Asian American growth
Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States.
Issue #28
Hi all —
I’m baaaaaaack, after Beena’s wonderful series of newsletters about her new play “Meera’s Kitchen,” which she is performing virtually throughout this week. I attended Tuesday’s showing online and it was such a creative format and sparked so many relatable feelings about Indian American experiences (and just universal human experiences, too!).
In the meantime, I’ve been diving into some data about Asian American communities and…
Every single state in the United States, including the District of Columbia, has seen its Asian population grow over the last two decades, according to a new report out this year from the Pew Research Center.
Between 2000 and 2019, the Asian American population grew 81 percent, compared to 70 percent growth among Hispanic Americans, 61 percent growth among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders and 20 percent growth among Black Americans. The white population grew about 1 percent in that time period.
Here are some interesting insights:
By 2060, the Asian American population, which Pew estimates currently at about 19 million, is expected to be almost 36 million.
Asian Americans are the only racial group in the U.S. that is majority foreign-born.
After Mexico, the largest share of immigrants come from China, India and the Philippines. Among high-skilled immigration, about four out of five H-1B visas are awarded to workers from India or from China.
Asian Americans are also the most economically divided racial or ethnic group in the U.S. For example, the median household income for Indian Americans is approximately $139,000 and about $69,000 for Burmese Americans.
English proficiency also varies across Asian communities. Half of Vietnamese Americans and 46 percent of Korean Americans have limited English proficiency, compared to only 22 percent of Japanese Americans and 20 percent of Indian Americans.
Asian Americans’ purchasing power is expected to be $1.3 trillion by 2023, according to Nielsen.
Read the full story about the research on the PBS NewsHour online.
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh Ramachandran (@VigneshR)
Co-founder of Red, White and Brown Media
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