NAE Cities Index

Tracking integration programs, policies and outcomes in the top 100 U.S. cities

Rich André
Associate Director of State and Local Initiatives
New American Economy

500 Republican, Independent, and Democratic mayors and CEOs in all 50 states agree:
Immigration is critical to America’s economic success.
ECONOMIC AGRICULTURE,
LOCAL
IMPACT BUSINESS, & TECH
IMMIGRATION
STUDIES ADVOCACY
ACTION PLANS
New Americans in Dallas, Feb. 2018
Why an integration index: What works in local innovation?

In the past 5 years, a proliferation of local initiatives:

• 30+ cities now have offices on immigrant integration (e.g., Office of Immigrant
Affairs) or published integration plans
• Multiple cities created new programs and public-private partnerships to:
• Support immigrant entrepreneurs
• Assist eligible immigrants to become US citizens
• Facilitate language access
• Expand access to identification documents (e.g., for banking)

• New networks like Cities for Citizenship, Cities for Action, Welcoming Cities,
and Gateways for Growth launched to scale these successes

Limited evaluation of specific initiatives, and no comprehensive

comparison of integration policies + outcomes across cities
NAE State and Local Initiatives
Benchmarking success: What we’re measuring

A municipal index, to be updated annually, that tracks the performance of

the top 100 U.S. cities across two primary areas:

Policy: This sub-score looks at support for immigrant integration

across 30 unique measures within the categories of: government
leadership; economic empowerment; inclusivity; community; and
legal support

Outcomes: This sub-score looks at immigrant socioeconomic

outcomes relative to the U.S.-born in that city across 21 unique
measures within the categories of: job opportunities; economic
prosperity; livability; and civic participation
Example success metrics for the top 100 cities
30 Policy Metrics, including:

Government Leadership 21 Outcome Metrics for

• Establish or maintain a local office for immigrant services US-born and foreign-born, including:
• Hire immigrants or members of immigrant ethnic groups
as municipal employees Job Opportunities
• Labor force participation rate
Economic Empowerment • Employment rate
• Entrepreneurship support programs targeting immigrants • Share of entrepreneurs
• Vocational training programs targeting immigrants
Economic Prosperity
Inclusivity • Median income
• Materials being translated into non-English languages at • Median business income
• Poverty rate
municipal centers
Livability
Community
• Home ownership rate
• Partner with local organizations to provide services or • Educational attainment
information to immigrants
Civic Participation
Legal Support • Naturalization rate
• Accept consular ID or other foreign IDs as forms • Share of public-sector workers
of identification
Texas Cities, Compared
Houston
2.95/5

San Antonio
2.83/5

Austin
2.60/5

Dallas
2.53/5

Arlington
2.35/5

Forth Worth
1.95/5

Source: New American Economy Cities Index (2018)

Dallas’ Scores
Initial findings: Emerging themes
1) Traditional immigrant gateway cities lead in overall policy scores
because of their well-established institutions for immigrant integration.

• Cities with large, sustained immigrant populations over the past century
have the most welcoming policies (e.g. SF, NYC, Boston, and Chicago) with
strong policies focused on inclusivity and providing access to city services
and information.

• However, some of these cities do not score as highly on measures of

socioeconomic equality such as access to housing or income equality.

• The policy environment is more supportive for immigrants in cities

with higher percentage of foreign-born.
Initial findings: Emerging themes
2) Cities that are starting to rebound after years of job and
population decline see the gap between immigrants and the U.S.-
born is much smaller than in the rest of the country when it comes
to indicators such as poverty rates, educational attainment, and
entrepreneurship rates.
Initial findings: Emerging themes
3) Cities that are new immigrant gateways are some of the fastest
growing places in the country and scored highly when it comes to
socioeconomic indicators such as available job opportunities at all
skill levels, affordable and quality housing, and educational
opportunities.

• In these cities, immigrants and U.S.-born newcomers together are

helping to create the diverse workforce necessary to continue growing
and attracting new businesses.
Thank You!
www.NewAmericanEconomy.org/Cities-Index
Rich André
Rich@NewAmericanEconomy.org