Immigrant Integration and Financial Well-Being: The Role of Race/Ethnicity, Generation Status, and Place of Education

Matthew A. Painter II, Ohio State University

Immigrants’ integration into American society has occupied the interest of both scholars and the general public throughout the nation’s history. Race/ethnicity and nativity status are well known stratifying factors that differentially affect immigrants’ ability to integrate into society. This paper considers an additional influence: where immigrants complete their education (place of education). This paper argues that racial/ethnic and educational stratification will differentially affect patterns of immigrant wealth attainment. Racial stratification is the dominant social process for blacks and Hispanics, independent of their nativity status and/or place of education. Among whites, first generation status separates the wealth attainment of immigrants from that of the native-born. In contrast, Asian immigrants experience a more nuanced stratification system. Both their race and place of education govern their incorporation pattern and ability to accumulate wealth. These findings attest to the unique ways that racial/ethnic and educational stratification affect immigrant integration patterns.