New Pew Research Center data reveals an established, increasingly influential segment of the U.S. electorate ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Immigration dominates much of America’s political conversation, but millions of immigrants have already completed the process of becoming American citizens. They work, raise families, participate in their communities and possess the same voting rights as citizens born in the United States.
A new Pew Research Center analysis finds that approximately 25 million naturalized citizens are eligible to vote in the 2026 midterm elections. That represents roughly one in every ten eligible American voters, more than double the nearly 12 million recorded in 2000.
Their numbers are growing faster than the overall eligible electorate, making naturalized citizens an increasingly substantial part of American political life.
These Are Not Newly Arrived Americans
Perhaps the most revealing finding concerns how long naturalized voters have lived in the United States. Approximately 92% have been in the country for at least 11 years, while 73% have lived here for more than two decades.
They also tend to be older than Americans born in the United States or abroad to American parents. Their median age is 54, compared with 47 among U.S.-born eligible voters.
The economic and educational figures challenge simplistic assumptions about immigrant populations. Naturalized voters have a median family income of $105,000, compared with $94,000 among U.S.-born eligible voters. Nearly 40% hold at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with approximately 34% of their U.S.-born counterparts.
These comparisons describe naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote, not immigrants overall. They illustrate the characteristics of a population that has already secured citizenship and established long-term ties to the country.
Their Electoral Presence Is Growing
Naturalized citizens account for 22% of eligible voters in California, nearly 20% in New Jersey and approximately 19% in New York. Florida follows at 17.2%, while Texas stands at 11.4%, slightly above the national average.
The electorate is also geographically and ethnically diverse. Hispanic Americans account for 33.2% of naturalized eligible voters, followed by Asian Americans at 32.3%, White Americans at 20.1% and Black Americans at 10.7%.
Nearly two-thirds of Asian American eligible voters are naturalized citizens, making Asian Americans the only major racial or ethnic group whose eligible electorate consists predominantly of naturalized citizens.
These figures do not establish how naturalized citizens will vote. Eligibility is not the same as registration or turnout, and the population spans numerous countries, cultures, political priorities and personal experiences.
Immigration Policy Meets Political Representation
The findings arrive during an election cycle in which immigration enforcement, citizenship and border policy remain prominent national issues.
But naturalized citizens occupy a position that often receives less attention in those debates. They are not seeking permission to become part of the American electorate. They are already members of it, with the constitutional right to participate in choosing the officials who shape immigration policy and every other aspect of government.
For political campaigns, understanding this population requires moving beyond broad assumptions about immigrant communities. The data points to an electorate that is older, economically established, multilingual and geographically concentrated in several politically important states.
Pew’s findings reveal how profoundly immigration has shaped the American electorate over the past generation. The political significance of naturalized citizens is no longer simply about how many people are becoming Americans. It is also about the millions who already have, and whose votes are part of the country’s democratic future.