Asian Americans

This article is about the US population of Americans of Asian ancestry. For populations of Asians across the Americas, see Asians in the Americas. For the documentary series, see Asian Americans (film series).

Asian Americans
Distribution of Asian Americans by county according to the 2020 census
Total population
Alone (one race)
Increase 20,052,323 (2023 American Community Survey)[1]
Increase 6.00% of the total US population

In combination (multiracial)
Increase 5,835,155 (2023 American Community Survey)[1][2]
Increase 1.24% of the total US population

Alone or in combination
Increase 25,887,478 (2023 American Community Survey)[2]
Increase 7.24% of the total US population
Regions with significant populations
Suburban and urban areas along the West and East Coast, and in the South, Midwest, and Southwest; Hawaii and the Pacific territories
California California6,085,947[3]
New York (state) New York1,933,127[3]
Texas Texas1,585,480[3]
New Jersey New Jersey950,090[3]
Illinois Illinois754,878[3]
Languages
Religion
Christian (42%)
Unaffiliated (26%)
Buddhist (14%)
Hindu (10%)
Muslim (6%)
Sikh (1%)
Other (1%) including Jain, Zoroastrian, Tengrism, Shinto, and Chinese folk religion (Taoist and more), Vietnamese folk religion[4]

Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants).[5] Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peoples of the continent of Asia, the usage of the term "Asian" by the United States Census Bureau is a race group that only includes people with origins or ancestry from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and select parts of Central Asia[6] and excludes people with ethnic origins in certain parts of Asia, including West Asia who will be categorized as Middle Eastern Americans starting from the 2030 census.[7][8] Some Central Asian, ancestries, including Afghan, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek, were previously recognized as "White' but have since been designated as Asian as of 2023.[9] The "Asian" census category includes people who indicate their race(s) on the census as "Asian" or reported entries such as "Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Filipino, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Pakistani, Malaysian, and Other Asian".[10] In 2020, Americans who identified as Asian alone (19,886,049) or in combination with other races (4,114,949) made up 7.2% of the US population.[11]

Chinese, Indian, and Filipino Americans make up the largest share of the Asian American population with 5.5 million, 5.2 million, and 4.6 million people respectively. These numbers equal 23%, 20%, and 18% of the total Asian American population, or 1.5%, 1.2%, and 1.2% of the total US population.[12]

Although migrants from Asia have been in parts of the contemporary United States since the 17th century, large-scale immigration did not begin until the mid-19th century. Nativist immigration laws during the 1880s–1920s excluded various Asian groups, eventually prohibiting almost all Asian immigration to the continental United States. After immigration laws were reformed during the 1940s–1960s, abolishing national origins quotas, Asian immigration increased rapidly. Analyses of the 2010 census have shown that, by percentage change, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States.[13]

  1. ^ a b "US Census Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "US Census Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Race and Ethnicity in the United States". United States Census Bureau. August 12, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  4. ^ "Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths". The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Pew Research Center. July 19, 2012. Archived from the original on July 16, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2013. Christian 42%, Buddhist 14%, Hindu 10%, Muslim 6%, Sikh 1%, Jain *% Unaffiliated 26%, Don't know/Refused 1%
  5. ^ Karen R. Humes; Nicholas A. Jones; Roberto R. Ramirez (March 2011). "Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. United States Department of Commerce. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  6. ^ "State & Country QuickFacts: Race". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on November 30, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference autogenerated1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Middle East was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Bureau, US Census. "What You Should Know About the Upcoming Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A". Census.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference centech was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Table 1 – Population By Race: 2010 and 2020" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  12. ^ Caitlin Brophy (December 23, 2020). "Asian American Population in the United States Continues to Grow Origin: 2020".
  13. ^ "U.S. Census Show Asians Are Fastest Growing Racial Group". NPR. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2016.