11/19/19 Next Shark: “23% of Asian Americans in California are Struggling with Poverty, Survey Reveals”
https://nextshark.com/asian-american-poverty-workers-survey/

11/18/19 The Sacramento Bee: “Survey shows Asian ‘two Californias,’ with one in four struggling with poverty”
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article237421424.html

11/18/19 PRRI: “Nearly a Quarter of Asian American and Pacific Islander Californians Working And Struggling with Poverty, New Survey Reveals”
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nearly-a-quarter-of-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-californians-working-and-struggling-with-poverty-new-survey-reveals-300959389.html

5/10/17 Associated Press: “Number of Hispanic, Asian-American Voters Increased in 2016”
WASHINGTON — A new Census report shows that the number of Hispanic and Asian-American voters increased in 2016, even as the number of black voters decreased.
Votes cast by Hispanics increased by about 1.5 million and slightly less than that by Asian-Americans. The number of white voters increased since 2012 by about 2.8 million, but they still represented a slightly smaller percentage of all voters than in the prior election.
https://www.voanews.com/a/number-of-hispanic-asian-american-voters-increased-in-2016/3847274.html

5/8/17 Huffington Post: “Asian-Americans Have Highest Poverty Rate In NYC, But Stereotypes Make The Issue Invisible”
By Kimberly Yam
Asian-Americans are often thought of as doctors. Bankers. Success stories. While those examples exist, Asian-Americans are by no means monolithic. There’s a whole other side to the minority group that goes undiscussed.
There’s the elderly retired Chinatown restaurant worker who has limited savings and must share an apartment with several other people. There’s the Cambodian refugee dealing with the trauma from living in a war-torn country and trying to start over in the Bronx with limited English. And there are many others who have yet to see their American dreams come true.
In fact, there are more Asian-Americans living in poverty in New York City than any other minority group. Their stories, however, are rarely told.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/asian-american-poverty-nyc_us_58ff7f40e4b0c46f0782a5b6

4/14/17 Washington Post: “Asian Americans used to be portrayed as the villains. How did they become a ‘model minority’?”
By Jeff Guo and Daron Taylor
When Asian immigrants first came to America en masse in the mid-1800s, the popular media often portrayed them as scoundrels, degenerates, and job-stealers. But some time after World War II, public opinion shifted. Asian Americans were suddenly praised in newspapers and magazines as positive examples of family values and assimilation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/14/asian-americans-used-to-be-portrayed-as-the-villains-how-did-they-become-a-model-minority/?utm_term=.574588d18f56

3/1/17 NextShark: “Asian Americans Are the Poorest Minority Group in New York City”
By Khier Casino
Asian-Americans have the highest poverty rate out of any ethnic group in New York with 27%  living in need of a permanent job, according to the city’s data.
http://nextshark.com/asian-americans-poorest-minority-group-new-york-city/

10/14/16 Wall Street Journal: “These Asian-Americans Have Lower Wages and Higher Unemployment; Wages for Asian-American workers differ dramatically by subgroup. Vietnamese full-time workers, for example, had median weekly earnings of $700 in 2015, about half what Indians made”
By Melanie Trottman
One of the fastest-growing U.S. racial groups is also faring quite well economically—at least, collectively.
But the nearly 18 million Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the country have vastly different experiences with education, wages and the labor market, according to a new U.S. Labor Department report.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/10/14/these-asian-americans-have-lower-wages-and-higher-unemployment/

9/8/16 Associated Press: “U.S. Latino population growth slips behind Asian-Americans, study says”
Albuquerque, N.M. — The growth of the U.S. Latino population – once the nation’s fastest growing – slowed considerably over the past seven years and slipped behind that of Asian-Americans amid declining Hispanic immigration and birth rates, a study released Thursday found.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-latino-population-growth-asian-americans-study/

7/1/16 NBC News: “Wage Gap Between Races, Genders Persist as Asian Men Top Average Earnings: Report”
by Minh Nguyen
White men earn a median $21 an hour, making more money than women across all races, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. They also earn more than black and Hispanic men, who make a respective $15 and $14 median hourly wage. The only group that out-earns white men is Asian men, who earn $24, according to the report.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/racial-gender-wage-gap-persists-asian-american-men-top-average-n602076

6/28/16 Asian Journal: “Census: Asian Americans still fastest-growing racial group in US”
By Eric Anthony Licas
Asian Americans comprise America’s fastest-growing racial group, according to data released by the United States Census Bureau.
The Asian American population grew by 19 percent between 2010 and 2015. Meanwhile, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) are the second fastest-growing group, rising at 13 percent during the same period.  In comparison, the nation’s overall population grew by 4 percent. Today, there are an estimated 21 million Asian Americans and 1.5 million NHPIs living in the country.
http://asianjournal.com/news/census-asian-americans-still-fastest-growing-racial-group-in-us/

4/29/16 The Root: “Asian Americans to Outnumber African Americans by 2065: Report”
by Richard Prince
According to a recent report from Pew Research Center, 10 Demographic Trends Shaping the U.S., by 2065, the AAPI community will make up 14 percent of the U.S. population with the African American population at 13 percent.
Immigration from Asian countries has overtaken the immigration coming from Latin American countries, including Mexico.
Deep in a blog post headlined, “Future immigration will change the face of America by 2065,” Pew’s D’Vera Cohn wrote, “Non-Hispanic whites will remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the overall population but will become less than a majority, the projections show. Currently 62% of the population, they will make up 46% of it in 2065. Hispanics will be 24% of the population (18% now), Asians will be 14% (6% now) and blacks will be 13% (12% now)”
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2016/04/asian_americans_to_outnumber_blacks_by_2065.html

4/28/16 NBC News: “New Report Illustrates Disparities in Elder Asian-American Community”
by Emil Guillermo
The idea of a rapidly growing Asian-American community may invoke images of a booming youthful culture, but in Los Angeles, a new report reveals a graying community that’s less raging and more aging.
Los Angeles County is home to 480,000 Asian-American adults over the age of 50, a number larger than any other county in the nation, according to the findings of a report by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles released Wednesday.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/new-report-illustrates-disparities-elder-la-asian-american-community-n563391

4/20/16 Brookings Institution: “Asian-American success and the pitfalls of generalization”
by Nathan Joo, Richard V. Reeves and Edward Rodrigue
Asian-American successes in perspective
It is certainly true that treated as a whole group, Asian-Americans appear to be doing well. Relative to other racial and ethnic minorities, they live in wealthier neighborhoods, have high marriage rates, high levels of educational achievement, and are successful in the labor market.
The most striking success of Asian-Americans, and the one most commonly highlighted in the media, is in educational attainment. While 36 percent of whites, 23 percent of blacks, and 16 percent of Hispanics have a bachelor’s degree or more, 54 percent of Asians do. Furthermore, while 14 percent of whites have advanced degrees, 21 percent of Asian-Americans do.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2016/04/20-asian-american-success-and-pitfalls-of-generalization-reeves

4/11/16 Voice of America: “Why Asian Americans Are the Most Educated Group in America”
by Dora Mekouar
Asian Americans are the highest-earning and fastest-growing racial group in the United States.
They’re also the best educated, as new numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau demonstrate. More than half of Asians in the United States, 54 percent, have at least a bachelor’s degree. That’s up from 38 percent in 1995. It’s an impressive number, especially when compared to the 33 percent college-graduation rate for the total U.S. population.

