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wbjournal.com | November 12, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 9 WORCESTER • FRAMINGHAM • MILFORD • HYANNIS Growing a successful business isn't easy. There are plenty of turns, pivots and restarts along the way. With S&G's knowledge, technical expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and experience behind you, you'll have the tools, resources and services to help you succeed. • Accounting & Tax Services • Business Consulting • Business Transition • Financial Services • Investment Management • Retirement Planning 508-757-3311 www.sgllp.com SUCCESS ISN'T A STRAIGHT LINE. We'll be here to support you along every twist and turn. Worcester vs. New England cities hold income goes against the state trend, where the foreign-born median income of around $60,000 is below the median income of $73,500 for native-born residents, according to WRRB. When it comes to earnings in Worcester, though, immigrants who become citizens are the most successful: ese naturalized citizens earn $52,000 annually in median household income versus $45,000 for native citizens and $36,000 for non-citizens. All foreign-born residents in Worcester are more likely to have a bachelor's degree: 19 percent versus 18 percent for native-born residents. is is a depar- ture from the Massachusetts numbers: 17 percent for immigrants and 25 percent for native-born residents. e success of foreign-born workers in America is sometimes called the immigrant advantage, said Ina Ganguli, a UMass Amherst marketing professor who studies immigration and highly skilled workers. She said research shows immigrants have higher rates of obtaining patents or more upstart capital, she said. But exactly why – whether a resiliency or determi- nation to find the best opportunities for success – isn't well known, Ganguli said. "e kind of work we do, it's hard to get at that, a measure of resilience," she said, "but if you look at stories, that seems to make sense." Larbi, with his grand plans for the family Gha- naian restaurants, didn't fully grasp the advantages offered to immigrants in America until he returned to his native land in 2013, to mark a decade from when his father died. "You realize what you were taken out of," Larbi said. His family doesn't want to serve only Worcester's African population, he said, but anyone who wants to expand their palate. Accra Girls' dishes of kelewele (fried plantains) or suya (meat skewers) are special- ized enough the restaurant gets some spices delivered directly from Ghana because nothing sold in the United States would do. "Bringing our food to the world," Larbi said. "at's my job." While the percentage of Worcester residents who are foreign born (22%) is significantly higher than the statewide (16%) and national (14%) averages, it has the advantage of being an urban area, where a concentration of immigrants is higher. Worcester has the 16th highest percentage of immigrants among Massachusetts cities. Here is how Worcester stacks up to other major cities in the state and New England. Quincy..........................................................31% Providence, R.I. ...........................................30% Bridgeport, Conn. .......................................29% Boston .........................................................28% Cambridge ...................................................27% Lowell ..........................................................26% Worcester....................................................22% Hartford, Conn. ............................................21% New Haven, Conn. .......................................16% Springfield ...................................................10% Source: U.S. Census Bureau W