5th Migration Wave

The 4th wave of immigrants from Ukraine started in 1987. Since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014, the migration stream from Ukraine to the U.S. has experienced significant changes, to the point that we can talk about a 5th wave of migration from Ukraine. We define the 5 th wave as all migrants from Ukraine in the U.S. after 2013.

All the data in this section, updated to 2023, provide a comprehensive understanding of the 5th wave. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 added a new dimension to the 5th wave. Migrants after 2021 have different characteristics than migrants from previous years.

We describe aspects of the 5th wave, from its age-sex structure to language spoken at home and settlement patterns. First, we show the yearly numbers of migrants from 2014 to 2023, followed by a profile of the 5 th wave, including profiles for many metropolitan areas (MAs). Then, we compare the 2014 – 2021 migrants with the 2022 - 2023 migrants. The following sections describe in detail the 2022 – 2023 migrants, including profiles by State and many MAs. We end the section with a graphical summary of the characteristics of 2022 – 2023 migrants in the ten MAs with the largest numbers of these migrants.

Characteristics of 5th Wave Migrants: 2014 - 2023

5th Wave Migrants by Metropolitan Area: 2014 - 2023*

* Metropolitan Areas with 1,000 or more 2014 - 2023 migrants in 2023

Comparison of 2014-21 and 2022-23 Migrants

Profile of 2022 - 2023 Migrants from Ukraine

2022 - 2023 Migrants from Ukraine by State and Metropolitan Area*

* Metropolitan areas with 1,000 or more 2022 - 2023 migrants in 2023

- State
- Metropolitan Area

Detailed Profile of 10 Metropolitan Areas: 2022 - 2023 (with graphs)