Who Benefits from Citizenship? Varying Effects of Naturalization Decisions in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

Citizenship acquisition is widely viewed as a mechanism for improving economic outcomes, yet little is known about whether its benefits are distributed evenly. This article examines the varied returns to naturalization in the early-twentieth-century United States, assessing whether naturalization uniformly benefits all immigrants or is especially impactful for those already positioned to profit. Using naturalization records from New York City’s Southern District in the early 1900s, we construct a novel historical dataset for 1,947 immigrants who declared their intent to naturalize. By linking these records to U.S. census data from 1920, 1930, and 1940, we are able to observe immigrants’ characteristics at the point when they make naturalization decisions and to track their outcomes over time. Our findings reveal that immigrants who completed the naturalization process attained significantly higher occupational status than those who initiated but did not complete naturalization. In addition, citizenship is most transformative for those facing the greatest disadvantages. Additional analyses corroborate these findings in linked full-count census data for the entire United States. Citizenship confers occupational advantages not only through formal rights but as a resource that enables claims-making in the labor market, with greater returns to less advantaged immigrants.