Analyzing U.S. Department of State data, the Pew Research Center finds that just 10 U.S. states resettled more than half of recent refugee arrivals (those who were resettled in the Fiscal Year of 2016). The top origin country among refugees resettled in 2016 was the Democratic Republic of Congo (with 16,370 refugees). Syrian refugees (12,587) were the second largest population resettled to the U.S., closely followed by refugees from Burma (12,346). Refugees from Iraq (9,880) ranked third and Bhutanese (5,817) refugees ranked fourth.
Excerpt: …The U.S. admitted 84,995 refugees in fiscal year 2016, the most since 1999. But where they settled varied widely, with some states taking in large numbers and others very few, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data. California, Texas and New York resettled the most refugees in fiscal 2016 (which began on Oct. 1, 2015, and ended Sept. 30, 2016), together taking in 20,738 refugees, or about a quarter (24%) of the U.S. total. Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois, which each received 3,000 or more refugees, rounded out the top 10 states by number of resettled refugees. Overall, 54% of refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2016 were resettled in one of these 10 states. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (16,370) was the top origin country among refugees resettled in 2016. Some 10% were resettled in Texas, 7% in Arizona and 6% in both New York and North Carolina. … But on a per capita basis, some less populated states resettled more refugees than larger states. … In fiscal 2016, Nebraska (76), North Dakota (71) and Idaho (69) resettled the most refugees per 100,000 residents. Other states like Vermont (62), Arizona (60) and Kentucky (54) far exceeded the U.S. national average of 26 refugees per 100,000 residents.
Refugee Integration Research Blog 