of its Senators, Mike Lee, has been lobbying to pass the bill S386 by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate. This bill is named the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019" and would eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants and increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, among other things. This would mainly benefit Indian workers who have been caught in a backlog due to the country cap on employment-based green cards. However, the following table shows that only 5.4 percent of the software developers in Utah in 2018 were non-citizens. Further analysis of the data shows that, of these, only 3.3 percent were born in India. This does bring up the question of why Mike Lee is the main proponent of this bill. It seems to affect relatively few of his current constituents. In addition, any negative affects on U.S. or non-Indian workers would seem to be relatively small in Utah, at least as long as Utah continues to have such little diversity in its own workforce. In any event, this would seem to be an argument for being very skeptical of Mike Lee's support for this bill when Utah will likely be one of the states least affected by it, assuming that the law does work as advertised and that there are no ulterior motives.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP, STATE=UT (percent) Year STATE Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 UT 2,360 1.7 1.7 96.6 2 1990 UT 4,945 1.4 2.2 96.4 3 2000 UT 12,980 5.0 2.3 92.6 4 2005 UT 13,600 5.0 2.5 92.5 5 2006 UT 12,875 1.7 5.1 93.2 6 2007 UT 15,562 4.5 5.4 90.1 7 2008 UT 14,713 5.1 5.1 89.8 8 2009 UT 13,599 2.2 7.3 90.5 9 2010 UT 17,544 4.7 3.1 92.2 10 2011 UT 16,935 4.8 2.2 93.0 11 2012 UT 17,266 8.1 2.6 89.3 12 2013 UT 20,115 9.0 3.7 87.3 13 2014 UT 18,069 6.8 6.2 87.0 14 2015 UT 19,092 7.3 3.0 89.7 15 2016 UT 24,847 9.2 3.7 87.1 16 2017 UT 27,182 7.7 3.6 88.6 17 2018 UT 26,901 5.4 6.1 88.4 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=UT&geo=STATE&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphThe following graph and table are for the entire United States. As can be seen, the percentage of software developers who were non-citizens has been increasing steadily since 1990, reaching about 21.5 percent in 2018. This is far above the 5.4 percent for Utah. Hence, it would seem wise to be skeptical of Mike Lee's support for S386, a bill involving issues in which his state would seem to currently have less at stake than the average state.
Computer software developers (229): 1980-2018, grouped by CITIZENSHIP (percent) Year Count Non.citizen Naturalized U.S._Born 1 1980 311,180 4.0 3.4 92.6 2 1990 644,172 5.4 6.0 88.5 3 2000 1,349,011 14.6 9.4 76.0 4 2005 1,279,997 17.3 11.7 71.0 5 2006 1,315,056 18.4 12.0 69.6 6 2007 1,290,484 16.8 12.9 70.3 7 2008 1,332,875 17.2 13.6 69.2 8 2009 1,325,989 17.0 13.4 69.6 9 2010 1,315,823 18.5 13.8 67.7 10 2011 1,343,537 17.8 14.8 67.3 11 2012 1,449,897 19.0 14.1 66.9 12 2013 1,480,496 19.4 14.3 66.3 13 2014 1,546,979 19.5 15.0 65.4 14 2015 1,630,473 20.1 14.5 65.4 15 2016 1,710,581 20.9 14.7 64.4 16 2017 1,803,306 21.8 14.5 63.7 17 2018 1,853,801 21.5 14.5 64.0 URL parameters (short)= ?minyear=1980&maxyear=2018&STATE=&geo=NATION&occ=Computer%20software%20developers%20(229)&group=CITIZENSHIP&sortn=4&mincount=1&totrows=50&color=red2,green3,blue2&geomtype=Line%20GraphTo see an analysis of the demographics of software developers in the United States by birthplace instead of citizenship status, see this link.
Non-citizen Percentage of Various Occupations by State
H-1B and Related Data by State
H-1B Data
OPT Data