NAFSA report- How do International Students Benefit your State and District?
/The NAFSA Association of International Educators has released its analysis of international student data for the 2022-2023 academic year and report the following:
International students and their families contributed $40.1 billion to the U.S. economy. This represents a $6.26 billion (or 18.8 percent) increase in dollars contributed during the prior academic year. This also marks the second consecutive year of recorded growth since the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
An estimated 368,333 jobs were created or supported during this same timeframe, meaning for every three international students, one U.S. job was created or supported* in the following sectors: higher education, accommodation, dining, retail, transportation, telecommunications, and health insurance. This represents a 9.8 percent increase in jobs supported in the economy from the prior academic year.
For international students attending community colleges, NAFSA estimates a contribution of $1.5 billion and support of more than 6,600 jobs in the U.S. economy during the 2022-2023 academic year. These economic benefits represent a 16.5 percent increase in dollars contributed, and an 8.6 percent increase in jobs supported when compared to the previous year. This marks the first measure of growth following four consecutive years of declining economic contribution from the community college sector.
Two Mass Congressional Districts (Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-05)) are in the Top 10 nationally in benefiting from International Student contributions to the local economy. For district-specific information of the positive economic impact of international students, please see NAFSA’s data analysis here.
