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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina:
#1. Venezuela: 68
#2. Ukraine: 22
#3. Congo: 19
#4. Myanmar: 18
#5. Senegal: 10
#6. Syria: 9
#7. Republic of South Sudan: 7
#8. Belarus: 5
#8. Colombia: 5
#10. Eritrea: 3
#11. Honduras: 2
#11. Nicaragua: 2
#13. Central African Republic: 1
#13. Guatemala: 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 South Carolina has accepted the most refugees from since the start of the fiscal year in October 2023.
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1 / 31Refugees that arrived from Syria since October 2023
To South Carolina: 238
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 / 31Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since October 2023
To South Carolina: 213
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
Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock
3 / 31Refugees that arrived from Congo since October 2023
To South Carolina: 147
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
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4 / 31Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since October 2023
To South Carolina: 138
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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5 / 31Refugees that arrived from Myanmar since October 2023
To South Carolina: 117
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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6 / 31Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since October 2023
To South Carolina: 61
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
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7 / 31Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October 2023
To South Carolina: 54
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
Milosz Maslanka // Shutterstock
8 / 31Refugees that arrived from Nicaragua since October 2023
To South Carolina: 53
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
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
9 / 31Refugees that arrived from Colombia since October 2023
To South Carolina: 35
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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10 / 31Refugees that arrived from Central African Republic since October 2023
To South Carolina: 26
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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11 / 31Refugees that arrived from Republic of Congo since October 2023
To South Carolina: 24
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
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12 / 31Refugees that arrived from Mali since October 2023
To South Carolina: 23
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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13 / 31Refugees that arrived from Honduras since October 2023
To South Carolina: 22
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
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14 / 31Refugees that arrived from Belarus since October 2023
To South Carolina: 22
To the U.S. as a whole: 391
Top states receiving refugees from Belarus
#1. Washington: 91
#2. California: 89
#3. Massachusetts: 34
#4. New York: 27
#5. Pennsylvania: 24
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15 / 31Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October 2023
To South Carolina: 19
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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16 / 31Refugees that arrived from Russia since October 2023
To South Carolina: 17
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
W_NAMKET // Shutterstock
17 / 31Refugees that arrived from Pakistan since October 2023
To South Carolina: 16
To the U.S. as a whole: 856
Top states receiving refugees from Pakistan
#1. Pennsylvania: 120
#2. Texas: 88
#3. Virginia: 62
#4. Illinois: 57
#5. North Carolina: 56
Salvador Aznar // Shutterstock
18 / 31Refugees that arrived from Senegal since October 2023
To South Carolina: 15
To the U.S. as a whole: 84
Top states receiving refugees from Senegal
#1. Massachusetts: 16
#2. South Carolina: 15
#3. Florida: 9
#3. Georgia: 9
#5. Texas: 8
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19 / 31Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October 2023
To South Carolina: 13
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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20 / 31Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since October 2023
To South Carolina: 12
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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21 / 31Refugees that arrived from Moldova since October 2023
To South Carolina: 10
To the U.S. as a whole: 366
Top states receiving refugees from Moldova
#1. Washington: 114
#2. California: 107
#3. Florida: 24
#3. Oregon: 24
#5. Minnesota: 17
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22 / 31Refugees that arrived from Armenia since October 2023
To South Carolina: 9
To the U.S. as a whole: 319
Top states receiving refugees from Armenia
#1. California: 280
#2. Washington: 21
#3. South Carolina: 9
#4. Oregon: 5
#5. Ohio: 4
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
23 / 31Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October 2023
To South Carolina: 9
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
Focus and Blur // Shutterstock
24 / 31Refugees that arrived from Iraq since October 2023
To South Carolina: 8
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
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25 / 31Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October 2023
To South Carolina: 8
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
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26 / 31Refugees that arrived from Cameroon since October 2023
To South Carolina: 6
To the U.S. as a whole: 120
Top states receiving refugees from Cameroon
#1. Pennsylvania: 13
#1. Texas: 13
#3. Minnesota: 9
#4. Nevada: 8
#5. Maryland: 7
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27 / 31Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since October 2023
To South Carolina: 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
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28 / 31Refugees that arrived from Guinea since October 2023
To South Carolina: 3
To the U.S. as a whole: 78
Top states receiving refugees from Guinea
#1. Colorado: 15
#2. Georgia: 9
#3. North Carolina: 7
#4. Michigan: 6
#5. Arizona: 5
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29 / 31Refugees that arrived from Haiti since October 2023
To South Carolina: 2
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
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30 / 31Refugees that arrived from Uganda since October 2023
To South Carolina: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 46
Top states receiving refugees from Uganda
#1. Missouri: 12
#2. Massachusetts: 6
#3. Michigan: 5
#3. Ohio: 5
#5. Washington: 4
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31 / 31Refugees that arrived from Chad since October 2023
To South Carolina: 2
To the U.S. as a whole: 7
Top states receiving refugees from Chad
#1. Nevada: 3
#2. Minnesota: 2
#2. South Carolina: 2
This story features data reporting and writing by Emma Rubin and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 48 states.
