New Study Shows Washington’s Unauthorized Immigrants On The Rise

A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that undocumented immigration in the United States spiked in 2023 with a total undocumented immigrant population of approximately 14 million people. It continued to grow in 2024 and is now decreasing in 2025.  

This is no secret, but what I find interesting is the number of undocumented immigrants in Washington state jumped almost 5% In 2023, making Washington state land at #8 for the most unauthorized Immigrants. 

According to axios.com,
‘The U.S. saw a sharp jump in unauthorized immigrants during the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.
In 2015, Pew estimated Washington was home to about 250,000 undocumented immigrants, or about 3.5% of the state's population.’ 

If you include Washington, DC in the survey, Washington state gets bumped down to #9. Pew Research Estimated that in 2015 the unauthorized immigrant population in Washington state numbered approximately 250,000. Now look at 2023 The Pew Research Center claims that in 2023 that number went up to approximately 375,000 undocumented immigrants. That pencils out to about 4.7% of Washington state's total population. 

The highest percentage of undocumented immigrants came to California, Florida, Texas, Nevada, and Washington, DC. 

The Pew report also shows that the lowest number of unauthorized immigrants to be in Montana, although they do note that there was insufficient data to make any number statistically accurate. 

One thing to keep in mind, this Pew study focused on 2023 going into 2024.
Washington state sees growth in undocumented immigrant population, Pew says - Axios Seattle
Record 14 Million Unauthorized Immigrants Lived in the US in 2023 | Pew Research Center
Undocumented immigrant population hit record 14M in 2023: Pew analysis