Immigrants in the Income Elite in Germany: The Role of Immigrant-Native Households

Although studying elites is a growing strand of scholarship in social sciences, the literature is mostly migration-blind. In this research note, we examine the role of household composition for immigrants' pathways to the elite of the household income distribution in Germany. Distinguishing between native-native, immigrant-native, and immigrant-immigrant households, we investigate the propensity of being in the income elite by household composition and whether education and self-employment, two major pathways into the income elite, differ by household composition. We hypothesize that immigrants in immigrant-native households benefit from their native partner's host-country resources and support. Using data from the German Microcensus from 2009 to 2019 covering around three million observations, we show that immigrant-native households have a higher propensity of belonging to the income elite compared to immigrant-immigrant households. Surprisingly, we find no differences between immigrant-native and native-native households. In addition, we demonstrate that the positive association between education, self-employment and elite membership is stronger for immigrant-native households compared to immigrant-immigrant households. Overall, our research note highlights the importance of the household context for immigrants' access to the income elite.