Why Asian Americans Are the Most Educated Group in America

1/14/16 New York Daily News: “NYC students in rich neighborhoods are doing better in school than kids in low-income areas”
BY Lisa L. Colangelo
“The most surprising finding was that Asian students in low-income school districts, despite facing a similar type of income-based achievement gap as other groups, are actually starting to close the gap with their high-income Asian peers in ELA proficiency and holding ground in math proficiency,” said Alex Armlovich, a policy analyst for the Manhattan Institute who authored the report.
For example, Armlovich said, Asian students in all school districts, regardless of income, improved proficiency on the math test by about 5.4%.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/rich-nyc-students-better-school-poor-article-1.2496403

12/31/15 Daily Kos: “The Most District: What’s the most Asian district in America? Welcome to California’s 17th”
By Jeff Singer
Of the nation’s 435 congressional districts, no seat has a higher proportion of Asian-American residents than California’s 17th District. According to the Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey, 52 percent of the district is non-Hispanic Asian, compared to 5 percent nationwide. CA-17 narrowly edges Hawaii’s 1st District, located in Honolulu, for the title.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/31/1459242/-The-Most-District-What-s-the-most-Asian-district-in-America-Welcome-to-California-s-17th

5/12/15 http://www.asianjournal.com: “Asian American voters to double by 2040”
By Christina Oriel
THE Asian American electorate in the United States is expected to double by 2040, a new study by the University of California, Los Angeles revealed.
According to the new report entitled “The Future of Asian America in 2040,” over 6 million more Asian Americans will be registered to vote, bringing the electorate to a total of 12.2 million.
Currently, Asian Americans are only 4 percent of all registered voters in the US.  By 2040, they will be nearly 7 percent, or 1 in 15 registered voters will be Asian American.
http://asianjournal.com/news/asian-american-voters-to-double-by-2040/

June 2013 Department of Sociology, Brown University: “Separate but Equal: Asian Nationalities in the U.S.”
by John R. Logan and Weiwei Zhang
Six distinct Asian national origin groups now number more than a million in the United States.
This report points out the substantial differences among them and draws out some of their implications.
Their share of immigrants ranges from under half to over three quarters; their share below poverty is as
low as 6% and as high as 15%; some are especially concentrated in Los Angeles and others in New York.
As the Asian population grows in size and diversity, it becomes less useful to think about Asian Americans
as a single category. It is more accurate to study Chinese and Indians, Filipinos and Japanese, Koreans
and Vietnamese.
Doing so leads to two main findings. First, every Asian nationality except Japanese is more segregated
from whites than are Asians as a broad category. In fact, two of the largest nationalities (Chinese and
Indians) are about as segregated as Hispanics, Vietnamese are as segregated as African Americans,
and there has been little change in the last two decades. Second, quite unlike the case of Hispanics and
African Americans, Asian national origin groups live in neighborhoods that are generally comparable to
those of whites, and in some respects markedly better. The Asian pattern is separate but equal (or even
more than equal), raising questions about the prospect or value of their residential assimilation in the future.
http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report06112013.pdf

6/21/13 Sampan.org: “Asian American and Pacific Islander poverty grows in wake of recession”
by the National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development
The �Spotlight: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poverty� study brings attention to communities
in need and broadens the conversation about what it means to be AAPI in America. The study reveals
that the AAPI poor population grew faster than most other ethnic groups from 2007-2011, increasing
by 38% to over 2 million. Other key highlights of the study include:
AAPI Poverty is Growing Dramatically: From 2007 to 2011, the number of AAPIs living below the
federal poverty level increased by more than half a million.
This 38% increase can be broken down into a 37% increase for Asian Americans (AAs) in poverty
and a 60% increase for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPIs) in poverty.
In comparison, the general poverty population grew by 27% during the same time period, with the
Hispanic/Latino poverty population growing by 42% and the African American poverty population
growing by 20%.
The AAPI Poor Population is Concentrated: Over 50% of all AAPI poor live in 10 metropolitan
areas (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Honolulu, Seattle, San Jose, Houston,
Sacramento, and Philadelphia). No other racial/ethnic poverty population is as concentrated in as
few places. Approximately 30% of all AAPI poor live in only 3 metro areas (New York, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco).
AAPI Poor Disproportionately Face High Housing Costs: The 20 highest cost housing markets
in the country contain almost half of all AAPI poor. No other racial/ethnic category has as high of a
proportion of its poor population in these markets (closest is Hispanic/Latino at 27%).
The AAPI Poor Population is Diverse: From 2000 to 2010, the US Census identified AAPI
populations in poverty for 22 separate ethnic groups. The largest single group is non-Taiwanese
Chinese at almost 450,000, followed by Asian Indian at over 245,000 and Vietnamese at 230,000.
Hmong have the highest poverty rate at 27%, followed by Bangladeshi at 21% and Tongans at 19%.
The full report, �Spotlight: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poverty� and additional information
is available on the National CAPACD website.
National CAPACD is a national advocacy organization dedicated to addressing the housing,
community and economic development needs of diverse and growing AAPI communities. National
CAPACD�s member-based network includes more than 100 community-based organizations and
individuals, including community development corporations, preservation agencies, community-
based social service providers and advocacy agencies. Our members are in 17 states,
implementing innovative affordable housing, social service, community development and community
organizing strategies to improve the well-being of low-income AAPIs.
http://sampan.org/2013/06/asian-american-and-pacific-islander-poverty-grows-in-wake-of-recession/

6/17/13 Gotham Schools: “Better news for city on college readiness, but wide gap remains”
by Anika Anand
The state calculates an �Aspirational Performance Measure,� or APM, based on the percentage of
students who graduated in four years with at least a 75 on their English Regents exam and at least an
80 on a math Regents exam. Those benchmarks are important in predicting students� success in
college, according to the state.
New York City�s APM rose slightly, from 20.7 percent for students who entered high school in 2007
to 21.9 percent for students who entered high school in 2008.
…. . . . . . .
On the state�s measure, New York City�s racial achievement gap narrowed slightly as black and
Hispanic students achieved the APM at a higher rate, while white students achieved it slightly less
often than in 2011. Still, white students achieved the college-readiness metric more than three and
a half times more often than black and Hispanic students, or 39.1 percent of the time for white
students compared to 11.1 percent of the time for black students and 12.2 percent of the time for
Hispanic students. Asian students hit the APM at the highest rate of all, 52.8 percent.
http://gothamschools.org/2013/06/17/better-news-for-city-on-college-readiness-but-wide-gap-remains/#more-107607

