Looking at Mexicans in the US, we see some interesting trends when it comes to remittances being sent down south, which totaled $61B last year (roughly equal to the entire GDP of Myanmar). Banco de México divides this flow by state. If we divide it by each state’s population, we see California comes out on top with $530 sent per person last year. This is doubly impressive given that California, at over 40M inhabitants, is the largest US state and has a population big enough to be its own country.
Your eye might instinctively then look next to border states like Arizona and Texas, given their high Mexican populations. But we’re more surprised by the degree to how their neighboring New Mexico is outshone by an Upper Midwestern state like Wyoming and especially the northernmost state of North Dakota, which is over 1K miles from the Mexican border and has a Hispanic population of less than 5%.
With our chart this week, we hope you realize a bit of the bigger picture when it comes to Mexican remittances across the US. Big states, small ones, rural communities and big cities—Latinos make up an increasingly important part of the US economic landscape.
![[OC] Remittance outflow to Mexico per capita (USD, 2023) 💸 🇺🇸→🇲🇽 💸](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6djt2cdgy0kd1-1920x1024.png)
12 comments
Looking at Mexicans in the US, we see some interesting trends when it comes to remittances being sent down south, which totaled $61B last year (roughly equal to the entire GDP of Myanmar). Banco de México divides this flow by state. If we divide it by each state’s population, we see California comes out on top with $530 sent per person last year. This is doubly impressive given that California, at over 40M inhabitants, is the largest US state and has a population big enough to be its own country.
Your eye might instinctively then look next to border states like Arizona and Texas, given their high Mexican populations. But we’re more surprised by the degree to how their neighboring New Mexico is outshone by an Upper Midwestern state like Wyoming and especially the northernmost state of North Dakota, which is over 1K miles from the Mexican border and has a Hispanic population of less than 5%.
North Dakota surely isn’t what most people think of when they think of Latin American immigrants making their life in the States. And yet, since the mid-2010s there’s been an[ ~interesting trend~](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/08/the-fastest-growing-counties-for-latinos-are-in-north-dakota/) of Latinos diffusing out from the usual destinations and instead moving to cities across states like North Dakota, Georgia, and Alabama.
With our chart this week, we hope you realize a bit of the bigger picture when it comes to Mexican remittances across the US. Big states, small ones, rural communities and big cities—Latinos make up an increasingly important part of the US economic landscape.
**Sources**
* [Migration and Development Brief 40 | KNOMAD](https://knomad.org/publication/migration-and-development-brief-40)
* [Estructura de información (SIE, Banco de México) (banxico.org.mx)](https://www.banxico.org.mx/SieInternet/consultarDirectorioInternetAction.do?accion=consultarCuadro&idCuadro=CE168&locale=es)
* [S0201: Selected Population Profile … – Census Bureau Table](https://data.census.gov/table/ACSSPP1Y2022.S0201?t=401:4015&g=010XX00US$0400000)
**Tools:** Figma, Sheets
Before folks misread this…this is people (not gov) sending money back to Mexico broken down by State and per capita.
So basically just a map of where the most Mexican immigrants live? I’m not sure what point this visualization is really trying to convey.
California winning anything on a per capita basis must mean its absolute share is insane
Even as a Vermonter who knows we have a large population of migrant farmers, I’m shocked we beat out every state in the northeast including New York.
I’m not sure “outshines” is the best word choice.
North Dakota’s huge numbers are 100% oil fields.
Why is there an arrow pointing to Michigan
What happens when you show remittances for all of Latin America? All countries?
Twice as much ($120 billion vs $63 billion), went to India vs. Mexico in 2023.
Per capita of “people sending money” or per capita of the population of the state?
I was not expecting Colorado to be 2, I thought Texas or Illinois