What does ‘first generation’ mean?
It depends on who’s using it. In the most common American sense, ‘first generation’ means the first in a family to be born here, the child of immigrants. Their parents, who actually immigrated, are sometimes called ‘first generation immigrants.’ The term also appears in ‘first-generation college student’, meaning the first in the family to attend college. Context usually tells you which one. If it doesn’t, ask.
1 · MindWhat people believe, and how they know
The terminology is genuinely inconsistent, and researchers, government agencies, and families use it differently.
Some scholars and the Census Bureau use ‘first generation’ to mean the immigrants themselves, people born abroad who moved to the US. Their children, born in America, are ‘second generation’ in this usage.
In everyday American speech, and especially in higher education, ‘first generation’ often means the children of immigrants: the first people in the family born in the US. This is the most common usage among younger people.
There’s also the ‘1.5 generation’, a term coined by sociologist Rubén Rumbaut for people who immigrated as children. Old enough to have memories of their birth country, young enough to have been educated here. They often live between identities.
‘First-generation college student’ is a distinct usage: the first person in their immediate family to attend college. This is a major category in higher education because these students often lack the informal guidance, how to apply, what to expect, that students with college-educated parents have access to.
All these people share something: straddling worlds that don’t always understand each other. The pressure to perform in the new world without losing the old one is significant.
What each tradition or community says
Many first-generation Americans grow up translating for their parents, literally and figuratively. They navigate American institutions (schools, hospitals, banks) while carrying their family’s language and expectations home.
Immigration requires rebuilding everything: career credentials, professional networks, friendships, cultural knowledge. What made you competent in one place doesn’t always transfer. Starting over in your thirties or forties is harder than it looks from the outside.
The emotional and practical barriers to college are compounded when your parents don’t know the application process, can’t explain what a ‘major’ is, or need your income at home. Making it to a degree is often a family project, not an individual one.
2 · HeartWhat it feels like
First-generation identity is often invisible until it isn’t. Your colleague who seems well-adjusted and fully assimilated may be carrying a weight you can’t see, the family who didn’t make it here, the language she speaks only at home now, the grandparents she can’t afford to visit.
‘How are your parents?’, asked with genuine curiosity and patience for the full answer, can open a lot.
I know people who came here with two suitcases and raised kids who graduated from college. I also know people who came here and never stopped being strangers. Both stories are American.Neighbor Radio
3 · HandsHow to be a good neighbor
If you work with or live near someone who is first-generation, in any of the senses above, a few things help more than people expect: patience with different accents, genuine curiosity about their background, and not assuming their experience with American institutions matches yours.
If your neighbor is an immigrant, they may not know what resources are available, what their rights are, or how things work in your city. Practical help, a ride to an appointment, a recommendation for a local doctor, matters.
This weekIf your family has been in America for more than two generations, what did the first generation give up to make your life possible? Do you know their story?
Four questions to take with you
From Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, about the stranger who stopped to help. We call it the Samaritan Test.
- Did they see? Or look right past?
- Did they stop? Even when it was inconvenient?
- Did it cost them? Time, money, comfort, reputation?
- Did they treat the person like a person? Not like a label?
Try it on: someone in your neighborhood who is first-generation. What did it cost their family to get here, and what have they built since?
Quick questions
Are immigrants ‘first generation’?
In some usages, yes. In others, ‘first generation’ means their children, born in the US. Context usually clarifies it. Ask if you’re not sure.
What’s the 1.5 generation?
People who immigrated as children, old enough to remember their birth country, young enough to have grown up here. They often feel caught between two worlds.
Why does it matter whether someone is first-generation?
It affects their experience of American institutions, their relationship to language and culture, the pressures their family carries, and the gaps in the informal knowledge most native-born Americans have without noticing.
- Pew Research Center: Second-Generation Americans
- Rumbaut, Rubén G.: 'Ages, Life Stages, and Generational Cohorts' (International Migration Review, 2004)
- NASPA: First-Generation College Students
Written in plain words by the Neighbor Radio team. Each faith's and community's section is checked by someone from that faith or community. Until then, this page says so. Spot something wrong? Tell us. We read every note and fix mistakes.