6/13/13 Politico: “Report: Asians fastest growing group”
By Hadas Gold
Asians were the fastest growing race or ethnic group in 2012, according to a new U.S. Census
Bureau report on Thursday.
Their population rose 2.9 percent, or 530,000, from 2011 to 2012 to 18.9 million, 60 percent
of which was from international immigration.
Hispanics were second largest in growth, with their population rising by 2.2 percent, or more
than 1.1 million, to just over 53 million in 2012, mostly through �natural increase� such as births.
California has the largest Asian population of any state, 6 million by July 2012. Hawaii is the
nation�s only majority-Asian state at 56.9 percent.
The nation�s total minority population increased by 1.9 percent and was 116 million, or 37
percent, of the total population in July 2012, the report says.
The statistics are part of a set of annual population estimates released by race, Hispanic
origin, age and sex. They examine population change for minorities nationally, as well as within
all states and counties, from July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/census-asians-population-92709.html?hp=l10

6/6/13 Diverse: Issues in Higher Education: “Report: Asian-American Subgroups Among Nation�s Poorest”
by Lydia Lum
As the nation continues to crawl out of the Great Recession, some subgroups of Asian-Americans are
among the poorest populations, based on income sources, home foreclosures and housing burden,
according to a new study by University of California, Los Angeles researchers.
Multiple economic indicators show Southeast Asians, for instance, consistently among the so-called
have-nots, said Melany De La Cruz-Viesca, one of the study�s co-authors.
http://diverseeducation.com/article/53790/#
5/3/13 Los Angeles Times: “Asian Americans had higher poverty rate than whites in 2011, study says,”
by Shan Li
The official poverty rate of Asian Americans in 2011 actually exceeded that of whites by 2.5 percentage
points, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Asian Americans tend to cluster around relatively expensive cities in the Northeast or West. In 2011,
for example, nearly a third of Asians in the U.S. lived in the metropolitan regions around Los Angeles,
San Francisco and New York.
Adjusted for cost differences, Asians had a poverty rate of 16.1% compared with the 10.4% rate of
whites in the country, a study by the Economic Policy Institute showed. Even stripping away the cost-of-
living differences, the gap between Asians and whites in the country’s poverty rate was 2.9 percentage
points, the study said.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-asian-american-poverty-20130502,0,7842601.story

4/4/13 Asian Groups in the U.S.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/04/04/asian-groups-in-the-u-s/

2/5/13 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio: “How much disparity is there among Asian Americans? Plenty”
by Leslie Berestein Rojas
The details in a newly issued report on the disparities within California’s Asian American population
are an eye-opening antidote to the “model minority” myth. They depict a diverse population that’s deeply
divided along lines of social class, educational attainment, language and more.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2013/02/05/12411/how-much-disparity-there-among-asian-americans-ple/

12/17/12 Sampan: “Behind the Numbers: Post-Election Survey of Asian American Voters in 2012,”
by Ling-Mei Wong
The Asian American electorate has been steadily growing with each presidential election and
is projected to be close to 3% of all votes cast in the 2012 election.
71% of Asian Americans voters in 2012 cast their ballot for President Barack Obama, and
28% voted for Governor Mitt Romney.
About 3.2 million Asian Americans cast ballots in November 2012, with about 2.3 million for
Barack Obama and 900,000 thousand for Mitt Romney.
http://sampan.org/2012/12/behind-the-numbers-post-election-survey-of-asian-american-voters-in-2012/

12/5/12 Asian Fortune News: “20% of Montgomery County AAPIs Live in Poverty,”
By Michelle Phipps-Evans
But poverty among Asians is more common than people realize, reaching about 12 percent of the
approximately 17.3 million residents of Asian descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2011,
the census Bureau says the AAPI community made up 5.6 percent of the population (including those
classifying themselves as Asian and one or more races.) The Bureau breaks down the overall poverty
rate for all Asians at about 12 percent, and 8.7 percent for AAPI families. This number increases to
20 percent for female-headed households and decreases to 6.7 percent when it�s a couple.
http://www.asianfortunenews.com/article_1212.php?article_id=40

11/29/2012 San Jose Mercury News: “Asian workers now dominate Silicon Valley tech jobs,”
By Dan Nakaso
Asian-Americans make up half of the Bay Area’s technology workforce, and their double-digit
employment gains came from jobs lost among white tech workers, according to an analysis by this
newspaper of Census Bureau data released Thursday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22094415?source=rss

9/13/12 Forbes: “The Changing Geography of Asian America: To The South And The Suburbs,”
by Joel Kotkin
Over the past 30 years the number of Asians in America has quadrupled to 18 million, or roughly 6% of the total U.S. population. But their economic impact is much greater. They are far more likely to be involved in technology jobs than other ethnic groups, constituting over 20% of employees in the nation’s leading technology companies, four times their share of the overall U.S. workforce.
Asia has become the nation’s largest source of newcomers, accounting for some 36% of all immigrants in 2010. Asian immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants tend to be better educated: half of all Asians over 25 have a college degree, almost twice the national average. They earn higher incomes, and, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, are more likely to abide by “traditional” values, with a stronger commitment to family, parenting and marriage than other Americans, and a greater emphasis on education.
As expected, the largest Asian communities are in the largest metro areas, led by New York and Los Angeles with almost 1.9 million Asians each, followed by Chicago.
In search of opportunity, Asians are increasingly headed to regions that, until recently, had very few Asian immigrants. And throughout the country, Asians, following a trend that has been developing over the past two decades, appear to be settling primarily in the suburbs.
Similar to the pattern we found in a survey on the migration patterns of bachelor’s degree holders, Asians are increasingly settling not in the established hubs, but in younger, more vibrant and growing cities that are mostly in the middle or southern half of the country.
Although greater New York’s Asian population grew by an impressive 500,000, up 40%, our analysis of the 2010 Census numbers found a higher rate of growth – more than 70% – in relatively new destinations, Dallas and Houston.
Several smaller cities also saw bigger percentage gains during the 2000s: the Asian populations of Raleigh, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Indianapolis and Phoenix all rose by 100% or more.
Growth was much slower in traditional Asian centers: 57% in the Washington metro area, and 52% in Seattle. The Asian populations of the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas expanded less than 25%. Overall, it is clear that the Asian population, although still largest in the biggest metros, has been dispersing to other parts of the country.
But that’s not the only way Asians are dispersing. We are witnessing a continued shift of Asians to suburbia in almost all regions. Increasingly, the real Chinatowns, Koreatowns and little Indias of America are in the inner and outer suburban rings. The inner city is largely the province of the elderly and recent immigrants.
For example in the New York area, the Asian population grew both in numbers and in percentage terms far more rapidly, 48%, in the suburbs than in the city, where growth was under 30%. This trend was even more stated nationwide. Nationwide over the last decade, the Asian population in suburbs grew by almost 2.8 million, or 53%, while that of core cities grew 770,000, or 28%.
This trend is evident as well on the West Coast, the traditional hub of America’s Asian population. In Seattle, the core city added 11,000 Asians over the past decade while the surrounding suburban ring added 124,000. The big growth in diversity around the Puget Sound is taking place not in the city of Seattle, but in suburban hubs like Bellevue (population: 122,000). Asians have come to constitute over 27% of Bellevue’s population, twice their percentage in the city of Seattle.
Similar patterns can be seen in other Pacific coast cities. In the San Francisco Bay region the suburban Asian population grew by 186,000 compared to 24,000 in the urban core; a growth rate, at 35%, almost three times that of the local core. An analysis of Asians working in Silicon Valley – where by some estimates they now constitute a majority of computer industry workers – finds this population moving further away from the urban core, particularly to areas with concentrations of single-family housing.
In Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Asian region, the suburbs added roughly five times as many Asians as the core city. In, there are now roughly three Asian suburbanites for every core city dweller. These pattern are even more marked in cities that are just now becoming Asian hubs. For example, the city of Plano (population 270,000) in the northern suburbs of Dallas is almost 17% Asian; Dallas itself is only 3% Asian.

