During the past five decades, the U.S. has resettled over 3 million refugees, making it one of the leading countries for finding new homes for people fleeing violence, persecution, and war.
In 2021, then-President Donald Trump lowered the annual cap of refugees that could be admitted into the country to 15,000. Even as the Biden administration has raised the ceiling to 125,000, the annual number of refugees arriving in the U.S. didn't immediately bounce back to pre-Trump administration levels. The numbers are increasing though, with over 25,000 refugees arriving in the U.S. in the 2022 fiscal year, twice the 2021 total.
Refugee arrivals during the 2023 fiscal year dramatically outpaced the prior two years, reaching over 60,000 from October 2022 to September 2023.
In September 2024, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from Venezeula, Afghanistan, and Congo. Each nation faces a unique set of circumstances that can make their citizens unsafe if they stay in their home country.
In Venezuela, over 7.5 million people have left the country due to extreme inflation, violence, food and medicine scarcity, and other factors. Most have resettled in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Afghan refugees have been fleeing to neighboring countries for decades, especially to Pakistan and Iran, which combined host over 8 million Afghans. For the last three decades, Congo, also called the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been struggling with a series of civil wars and internal battles that have left millions of people displaced, both internally and externally, with many people fleeing to neighboring countries.
Stacker referenced data from the Refugee Processing Center to compile statistics on the number of refugees and their countries of origin resettled in Connecticut in September 2024. Countries with only one refugee since October 2023 are not included.
September refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in September
To Connecticut:
#1. Venezuela: 69
#2. Guatemala: 15
#3. Colombia: 12
#3. Nicaragua: 12
#5. Congo: 10
#6. Afghanistan: 7
#6. El Salvador: 7
#6. Somalia: 7
#9. Syria: 5
#9. Yemen: 5
#11. Cuba: 2
#11. Iran: 2
#13. Eritrea: 1
#13. Haiti: 1
#13. Sudan: 1
To the U.S. as a whole:
#1. Venezuela: 3,653
#2. Congo: 2,296
#3. Afghanistan: 2,068
#4. Syria: 1,585
#5. Myanmar: 1,455
States that accepted the most refugees in September:
#1. Texas: 1,702
#2. California: 1,550
#3. New York: 918
#4. Florida: 768
#5. Illinois: 750
Read on to see the countries that Connecticut has accepted the most refugees from since the start of the fiscal year in October 2023.
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hanohiki // Shutterstock
1 / 22Refugees that arrived from Syria since October 2023
To Connecticut: 251
To the U.S. as a whole: 11,274
Top states receiving refugees from Syria
#1. Michigan: 1,186
#2. New York: 1,112
#3. Pennsylvania: 954
#4. California: 763
#5. Texas: 676
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2 / 22Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since October 2023
To Connecticut: 169
To the U.S. as a whole: 12,878
Top states receiving refugees from Venezuela
#1. Texas: 2,039
#2. Florida: 1,883
#3. Illinois: 664
#4. New York: 514
#5. Georgia: 512
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3 / 22Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October 2023
To Connecticut: 133
To the U.S. as a whole: 14,707
Top states receiving refugees from Afghanistan
#1. California: 3,171
#2. Texas: 1,574
#3. Virginia: 1,257
#4. Washington: 889
#5. New York: 658
Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock
4 / 22Refugees that arrived from Congo since October 2023
To Connecticut: 127
To the U.S. as a whole: 19,922
Top states receiving refugees from Congo
#1. Texas: 1,791
#2. Kentucky: 1,735
#3. Ohio: 1,343
#4. New York: 1,295
#5. Arizona: 1,274
Lauren Squire // Shutterstock
5 / 22Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since October 2023
To Connecticut: 95
To the U.S. as a whole: 5,017
Top states receiving refugees from Guatemala
#1. California: 794
#2. Texas: 551
#3. Florida: 257
#4. North Carolina: 255
#5. New York: 219
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6 / 22Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October 2023
To Connecticut: 54
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,320
Top states receiving refugees from Republic of South Sudan
#1. Nebraska: 151
#2. Texas: 122
#3. New York: 94
#4. lowa: 88
#5. Colorado: 68
Dave Primov // Shutterstock
7 / 22Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October 2023
To Connecticut: 39
To the U.S. as a whole: 4,801
