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 Kansas 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 Kansas:
#1. Venezuela: 44
#2. Congo: 36
#3. Myanmar: 19
#4. Somalia: 16
#5. Guatemala: 10
#6. Afghanistan: 9
#7. Nicaragua: 5
#8. Republic of South Sudan: 4
#8. Syria: 4
#10. Central African Republic: 2
#11. Colombia: 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 Kansas has accepted the most refugees from since the start of the fiscal year in October 2023.
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Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock
1 / 22Refugees that arrived from Congo since October 2023
To Kansas: 391
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
Dave Primov // Shutterstock
2 / 22Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October 2023
To Kansas: 117
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
Canva
3 / 22Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October 2023
To Kansas: 104
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
Chantal de Bruijne // Shutterstock
4 / 22Refugees that arrived from Myanmar since October 2023
To Kansas: 96
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
hanohiki // Shutterstock
5 / 22Refugees that arrived from Syria since October 2023
To Kansas: 85
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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6 / 22Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since October 2023
To Kansas: 75
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
Lauren Squire // Shutterstock
7 / 22Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since October 2023
To Kansas: 74
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
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
8 / 22Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October 2023
To Kansas: 36
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
9 / 22Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October 2023
To Kansas: 29
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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10 / 22Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October 2023
To Kansas: 19
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
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11 / 22Refugees that arrived from Iraq since October 2023
To Kansas: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 2,278
Top states receiving refugees from Iraq
#1. California: 364
#2. Michigan: 260
#3. Texas: 189
#4. Nebraska: 136
#5. Illinois: 122
Rostasedlacek // Shutterstock
12 / 22Refugees that arrived from Burundi since October 2023
To Kansas: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 588
Top states receiving refugees from Burundi
#1. Texas: 79
#2. Arizona: 50
#3. Pennsylvania: 44
#4. New York: 43
#5. lowa: 37
Milosz Maslanka // Shutterstock
13 / 22Refugees that arrived from Nicaragua since October 2023
To Kansas: 12
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
Oscar Espinosa // Shutterstock
14 / 22Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since October 2023
To Kansas: 10
To the U.S. as a whole: 220
Top states receiving refugees from Rwanda
#1. Texas: 49
#2. Arizona: 19
#3. Kentucky: 13
#4. South Carolina: 12
#5. Illinois: 11
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15 / 22Refugees that arrived from Nigeria since October 2023
To Kansas: 9
To the U.S. as a whole: 111
Top states receiving refugees from Nigeria
#1. Illinois: 16
#2. Missouri: 14
#3. Arizona: 13
#3. North Carolina: 13
#5. Texas: 11
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16 / 22Refugees that arrived from Colombia since October 2023
To Kansas: 7
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
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17 / 22Refugees that arrived from Honduras since October 2023
To Kansas: 7
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
Canva
18 / 22Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since October 2023
To Kansas: 5
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
Artush // Shutterstock
19 / 22Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since October 2023
To Kansas: 5
To the U.S. as a whole: 501
Top states receiving refugees from Ethiopia
#1. Minnesota: 152
#2. Washington: 46
#3. Texas: 38
#4. Ohio: 33
#5. Georgia: 29
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20 / 22Refugees that arrived from Central African Republic since October 2023
To Kansas: 5
To the U.S. as a whole: 864
Top states receiving refugees from Central African Republic
#1. Missouri: 89
#2. Texas: 82
#3. Michigan: 63
#4. Georgia: 60
#5. Colorado: 56
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21 / 22Refugees that arrived from Liberia since October 2023
To Kansas: 3
To the U.S. as a whole: 33
Top states receiving refugees from Liberia
#1. New York: 16
#2. Arkansas: 8
#3. Colorado: 4
#4. Kansas: 3
#5. North Dakota: 2
Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock
22 / 22Refugees that arrived from Republic of Congo since October 2023
To Kansas: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 353
Top states receiving refugees from Republic of Congo
#1. Missouri: 32
#2. Pennsylvania: 28
#3. Wisconsin: 26
#4. New York: 25
#4. Illinois: 25
This story features data reporting and writing by Emma Rubin and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 48 states.