5/3/12 Center for American Progress: “The Top 10 Facts About Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; What You Should Know About America’s Fastest-Growing Racial Group,”
By Rachel Wilf, Abigail Ridley-Kerr
As we enter the month of May, which is nationally recognized as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we take a close look at the Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the United States, one of the fastest-growing racial groups in our country. This month we should celebrate the many ways this rapidly growing community is contributing to our future prosperity.
Below we outline 10 interesting facts about the strength and diversity of this population.
1. There were more than 17 million Americans of Asian descent in 2010. In 2010 the 17.3 million Americans of Asian descent comprised 5.6 percent of the total U.S. population. Nearly half of the Asian[1] population – 46 percent – lives in the western United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Population Projections from 2008,by 2050 close to 8 percent of the U.S. population (7.79 percent) will identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander alone.
2. The Asian population is growing rapidly. The Asian population grew by more than 45 percent from 2000 to 2010 – a rate faster than any other major race group – according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the South Asian American population grew at an even faster pace – 78 percent over the past decade. From 2000 to 2010 the Asian population increased by 30 percent or more in every state except Hawaii, according to the 2010 Census.
3. Nevada and Arizona have seen sharp increases in their Asian populations.  Asians comprise the greatest share of the population in Hawaii (57.4 percent) and California (14.9 percent), but the Asian population has grown in size most rapidly in Nevada (116 percent between 2000 and 2010) and Arizona (94.6 percent in the same years). Other key states that have experienced swift Asian population growth include Virginia (71 percent) and Ohio (49 percent).
4. Civic engagement in the Asian community is very high. Forty-eight percent of registered Asian American voters – 3.4 million people = turned out to vote in the 2008 presidential election. In 2010 Asians accounted for 2.4 percent of all voters, up from 2.2 percent in 2006. Between 2000 and 2008 the total Asian American eligible voter population grew from 4,718,000 to 7,059,000�an increase of nearly 50 percent.
5. Close to three-fifths of foreign-born Asians are naturalized U.S. citizens, meaning they are eligible to vote. In 2010 two-thirds of those who identified as Asian alone were foreign born (66.5 percent). Of these foreign-born residents, 57 percent were naturalized citizens. More than 250,000 Asian American immigrants became U.S. citizens in 2010 alone.
6. Immigration policy affects Asian Americans too. An estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States come from Asia. Between 2001 and 2010 Asians made up more than a quarter of refugee arrivals to the United States (26 percent) and comprised a third of people granted asylum (33 percent). During the same period 1.6 million immigrants entered the United States from Asian countries.
7. The population is economically diverse and represents both extremes of the socioeconomic spectrum. An astonishing 50 percent of single-race Asians 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education in 2010, compared to only 28 percent of the total adult U.S. population in that year. However, between 39 and 52 percent of the Southeast Asian population is still linguistically isolated. These disparities are just one indication of the challenges still facing segments of the Asian American and Pacific Islander population.
8. Although Asian Americans generally fare well in the U.S. economy, some ethnic groups are struggling. Hmong Americans, an Asian ethnic subgroup from the mountainous regions of China, have one of the lowest per capita incomes of any racial or ethnic group nationwide. In 2010 the unemployment rate for Cambodians was 9.2 percent, the Hmong community was at 9.9 percent, Laotians were at 9.1 percent, the Vietnamese were at 6.8 percent, and all Pacific Islanders were at 9.9 percent. Similarly, about one in five Cambodian and Bangladeshi Americans lives in poverty.
9. Asians contribute to our economy as consumers and entrepreneurs. The total purchasing power of Asians totaled $543.7 billion in 2010 and is projected to reach $775.1 billion by 2015. Asian entrepreneurs also own more than 1.5 million American businesses and employ more than 3 million workers.
10. The population holds great economic potential for the future. Between 2000 and 2009 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander buying power came close to doubling, growing by 89 percent. In 2009 alone the buying power of the Asian population was $509 billion. This coupled with the rapid growth of the Asian American population holds great economic potential for the United States.
Rachel Wilf and Abigail Ridley-Kerr are interns with the Progress 2050 department at the Center for American Progress.
Endnotes
[1]. We use the term Asian when referring to racial identification, such as Census Bureau data that distinguishes between race and ethnicity and collects information on all United States residents regardless of their nationality. We use the term Asian American when referring to community groups that self-identify as such to describe their national identity.

4/20/12 Wall Street Journal: “Asians Lead City In Growth Rate,”
By Sumathi Reddy
While Chinatown’s Asian population declined over the past decade, the Asian footprint widened in far-flung neighborhoods from Sunset Park in Brooklyn to Murray Hill in Queens.
In a report released Friday the Asian American Federation, an advocacy and civic group, zeroed in on the city’s booming Asian population, breaking it down by country of origin, neighborhood and age.
Using U.S. Census data from 2000 and 2010, as well as American Community Survey results, the report tracks demographic changes in the Asian population, which increased 30% between 2000 and 2010, making it the city’s fastest-growing racial and ethnic group. Asians compose 13.9% of the city’s population, versus 10.9% in 2000, according to the report. The group showed growth in every borough.
Queens continued to have the largest Asian population, and it exceeded the number of blacks in the borough for the first time. The report predicts that if growth rates continue at the current pace, Asians will become Queens’s largest ethnic group this decade, topping non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics.
Brooklyn’s Asian population grew at the fastest clip, with children fueling much of the increase. The number of Asians in Dyker Heights and Sunset Park East, for example, shot up 83% and 60%, respectively.
The report found an increasing diversity within the Asian population. While Chinese and Indians continue to be the largest groups, the fastest-growing ethnic groups were Hmong, Taiwanese, Bangladeshi and Laotians, all of which more than doubled in size over the past decade, though some had tiny base populations. (The Hmong were the smallest, with 83 people.) Other emerging groups, though still small in number, include Nepalese, Burmese and Bhutanese, many of whom came to the U.S. as refugees in recent years.
Chinatown’s 15% decrease in Asians was driven largely by a loss of children, while the boom in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst was fueled by children.
Queens had the largest increase in the number of Asian seniors.
The report noted Koreans seem to be moving out of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst and moving further east to Bayside and surrounding neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Astoria, Elmhurst and Flushing saw declines in the Indian population but their numbers increased in Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park and Northeast Queens.
The report showed that while the number of registered Asian voters has doubled, registration rates have remained relatively stable.

