Demographics of Asian Americans

The demographics of Asian Americans describe a heterogeneous group of people in the United States who trace their ancestry to one or more Asian countries.

Manilamen began to reside in Louisiana as the first Asian Americans to live in the continental United States. Most Asian Americans have arrived after 1965. These individuals make up one-quarter of all immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. since 1965, and 59% of Asian Americans are foreign-born. During the 2010 United States census the largest ethnic groups were Chinese American, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans, and Japanese Americans.

The 2020 United States census reported approximately 19.9 million people identified as Asian alone in 2020. Adding in the 4.1 million respondents who identified as Asian in combination with another race group, the Asian American population comprised 24 million people (7.2% of the total population).

The overall population is highly urbanized and is concentrated in the West Coast of the United States and New York metropolitan area. Generally, Asian Americans are well educated, and Asian American households have higher average incomes. However, socioeconomic status is not uniform among their population. Asian Americans hold diverse religious views, with substantial numbers being religiously unaffiliated or secular, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim. About 4-5% of Asian Americans identify as LGBT.

The first recorded Asian Americans in the continental United States were a group of Filipino men who established the small settlement of Saint Malo, Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no women with them, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun and Native American women. In 1778, Chinese and European explorers first arrived in Hawaii. Numerous Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the US in the mid-19th century; numerous Chinese immigrants worked as laborers on the First transcontinental railroad, many who immigrated due to overpopulation and poverty experienced in Guangdong (Canton). In the mid-20th century, refugees from Southeast Asia fled wars in the homelands to come to the United States. Most Asian Americans who immigrated to the United States arrived after 1965, due to immigration reform that ended an earlier era of exclusion of Asian immigrants.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Asian American population, including those of multiracial and Hispanic and Latino ancestry, per its 2017 American Community Survey was about 22,408,464.

During the 2010 United States census, there were a total of 17,320,856 Asian Americans, including Multiracial Americans identifying as part Asian. This made Asian Americans 5.6 percent of the total American population. The largest ethnic groups represented in the census were Chinese (3.79 million), Filipino (3.41 million), Indian (3.18 million), Vietnamese (1.73 million), Korean (1.7 million), and Japanese (1.3 million). Other sizable ethnic groups include Pakistani (409,000), Cambodian (276,000), Hmong (260,000), Thai (237,000), Laotian (232,000), Bangladeshi (147,000), and Burmese (100,000). The total population of Asian Americans grew by 46 percent from 2000 to 2010 according to the Census Bureau, which constituted the largest increase of any major racial group during that period. In 2010, there were an estimated 11,284,000 foreign born individuals who were born in Asia, of whom 57.7% had become naturalized citizens. Additionally, 209,128 were Hispanic and Latino, of whom the largest population (101,654) claim Mexico as their nation of origin.

According to the 2022 American Community Survey, Bangladeshi Americans are among the fastest-growing Asian American groups in the United States. Historically, Bengali Muslim migrants from the Indian subcontinent arrived in the early 20th century, as documented in Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America by Vivek Bald. More recent migration patterns include working-class families settling in urban centers. Bangladeshi Americans often navigate both cultural pride and socioeconomic challenges, with community members reflecting on identity, religion, and belonging in American society.