What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
During the past five decades, the U.S. has resettled over 3 million refugees, making it one of the leading countries for finding new homes for people fleeing violence, persecution, and war.
In 2021, then-President Donald Trump lowered the annual cap of refugees that could be admitted into the country to 15,000. Even as the Biden administration has raised the ceiling to 125,000, the annual number of refugees arriving in the U.S. didn't immediately bounce back to pre-Trump administration levels. The numbers are increasing though, with over 25,000 refugees arriving in the U.S. in the 2022 fiscal year, twice the 2021 total.
Refugee arrivals during the 2023 fiscal year dramatically outpaced the prior two years, reaching over 60,000 from October 2022 to September 2023.
In May 2024, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from Congo, Afghanistan, and Venezuela. Each nation faces a unique set of circumstances that can make their citizens unsafe if they stay in their home country.
For the last three decades, Congo, also called the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been struggling with a series of civil wars and internal battles that have left millions of people displaced, both internally and externally, with many people fleeing to neighboring countries. Afghan refugees have been fleeing to neighboring countries for decades, especially to Pakistan and Iran, which combined host over 8 million Afghans. In Venezuela, over 7.5 million people have left the country due to extreme inflation, violence, food and medicine scarcity, and other factors. Most have resettled in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Stacker referenced data from the Refugee Processing Center to compile statistics on the number of refugees and their countries of origin resettled in Colorado in May 2024. Countries with only one refugee since October 2023 are not included.
May refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in May
To Colorado:
#1. Afghanistan: 24
#2. Myanmar: 17
#2. Venezuela: 17
#4. Nicaragua: 14
#5. Republic of South Sudan: 9
#6. Congo: 8
#7. Syria: 6
#8. Somalia: 5
#9. Sudan: 3
#10. Central African Republic: 2
#10. Colombia: 2
#12. Ethiopia: 1
To the U.S. as a whole:
#1. Congo: 1,290
#2. Afghanistan: 1,111
#3. Venezuela: 937
#4. Somalia: 635
#5. Nicaragua: 584
States that accepted the most refugees in May:
#1. Texas: 653
#2. New York: 609
#3. California: 467
#4. Minnesota: 397
#5. Arizona: 369
Read on to see the countries that Colorado has accepted the most refugees from since the start of the fiscal year in October 2023.
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Refugees that arrived from Congo since October 2023
To Colorado: 254
To the U.S. as a whole: 14,611
Top states receiving refugees from Congo
#1. Texas: 1,337
#2. Kentucky: 1,219
#3. Arizona: 1,020
#4. New York: 939
#5. Ohio: 924
Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October 2023
To Colorado: 246
To the U.S. as a whole: 8,881
Top states receiving refugees from Afghanistan
#1. California: 1,819
#2. Texas: 898
#3. Virginia: 822
#4. Washington: 559
#5. New York: 424
Refugees that arrived from Myanmar since October 2023
To Colorado: 209
To the U.S. as a whole: 4,653
Top states receiving refugees from Myanmar
#1. Texas: 542
#2. Illinois: 525
#3. New York: 455
#4. Georgia: 342
#5. Wisconsin: 286
Refugees that arrived from Syria since October 2023
To Colorado: 139
To the U.S. as a whole: 8,231
Top states receiving refugees from Syria
#1. New York: 838
#2. Michigan: 761
#3. Pennsylvania: 579
#4. Texas: 458
#5. California: 445
Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since October 2023
To Colorado: 80
To the U.S. as a whole: 4,453
Top states receiving refugees from Venezuela
#1. Florida: 787
#2. Texas: 630
#3. Illinois: 291
#4. Georgia: 210
#5. North Carolina: 173
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Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October 2023
To Colorado: 66
To the U.S. as a whole: 925
Top states receiving refugees from Republic of South Sudan
#1. Texas: 94
#2. Nebraska: 82
#3. Colorado: 66
#3. Arizona: 66
#5. New York: 61
Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October 2023
To Colorado: 45
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,543
Top states receiving refugees from Eritrea
#1. Texas: 157
#2. Washington: 143
#3. North Carolina: 104
#4. Ohio: 97
#5. lowa: 91
Refugees that arrived from Nicaragua since October 2023
To Colorado: 41
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,662
Top states receiving refugees from Nicaragua
#1. Florida: 212
#2. California: 129
#3. Texas: 118
#4. Minnesota: 90
#5. Georgia: 75
Refugees that arrived from Central African Republic since October 2023
To Colorado: 36
To the U.S. as a whole: 700
Top states receiving refugees from Central African Republic
#1. Missouri: 75
#2. Texas: 72
#3. Michigan: 55
#4. Georgia: 43
#5. Massachusetts: 38
Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since October 2023
To Colorado: 27
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,223
Top states receiving refugees from Ukraine
#1. Washington: 467
#2. California: 201
#3. New York: 75
#4. Florida: 55
#5. Ohio: 54
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Refugees that arrived from Iraq since October 2023
To Colorado: 24
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,119
Top states receiving refugees from Iraq
#1. California: 179
#2. Michigan: 137
#3. Texas: 90
#4. Nebraska: 64
#5. Washington: 57
Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October 2023
To Colorado: 22
To the U.S. as a whole: 2,781
Top states receiving refugees from Somalia
#1. Minnesota: 895
#2. Ohio: 194
#3. New York: 163
#4. Arizona: 142
#5. Missouri: 140
Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since October 2023
To Colorado: 21
To the U.S. as a whole: 2,917
Top states receiving refugees from Guatemala
#1. California: 385
#2. Texas: 284
#3. Florida: 194
#4. North Carolina: 182
#5. New York: 133
Refugees that arrived from Guinea since October 2023
To Colorado: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 75
Top states receiving refugees from Guinea
#1. Colorado: 15
#2. Georgia: 9
#3. North Carolina: 7
#4. Arizona: 5
#4. Michigan: 5
Refugees that arrived from Colombia since October 2023
To Colorado: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 871
Top states receiving refugees from Colombia
#1. Florida: 114
#2. North Carolina: 82
#3. Texas: 71
#4. New York: 64
#5. Washington: 59
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Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October 2023
To Colorado: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,423
Top states receiving refugees from Sudan
#1. New York: 123
#2. Texas: 112
#3. Pennsylvania: 95
#4. Ohio: 94
#5. Missouri: 90
Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since October 2023
To Colorado: 13
To the U.S. as a whole: 926
Top states receiving refugees from El Salvador
#1. Texas: 131
#2. California: 105
#2. Maryland: 105
#4. Virginia: 70
#5. North Carolina: 63
Refugees that arrived from Haiti since October 2023
To Colorado: 9
To the U.S. as a whole: 157
Top states receiving refugees from Haiti
#1. Pennsylvania: 26
#2. Florida: 22
#3. Georgia: 14
#4. Arizona: 12
#5. Colorado: 9
Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since October 2023
To Colorado: 8
To the U.S. as a whole: 328
Top states receiving refugees from Ethiopia
#1. Minnesota: 95
#2. Texas: 30
#3. Washington: 28
#4. Georgia: 25
#4. Ohio: 25
Refugees that arrived from Republic of Congo since October 2023
To Colorado: 7
To the U.S. as a whole: 338
Top states receiving refugees from Republic of Congo
#1. Missouri: 32
#2. Pennsylvania: 28
#3. New York: 25
#3. Illinois: 25
#5. South Carolina: 24
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Refugees that arrived from Pakistan since October 2023
To Colorado: 7
To the U.S. as a whole: 637
Top states receiving refugees from Pakistan
#1. Pennsylvania: 101
#2. Texas: 61
#3. Virginia: 57
#4. North Carolina: 46
#5. New York: 41
Refugees that arrived from Moldova since October 2023
To Colorado: 5
To the U.S. as a whole: 303
Top states receiving refugees from Moldova
#1. California: 97
#2. Washington: 94
#3. Florida: 18
#4. Minnesota: 17
#4. Oregon: 17
Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since October 2023
To Colorado: 4
To the U.S. as a whole: 201
Top states receiving refugees from Rwanda
#1. Texas: 49
#2. South Carolina: 12
#2. Kentucky: 12
#2. Arizona: 12
#5. North Carolina: 11
Refugees that arrived from Tanzania since October 2023
To Colorado: 4
To the U.S. as a whole: 6
Top states receiving refugees from Tanzania
#1. Colorado: 4
#2. New York: 2
Refugees that arrived from Senegal since October 2023
To Colorado: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 57
Top states receiving refugees from Senegal
#1. Massachusetts: 15
#2. Georgia: 8
#2. Texas: 8
#4. South Carolina: 5
#5. Ohio: 4
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Refugees that arrived from Russia since October 2023
To Colorado: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 293
Top states receiving refugees from Russia
#1. Washington: 77
#2. California: 62
#3. Oregon: 24
#4. North Carolina: 22
#5. Minnesota: 20
Refugees that arrived from Cameroon since October 2023
To Colorado: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 101
Top states receiving refugees from Cameroon
#1. Texas: 13
#1. Pennsylvania: 13
#3. Nevada: 8
#4. Maryland: 7
#4. California: 7
Refugees that arrived from Jamaica since October 2023
To Colorado: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 10
Top states receiving refugees from Jamaica
#1. California: 2
#1. Colorado: 2
#1. Michigan: 2
#1. North Carolina: 2
#1. Ohio: 2
This story features data reporting and writing by Emma Rubin and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 46 states.
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