11/30/11 Silicon India: “Indian Americans Grow to 3.2 Million, Top in Income,”
According to a new compilation of 2010 census data, Indian Americans made up 18 percent of the Asian American population in 2010, up from 16 percent in 2000. They led all Asian American households with highest median household income. According to 2007 to 2009 data, Indian Americans led all Asian American groups in the country in median household income at $86,660. Taiwanese households came second with $77,596.
Taiwanese and Indians also led in per capita income among Asian American groups, with $38,312 and $36,533, respectively, followed by Malaysians ($33,264) and Sri Lankans ($32,480). Bangladeshi Americans had the biggest percentage increase over the decade, skyrocketing 157 percent, according to the study, “A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans in the United States, 2011,” by the Asian Pacific American Legal Centre and the Asian American Justice Centre.
The Pakistani population had the second highest population bump with a 100 percent rise. The Sri Lankan and Indian American populations increased 85 percent and 68 percent, respectively. Among the South Asian groups, Pakistanis had the highest rate of naturalization at 57 percent, while just 50 percent of Bangladeshi Americans, 47 percent of Indian Americans and 43 percent of Sri Lankan Americans were naturalized. About 200,000 Indian legal permanent residents were eligible to become citizens in 2008. The leading six Asian countries for immigrant visas issued from 2001-2010 were: Philippines, 350,694; China, 286,008; India, 267,403; Vietnam, 193,049; Bangladesh, 84,643; Pakistan, 69,202.
Only 22 percent of Indian Americans five years of age and older from 2007-09 were limited English proficient, compared to 46 percent for Bangladeshis and 28 percent for Pakistanis. Taiwanese and Indian Americans led all Asian groups in higher educational attainment, with 73 percent to 68 percent, respectively, having a bachelor’s degree or higher.

11/1/11 California Watch: “Among Asian Americans, educational achievements vary widely,”
by Joanna Lin
Asian Americans overall obtain high levels of formal education, but an analysis of recent census data reveals large disparities between Asian American ethnic groups.
The percentage of high school graduates is as high as 96 percent among Taiwanese Americans and as low as 61 percent among Hmong Americans, according to a report released last week by the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.
The rate of bachelor’s degrees ranges from 12 percent among Laotians to 73 percent among Taiwanese.
All together, 86 percent of Asian Americans have high school diplomas, and 49 percent have bachelor’s degrees, the center’s analysis of data from the 2007-09 American Community Survey found. Compared with other racial groups, Asian Americans have the highest rate of bachelor’s degrees, but their high school graduation rate is second to that of whites (90 percent).
The data include both American-born and immigrant Asians.
The majority of Asian immigrants who became legal permanent residents in 2010 � 62 percent � entered as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or under family-sponsored preferences. Twenty-three percent immigrated under employment-based preferences.
For example, 52 percent of South Korean immigrants came to the U.S. under employment-based preferences. According to census data, 92 percent of Koreans hold high school diplomas and 52 percent have bachelor’s degrees. On the other hand, just 1 percent of Vietnamese immigrants came to the U.S. under employment-based preferences. Vietnamese educational attainment was among the lowest of Asian Americans: 72 percent graduate from high school, and 27 percent finish college.
The report also notes that many Asian Americans face language barriers. Nearly three out of four speak a language other than English at home, and about one-third are limited-English proficient.
The report’s findings are particularly significant in California, which has more Asian Americans and more English learners than any other state. Tens of thousands of students who speak Asian languages � the most common are Vietnamese, Filipino, Cantonese, Hmong, Korean and Mandarin � attend California public schools.
Nationwide, 16 percent of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students are English learners.

10/26/11 Los Angeles Times: “Asian Americans now country’s fastest growing racial group,”
Increased immigration from South Asia helped fuel the rapid growth in the number of Asian Americans over the last decade as well as an influx of Asians to states such as Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data �A Community of Contrasts� released Wednesday by the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.
While 23% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans lack health insurance, only 8% of Japanese Americans do.
And while 26% of Hmong Americans and 20% of Bangladeshi Americans live below the poverty line, only 6% of Filipinos and 8% of Indians do.
According to the report, which used 2010 Census, American Community Survey and other government data, immigration, both legal and illegal, has fueled most of the population growth. Approximately 60% of Asian Americans are foreign-born and about 1 million are undocumented, according to the report.
Among the undocumented, those from the Philippines, India, South Korea and China make up the largest numbers.
Though California’s population of more than 5.5 million Asian Americans remained the country’s largest, several other states showed significant growth over the last decade. The population of Asian Americans in Nevada more than doubled, while in Arizona it almost doubled.
Southern states, including Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama, also showed rapid growth.
http://www.advancingjustice.org/pdf/Community_of_Contrast.pdf 

10/26/11 New America Media: “Asian Americans have a higher poverty rate than non-Hispanic Whites,”
By Andrew Lam
Press release from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on Asian American Poverty report
In 2010, Asian Americans have a higher poverty rate than non-Hispanic Whites. Almost 12 percent of Asian Americans live in poverty, higher than the 9.9 percent rate of poverty among non-Hispanic whites.
Asian Americans as a group have lower-than-average poverty rates, but several Asian nationalities have higher than- average rates of poverty. The poverty rate among Hmongs is 37.8 percent, among Cambodians 29.3 percent, among Laotians 18.5 percent, and among Vietnamese 16.6 percent.
Asian American seniors are especially affected by poverty. Asian American seniors age 65 and over suffer from a poverty rate of 12.3 percent. This is higher than the national average for seniors, which stands at 9.9 percent, and the rate for non-Hispanic whites, which stands at 7.8 percent.
The Northeast and Great Lakes regions have especially high rates of Asian American poverty. New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania have some of the highest poverty rates among Asian Americans in the country, at 15.5 percent, 14.7 percent, and 14.8 percent, respectively. The Northeast is also home to some of the largest Asian American populations in the United States.
In 2010, 15.6 percent of Asian American children under the age of 5 lived in poverty.
For more info go to: www.civilrights.org

