KFF Data Reaffirms Health Care’s Reliance on Immigrant Workforce

New data from KFF show that the total number of immigrant workers in the U.S. remained relatively stable between early 2025 and spring 2026, despite significant shifts in immigration policy. Beneath that stability, however, the composition of the workforce was altered.

KFF finds declines in the number of noncitizen immigrant workers alongside increases in naturalized citizens-leaving overall immigrant workforce numbers mostly unchanged. Within the health care sector, while immigrants represent about one in six workers overall, they account for 30% of direct care workers in long-term care settings, including those providing hands-on daily support to older adults.

For LeadingAge members, this reaffirms what we already know: even modest shifts in immigration policy can have outsized effects on direct care staffing, given the sector's ongoing reliance on immigrant workers.