America has a space problem. Not too little space—too much. While immigration debates often frame newcomers as a burden on an already strained system, the reality is more paradoxical: the United States is one of the least densely populated developed nations, sitting on vast resources, with entire regions yearning for the economic activity that people bring
The Density Reality Check
When Americans worry about overcrowding, they’re usually thinking about their lived experience in cities like New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. But zoom out, and the picture changes dramatically.
The United States has a population density of about 36 people per square kilometer. Compare that to the Netherlands at 508, South Korea at 527, or even the United Kingdom at 281. Japan manages 334 people per square kilometer while maintaining one of the world’s highest standards of living. Even Canada, often cited as spacious, has most of its population concentrated in urban corridors, similar to the US pattern.
Drive through the American Midwest, the Great Plains, or vast stretches of the South, and you’ll see the reality: thousands of miles of farmland, small towns losing population, and infrastructure built for communities that have shrunk. The problem isn’t that America is full. It’s that growth has been unevenly distributed, with some cities struggling with housing costs while entire regions face depopulation.
Resources Aren’t the Constraint
The Malthusian fear—that more people means depleted resources—hasn’t materialized in the way pessimists predicted. America remains extraordinarily resource-rich. It’s a net exporter of food, producing far more agricultural output than its population consumes. It has vast energy resources, increasingly from renewable sources. Its infrastructure capacity, while needing modernization, isn’t constrained by physical limits but by investment decisions.The real constraints on American prosperity aren’t land or resources—they’re labor and human capital. Farms struggle to find workers. Hospitals face nursing shortages. Construction projects stall for lack of skilled trades. Tech companies compete globally for engineering talent. These aren’t problems caused by too many people; they’re problems caused by not having enough people with the right skills in the right places.
The Economic Contribution Is Clear
The data on immigrant economic contribution isn’t ambiguous. Immigrants start businesses at higher rates than native-born Americans—nearly twice the rate, according to research. They’re overrepresented among Fortune 500 founders. They file patents at disproportionate rates. They’re essential workers in agriculture, healthcare, technology, and countless other sectors.But beyond the entrepreneurial outliers and high-skilled workers, immigrants contribute in fundamental ways. They pay taxes, including into Social Security and Medicare systems that desperately need younger workers as the native-born population ages. They fill labor gaps that allow existing businesses to expand. They create demand for goods and services, which creates more jobs. Economic growth isn’t a zero-sum game where one person’s gain is another’s loss—it’s dynamic, and population growth has historically been a driver of prosperity.
The Demographic Challenge
Here’s what many immigration restrictionists miss: America faces a demographic cliff. The native-born birth rate has fallen below replacement level. The population is aging rapidly. Without immigration, the US would face the same crisis as Japan or Italy—a shrinking workforce supporting a growing number of retirees, which is economically unsustainable.Immigration isn’t just economically beneficial; it’s demographically necessary. Immigrants tend to be younger and have higher birth rates, which helps balance the age distribution. This isn’t just about economics—it’s about maintaining the tax base for Social Security, having enough healthcare workers to care for aging Baby Boomers, and keeping the economy dynamic rather than stagnant.
Revitalizing Forgotten Places
Some of the strongest cases for immigration come from places you might not expect. Cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo have seen population decline for decades. Entire rural regions face school closures, business failures, and infrastructure decay—not because of external threats, but because people have left.
Immigrants have proven willing to move to these overlooked places. They open businesses on abandoned main streets. They buy houses no one else wants. They work in meatpacking plants and agricultural operations that local economies depend on. In many Midwestern towns, immigration isn’t threatening the existing way of life—it’s preserving it by providing the population base that makes schools, hospitals, and businesses viable.
The Innovation Imperative
America’s historical advantage wasn’t just natural resources or geographic luck—it was attracting ambitious, talented people from everywhere. The Manhattan Project, the space program, Silicon Valley—all relied heavily on immigrant contributions. Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, Jensen Huang—all immigrants or children of immigrants leading companies that define American technological leadership.In a world where innovation drives prosperity and national power, turning away talent is strategic malpractice. China graduates far more STEM students than the US. India’s tech sector is booming. If America makes it difficult for the world’s brightest to come, study, and stay, they’ll innovate elsewhere. And those innovations—and the wealth and jobs they create—will happen in other countries.
Addressing the Real Concerns
None of this means immigration policy shouldn’t be thoughtful. Legitimate questions exist about integration, wage impacts in specific sectors, and the speed of demographic change in particular communities. But these are questions about how to manage immigration well, not whether to have it at all.The solution to concerns about wage pressure isn’t fewer immigrants—it’s better labor protections and enforcement that prevent exploitation of any workers, immigrant or native-born. The solution to integration challenges isn’t closing borders—it’s investing in English language programs, civics education, and community institutions. The solution to rapid change in particular communities isn’t restriction—it’s ensuring existing residents benefit from growth through job training, infrastructure investment, and inclusive economic development.
Room to Grow
America isn’t full. It’s not running out of resources. It’s not being overwhelmed. What it has is space, resources, and economic opportunity that could support far more people—and those people would make the country more prosperous, more innovative, and more dynamic.The choice isn’t between preserving America as it is or losing it to immigration. It’s between growing into the vast potential the country has, or managing decline. Immigration is one of America’s historical advantages, and in an aging, innovation-driven world, it’s more valuable than ever.
The question shouldn’t be whether America can afford immigration. It’s whether America can afford not to embrace it.