UCLA AASC: 2011 Statistical Portrait of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders
http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/archives/stats2011.asp
The UCLA Asian American Studies Center, as an official U.S. Census Information Center (as a co-partner with National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development), is pleased to provide this 2011 statistical portrait of the Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations produced by the US Census Bureau for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which will take place in May, 2011.
The portrait provides current census data, population projections, and internet links that should be useful for research, planning, writing and general educational purposes. Please see the “Editor’s note” at the end of this announcement for more information.The first major section provides information on “Asians,” while the second major part highlights “Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders”.
Asians
16 million
The estimated number of U.S. residents of Asian descent in July 2009. This estimate includes those who said they were both Asian alone or Asian in combination with one or more other races.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
5.2 million
The Asian population in California; the state had the largest Asian population on July 1, 2009, followed by New York (1.5 million). Texas was next, reaching 1 million for the first time. In Hawaii, our nation’s only majority-Asian state, Asians made up the highest proportion of the total population (53 percent). This includes both Asian alone or Asian in combination with one or more other races.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
2.6%
Percentage growth of the Asian population between 2008 and 2009, the second fastest-growing minority group (following the Hispanic population). This includes both Asian alone or Asian in combination with one or more other races.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
3.8 million
Number of Asians of Chinese descent in the U.S. in 2009. Chinese-Americans were the largest Asian group, followed by Filipinos (3.2 million), Asian Indians (2.8 million), Vietnamese (1.7 million), Koreans (1.6 million) and Japanese (1.3 million). These estimates represent the number of people who reported a specific Asian group alone, and people who reported that Asian group in combination with one or more other Asian groups or races.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance
$68,780
Median household income for single-race Asians in 2009.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Median household income differed greatly by Asian group. For Asian Indians, for example, the median income in 2009 was $90,429; for Bangladeshi, it was $46,657. (These figures represent the single-race population.)
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
12.5%
The poverty rate for single-race Asians in 2009, not statistically different from the 2008 poverty rate. Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic whites (from 8.6 percent to 9.4 percent), for blacks (from 24.7 percent to 25.8 percent) and for Hispanics (from 23.2 percent to 25.3 percent).
Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb10-144.html
17.2%
Percentage of single-race Asians without health insurance coverage in 2009, not statistically different from 2008.
Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb10-144.html
Education
50%
The percentage of single-race Asians 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education. This compared with 28 percent for all Americans 25 and older.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
85%
The percentage of single-race Asians 25 and older who had at least a high school diploma. This is not statistically different from the percentage for the total population or the percentage of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone, 85 and 86 percent respectively.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
20%
The percentage of single-race Asians 25 and older who had a graduate (e.g., master’s or doctorate) or professional degree. This compared with 10 percent for all Americans 25 and older.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Voting
589,000
How many more single-race Asians voted in the 2008 presidential election than in the 2004 election. All in all, 48 percent of Asians turned out to vote in 2008 � up 4 percentage points from 2004. A total of 3.4 million Asians voted.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/voting/cb09-110.html
Businesses
Source for the statements referenced in this section, unless otherwise indicated:
Survey of Business Owners
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/economic_census/cb10-107.html
1.6 million
Number of businesses owned by Asian-Americans in 2007, an increase of 40.7 percent from 2002.
$514 billion
Total receipts of businesses owned by Asian-Americans, up 57.3 percent from 2002.
In 2007, 32.3 percent of Asian-owned businesses were in repair and maintenance; personal and laundry services; and professional, scientific and technical services.
47.2%
Percentage of businesses in Hawaii owned by people of Asian descent. It was 14.9 percent in California and 10.1 percent in New York.
510,000
California had the most Asian-owned firms at 509,670 (32.8 percent of all such firms), with receipts of $182.7 billion (35.6 percent of all Asian-owned firm receipts). New York was second with 196,919 Asian-owned firms or 12.7 percent, with receipts of $50.8 billion or 9.9 percent. Texas was third in number of Asian-owned firms with 114,593 or 7.4 percent, with receipts of $42.4 billion or 8.3 percent. New Jersey accounted for 4.4 percent of all Asian-owned firms and 5.9 percent of receipts, while Florida accounted for 4.2 percent of all Asian-owned firms and 3.4 percent of receipts.
Languages
2.6 million
The number of people 5 and older who spoke Chinese at home in 2009. After Spanish, Chinese was the most widely spoken non-English language in the country. Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean were each spoken at home by more than 1 million people.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Serving Our Nation
258,183
The number of single-race Asian military veterans. About one in three veterans was 65 years and older.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Jobs
49%
The proportion of civilian employed single-race Asians 16 and older who worked in management, professional and related occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses. Additionally, 17 percent worked in service occupations, 22 percent in sales and office occupations and 10 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Internet Use
80%
Percentage of Asians living in a household with Internet use � the highest rate among race and ethnic groups.
Source: Reported Internet Usage for Households, by selected Householder Characteristics; Current Population Survey: 2009 http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer/2009.html
Counties
1.4 million
The number of Asians (self-identified as Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races) in Los Angeles County, Calif., in 2009, which topped the nation’s counties.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
17,000
Gain in Santa Clara County, Calif.’s Asian population (self-identified as Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races) from 2008 to 2009, the largest in the nation.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
57%
Percent of the population of Honolulu County, Hawaii, that was Asian (self-identified as Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races) in 2009, which led the country. Honolulu was the only majority-Asian county in the nation.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
Age Distribution
35.3
Median age of the single-race Asian population in 2009. The corresponding figure was 36.8 years for the population as a whole.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
23.6%
Percent of the single-race Asian population that was under age 18 as of July 1, 2009 while 9.6 percent was 65 or older.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
The Future
40.6 million
The projected number of U.S. residents in 2050 who will identify themselves as Asian or Asian in combination with one or more other races. They would comprise 9 percent of the total population by that year.
Source: Population projections http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb08-123.html
161%
The projected percentage increase between 2008 and 2050 in the population of people who identify themselves as Asian or Asian in combination with one or more other races. This compares with a 44 percent increase in the population as a whole over the same period of time.
Source: 2008 Population projections http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb08-123.html
Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
1.1 million
The estimated number of U.S. residents in July 2009 who said they were Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, either alone or in combination with one or more other races. This group comprised 0.4 percent of the total population.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2009-srh.html
California had the largest population of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (284,000), followed by Hawaii (280,000) and Washington (58,000). California had the largest numerical increase in this group between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009 (6,000). In Hawaii, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders comprised the largest proportion (22 percent) of the total population. This includes Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders alone and in combination with one or more other races.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
2.3%
Percentage growth of the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population between 2008 and 2009 � third among race groups. This includes Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders alone and in combination with one or more other races.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance
$53,455
The median income of households headed by single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
15.1%
The poverty rate for those who classified themselves as single-race Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. This is not significantly different from the 2008 poverty rate.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
17.3%
The percentage without health insurance for single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Education
14%
The percentage of single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders 25 and older who had at least a bachelor’s degree. This compared with 28 percent for the total population.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
86%
The percentage of single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders 25 and older who had at least a high school diploma. This is not statistically different from either the percentage for the total population or the percentage of Asian alone, both 85 percent.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
4%
The percentage of single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders 25 and older who had obtained a graduate or professional degree. This compared with 10 percent for the total population this age.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Businesses
Source for the statements referenced in this section, unless otherwise indicated:
2007 Survey of Business Owners
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/economic_census/cb10-107.html
38,881
The number of Native Hawaiian- and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses in 2007, up 34.3 percent from 2002.
$7.0 billion
Total receipts of these businesses, up 62.9 percent from 2002.
26.9 %
The percent of all Native Hawaiian- and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses that were repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, and construction.
9.4%
The percent of businesses in Hawaii owned by Native Hawaiian- and Other Pacific Islanders, highest among all states.
Serving Our Nation
30,110
The number of single-race Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander military veterans. About one in five veterans was 65 years and older.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Jobs
24%
The proportion of civilian employed single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders 16 and older who worked in management, professional and related occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses. This is not significantly different from the 25 percent worked in service occupations, while 28 percent worked in sales and office occupations and 14 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.
Source: 2009 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov
Counties
176,000
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population (alone or in combination with one or more other races) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, in 2009, which led the nation. Among counties, Harris County, Texas had the largest numerical increase in this race since July 2008: 722. Hawaii County, Hawaii, had the highest percentage of people of this race (30 percent).
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
Age Distribution
29.9
The median age of the single-race Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population in 2009. The median age was 36.8 for the population as a whole.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
34%
Percentage of the single-race Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population that was under age 18 as of July 1, 2009 while 6.3 percent was 65 or older.
Source: Population estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html
The Future
2.6 million
The projected number of U.S. residents in 2050 who will identify themselves as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander in combination with one or more other races. They would comprise 0.6 percent of the total population by that year.
Source: Population projections http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb08-123.html
132%
The projected percentage increase between 2008 and 2050 in the population of people who identify themselves as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander in combination with one or more other races. This compares with a 44 percent increase in the population as a whole over the same period of time.
Source: Population projections http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb08-123.html
Editor’s note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-763-3762; or e-mail: PIO@census.gov