Top states receiving refugees from Somalia
#1. Minnesota: 1,267
#2. New York: 366
#3. Ohio: 326
#4. Arizona: 280
#5. Missouri: 257
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
8 / 22Refugees that arrived from Colombia since October 2023
To Connecticut: 34
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,382
Top states receiving refugees from Colombia
#1. Florida: 137
#2. Texas: 117
#3. New York: 114
#4. Washington: 95
#5. North Carolina: 93
Milosz Maslanka // Shutterstock
9 / 22Refugees that arrived from Nicaragua since October 2023
To Connecticut: 34
To the U.S. as a whole: 3,299
Top states receiving refugees from Nicaragua
#1. Florida: 382
#2. Texas: 313
#3. California: 259
#4. North Carolina: 139
#5. Minnesota: 135
Chantal de Bruijne // Shutterstock
10 / 22Refugees that arrived from Myanmar since October 2023
To Connecticut: 21
To the U.S. as a whole: 7,347
Top states receiving refugees from Myanmar
#1. Texas: 882
#2. Illinois: 761
#3. New York: 736
#4. Wisconsin: 570
#5. Georgia: 462
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11 / 22Refugees that arrived from Mali since October 2023
To Connecticut: 13
To the U.S. as a whole: 185
Top states receiving refugees from Mali
#1. Pennsylvania: 27
#2. New York: 24
#3. South Carolina: 23
#4. Missouri: 16
#5. Connecticut: 13
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12 / 22Refugees that arrived from Yemen since October 2023
To Connecticut: 11
To the U.S. as a whole: 198
Top states receiving refugees from Yemen
#1. Michigan: 46
#2. New York: 26
#3. Georgia: 17
#4. Texas: 15
#5. North Carolina: 13
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
13 / 22Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October 2023
To Connecticut: 10
To the U.S. as a whole: 2,180
Top states receiving refugees from Sudan
#1. New York: 194
#2. Texas: 170
#3. Ohio: 146
#4. Pennsylvania: 132
#5. Missouri: 124
Dave Primov // Shutterstock
14 / 22Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October 2023
To Connecticut: 8
To the U.S. as a whole: 2,410
Top states receiving refugees from Eritrea
#1. Texas: 286
#2. Washington: 253
#3. lowa: 162
#4. North Carolina: 141
#5. Maryland: 129
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15 / 22Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since October 2023
To Connecticut: 8
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,331
Top states receiving refugees from El Salvador
#1. California: 187
#2. Texas: 174
#3. Maryland: 119
#4. Virginia: 99
#5. North Carolina: 83
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16 / 22Refugees that arrived from Haiti since October 2023
To Connecticut: 7
To the U.S. as a whole: 256
Top states receiving refugees from Haiti
#1. Pennsylvania: 41
#2. Florida: 31
#3. Nevada: 16
#3. Texas: 16
#5. Georgia: 15
amnat30 // Shutterstock
17 / 22Refugees that arrived from Honduras since October 2023
To Connecticut: 3
To the U.S. as a whole: 901
Top states receiving refugees from Honduras
#1. Texas: 144
#2. Florida: 108
#3. New York: 62
#4. California: 48
#5. Georgia: 44
YuryKara // Shutterstock
18 / 22Refugees that arrived from Russia since October 2023
To Connecticut: 3
To the U.S. as a whole: 347
Top states receiving refugees from Russia
#1. Washington: 83
#2. California: 78
#3. Oregon: 43
#4. Minnesota: 22
#4. North Carolina: 22
Ruslan Lytvyn // Shutterstock
19 / 22Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since October 2023
To Connecticut: 3
To the U.S. as a whole: 1,447
Top states receiving refugees from Ukraine
#1. Washington: 524
#2. California: 248
#3. New York: 90
#4. Florida: 74
#5. South Carolina: 61
Andrew V Marcus // Shutterstock
20 / 22Refugees that arrived from Iran since October 2023
To Connecticut: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 470
Top states receiving refugees from Iran
#1. California: 277
#2. Texas: 53
#3. Michigan: 17
#4. Washington: 14
#4. Georgia: 14
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21 / 22Refugees that arrived from Cuba since October 2023
To Connecticut: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 255
Top states receiving refugees from Cuba
#1. Florida: 98
#2. Texas: 33
#3. New York: 12
#3. Maryland: 12
#5. Tennessee: 10
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22 / 22Refugees that arrived from Jamaica since October 2023
To Connecticut: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 12
Top states receiving refugees from Jamaica
#1. California: 2
#1. Colorado: 2
#1. Connecticut: 2
#1. Michigan: 2
#1. North Carolina: 2
This story features data reporting and writing by Emma Rubin and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 48 states.