12/7/10 United Press International: “Study: Asian-American men in U.S. pay gap”
Lawrence, Kansas — U.S. employers don’t pay Asian-American men as much as they pay similarly qualified white men, a University of Kansas study found.
Researchers analyzed data from the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates to investigate earnings, a university release said Tuesday.
“The most striking result is that native-born Asian Americans — who were born in the U.S. and speak English perfectly — their income is 8 percent lower than whites after controlling for their college majors, their places of residence and their level of education,” ChangHwan Kim, assistant professor of sociology and study leader, said.
The findings show the United States has a way to go toward the goal of becoming a colorblind society, Kim says.
“As an individual, you can reach as high as president,” he says. “But as an ethnic group, no group has reached full parity with whites. That’s the current status of racial equality in the United States.”
Despite the disparity in income levels, Asian-American men fare better than they did before the Civil Rights era in the United States, Kim says.
“The 8 percent difference is large, but it is small compared to previous Asian-American generations,” Kim said. “Previous generations had income levels much lower, so in this sense we’ve made progress.”
The research appears in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.

9/20/10 Asianweek.com: “Asian-American Students Continue to Post Gains in SATs,”
Asian-American students continue to outperform all other test takers, according
to new numbers published by the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers the SAT college entrance exam.
Asian Americans posted a three-point gain in reading, a four-point jump in math, and a six-point jump in writing, compared to their numbers in 2009. The gains are the only highlight from an average score that has remained mostly unchanged for all other ethnicities.
About 42 percent of test takers were minorities, the highest non-white percentage ever to sit for the exam. The SAT results suggested that students who took a core curriculum in high school – defined as four years of English and three years each of math, science, and history – scored an average of 151 points higher than those who did not take the curriculum.
College Board attributes the uptick in scores of Asian-American students to their choice of courses in high school. More than two-thirds of Asian Americans took four years of science, versus 59 percent of test takers; 48 percent of Asian-American students took calculus, as opposed to only 28 percent of test takers.

8/11/10 Huffington Post: “White Men Still Better Off than Asian Americans in U.S. labor market,”
by Algernon Austin
It is correct that Asian American men have the highest median wage.
But Asian Americans experience hidden disadvantages in the U.S. labor market.  In 2009, the annual unemployment rate for Asian Americans with a bachelor’s degree was 6.7 percent. For whites with a bachelor’s degree is was 2.1 percentage points lower at 4.6 percent.
A larger share of Asian Americans has a college degree than other groups, including whites. People with college degrees are more likely to be employed and, on average, have higher earnings than people without college degrees. The high educational attainment of Asian Americans means that their aggregate statistics, like the overall unemployment rate or the median income for the entire group, looks better than the aggregate statistics for whites. But the picture changes when one compares Asian Americans with whites of the same educational level.
The Census Bureau disaggregates the data by sex, race, and education level in its detailed income tables. We can compare white and Asian American full-time, year-round male workers with each other by education level.
The median income for non-Hispanic white male high school graduates in 2008 was $42,234. For Asian American male high school graduates it was 21 percent lower at $33,358. Comparing individuals with bachelor’s degrees, white males earned $71,672 and Asian males $63,172, or 12 percent less. When one disaggregates by educational level, the apparent Asian American advantage turns to an Asian American disadvantage.
If one assumes that Asian American men work the hardest, the disaggregated income data suggests that they are not being rewarded for their hard work.

5/21/10 Los Angeles Times: “Booster Shots: Oddities, musings and news from the health world.  Asian Americans, alcohol use and what the numbers show (or don’t show),”
by Tami Dennis
Asian Americans drink less alcohol and binge on it less frequently, not to mention consume fewer illegal drugs, than other Americans. But the generalities stop there.
A new analysis of Asian American subgroups, using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, has found that Korean Americans are the most likely to consume alcohol in a given month and that Indian Americans are the least likely. Here’s a closer look at past-month alcohol use among the various groups identified in the survey:
Korean Americans: 51.9%
Japanese Americans: 48.3%
Chinese Americans: 41.3%
Vietnamese Americans: 38.7%
Filipino Americans: 38.1%
Indian Americans: 32.1%
The national average for all adults in the U.S. is 55.2%. The national average for Asian Americans is 39.8%.
When it comes to binge drinking over the last month, the numbers shake out this way.
Korean Americans: 25.9%
Filipino Americans: 15%
Japanese Americans: 14.5%
Vietnamese Americans: 14%
Indian Americans: 9.5%
Chinese Americans: 8.4%
Other ethnicity-related breakdowns by age, gender and insurance status ensue. Here’s the full alcohol use report, as offered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Those are the stats, in any case. The report doesn’t paint a fuller picture.
It does, however, explain the relevance of such breakdowns in this way:
As the Federal Government and States move forward with the interrelated tasks of reducing disparities and reforming health care, it will be important to monitor data on substance use and treatment need among racial/ethnic minorities. The findings in this report highlight variations in substance use and treatment need between Asian adults and adults in the Nation as a whole and suggest subgroups that may benefit from increased attention from the prevention and treatment systems.
Wait. There is one more generality: Asian Americans born in the U.S. are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs than are those born outside the U.S.

5/4/10 New York Times: “The Limits of Policy,”
by David Brooks, Op-Ed Columnist
This is not to say that policy choices are meaningless. But we should be realistic about them. The influence of politics and policy is usually swamped by the influence of culture, ethnicity, psychology and a dozen other factors.
You can observe the same phenomenon when looking within the U.S. Last week, the American Human Development Project came out with its “A Century Apart” a survey of life in the United States. As you’d expect, ethnicity correlates to huge differences in how people live. Nationally, 50 percent of Asian-American adults have a college degree, compared with 31 percent of whites, 17 percent of African-Americans and 13 percent of Hispanics.
Asian-Americans have a life expectancy of 87 years compared with 79 years for whites and 73 years for African-Americans.
Even in struggling parts of the country, Asian-Americans do well. In Michigan, for example, the Asian-American life expectancy is 90, while for the average white person it�s 79 and for the average African-American it�s 73. Income and education levels are also much higher.
The region you live in also makes a gigantic difference in how you will live. There are certain high-trust regions where highly educated people congregate, producing positive feedback loops of good culture and good human capital programs. This mostly happens in the northeastern states like New Jersey and Connecticut. There are other regions with low social trust, low education levels and negative feedback loops. This mostly happens in southern states like Arkansas and West Virginia.
If you combine the influence of ethnicity and region, you get astounding lifestyle gaps. The average Asian-American in New Jersey lives an amazing 26 years longer and is 11 times more likely to have a graduate degree than the average American Indian in South Dakota.
When you try to account for life outcome differences this gigantic, you find yourself beyond narrow economic incentives and in the murky world of social capital. What matters are historical experiences, cultural attitudes, child-rearing practices, family formation patterns, expectations about the future, work ethics and the quality of social bonds.

4/21/10 The Korea Times: “Asian American education achievements outstrip other racial groups,”
http://www.indypressny.org/nycma/voices/421/briefs/briefs_5/
By Jung-eun Lee, translated from Korean by Sun-Yong Reinish.
On April 20, the U.S. Census released its analysis of data collected from the 2009 Current Population Survey. Between February 2009 and April 2009, 100,000 families were surveyed nationwide and asked for information, according to demographic and socioeconomic indicators, about age, sex, race, household relationships, marital status, and education level. The survey indicated, among other things, that 53 percent of Asians over 25-year-old hold a bachelor’s degree, topping non-Hispanic whites, (33 percent), Blacks (19 percent), and Hispanics (13 percent).
Within the 25- to 29-year-old age group, Asians have a high rate of education for both sexes. Indeed no noticeable statistical difference was found between men and women holding masters degrees (in law, or medicine), or doctoral degrees. Among whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the same age group, women hold a three percent edge over men for such degrees (9 percent to 6 percent).
There is a wider discrepancy between Asian women and men with bachelor degrees or higher � women surpass men by 8 percentage points (35 to 27 percent). This gap has increased over time; in 1999, it was only 3 percent, with women ahead of men (30 percent to 27 percent).
The survey also found a high correlation between educational level and income.
In 2008, the average annual income for those with an advanced degree was $83,144, compared to an average annual income of $58,613 for those with a bachelor’s degree. In the same year, the annual average income for high school degree diploma holders was $31,283.
Marital status for 25-year-olds and above also had impact on the statistics for advanced degree holders: 66 percent of women and 76 percent of men with advanced degrees were married with a partner present. Of these, 65 percent of the women had bachelor’s degrees compared to 71 percent for the men.
These statistics clearly show a rise in the rate of college graduates among Asians in the past decade. In 1999, the number of those holding bachelor’s degrees was 43,800,000. By 2009, this number had increased by 34 percent, reaching 58,600,000. The rate of high school diploma holders among those over 25 was 87 percent in 2009 of whom 30 percent hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

4/17/10 Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel: “Asian-Americans add to Florida’s diversity,”
by Quan Cao
According to 2000 U.S. Census data, we were the fastest growing minority group in Florida and what the Census defines as Asian-Americans and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI).
According to the 2000 Census, 35 percent of our citizens have a household income of $75,000 or more. Nationwide, we outspend the entire state of New Jersey � the seventh most populous state in America � in everyday expenses by $41 billion. Talk about serious buying power. Furthermore, 43 percent of our population has a college degree.
Florida’s 41,258 Asian-American and NHOPI owned businesses brought in $11.2 billion and employed more than 91,000 people in 2002. It’s clear we’re a growing economic powerhouse in the Sunshine State. Florida also ranks fourth among the top 10 states with the greatest number of Asian-American and NHOPI women-owned businesses, which account for $49.1 billion in nationwide sales.
Quan Cao is a professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

9/09 The Scientist: Asian American M.Ds. and Ph. Ds in life science are paid the lowest salaries when compared with all other races. http://www.the-scientist.com/salarysurvey/

3/27/09 The Straits Times (Singapore): “Asians least hit by crime in US”
AFP (Washington) – Asian-Americans suffer less from violent crime than other racial groups in the United States, Justice Department figures have
shown.
Some 11 out of 1,000 Asian-Americans aged 12 or older are the victims of non-fatal violent crimes each year, compared with 24 out of every 1,000 non-Asian Americans, according to statistics released on Wednesday.
In 2006, 360 Asian-Americans were murdered. They were victims of two per cent of all US homicides, while accounting for about four per cent of the population, the study found.
In one of the more striking differences among racial groups, strangers were responsible for most crime against Asian-Americans.
Seventy-seven per cent of violent crimes against Asian-American men was committed by strangers, compared with 59 per cent for non-Asians.  Half of crimes against Asian-American women was by people they did not know, compared with 34 per cent for other women.
The government study did not delve into analysis. It defined Asian-Americans as those tracing their ethnicity to the Far East or the Indian subcontinent, as well as Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Some Asian-American leaders have cautioned against the ‘model minority’ image, noting that the community is diverse and some of its members are struggling.
Asians-American tend to have higher education and income than the national average, according to the latest statistical profile by the Asian-American Studies Center at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA).
The average Asian-American household earns US$66,103 (S$99,436) a year, against a national average of US$50,233, it said. But there were
major differences within the community, with Americans of Indian origin the wealthiest. — AFP

1/26/09 Kansas City Infozine (www.infozine.com): “Chinese Americans Face Glass Ceiling,”
Chinese Americans, one of the most highly educated groups in the nation, are confronted by a “glass ceiling, unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts, concludes a study from the University of Maryland.
Kansas City , MO – The returns on Chinese Americans’ investment in education and “sweat equity” are generally lower than those in the general and non-Hispanic White population, says the report, “A Chinese American Portrait.”  It adds that, on average, Chinese American professionals in the legal and medical fields earn as much as 44 percent less than their White counterparts.
Based on extensive U.S. Census data and independent interviews, the study offers the most comprehensive and current portrait of the highly diverse Chinese American population. The research was conducted by the University of Maryland’s Asian American Studies Program with support from OCA, a national community-based organization of Asian Pacific Americans. The data in the report go through 2006, the latest available.
“Contrary to popular beliefs, Chinese Americans often face extra barriers to economic success, despite their educational achievements,” says principal investigator Larry H. Shinagawa, a demographer and Americans Studies professor who directs the University of Maryland Asian American Studies Program .
“Time and hard work simply haven’t been enough for Chinese Americans to fully enter into mainstream social and professional circles,” Shinagawa adds. “I suspect there are many reasons such as language barriers or simply the difficulties that go along with being identified as an “outsider.” In the long run, increasing mentoring efforts and leadership opportunities can enhance the Chinese American community. You need a pipeline, a network to help young professionals rise to their potential, and increase Chinese American participation in top positions. Success begets success.”
An Extremely Diverse Chinese American Community
Yet this is only half the story. As Shinagawa points out, the Chinese American community is characterized by extreme diversity. It is split nearly 50-50 between poorly educated recent immigrants from China and a more settled, acculturated, educated and prosperous group of older immigrants and second generation Americans. These earlier arrivals came mainly from Taiwan and Hong Kong .
“It makes for a rather bi-polar picture of wealth and poverty, high and low education levels, white and blue collars,” Shinagawa says. “It’s a pattern you expect to see after a wave of immigration. But in this case, the long-term settled population has yet to achieve full equal treatment.”
Among the Studies’ Findings:
Fastest Growing Immigrant Group: Chinese Americans represent the fastest growing immigrant group in the nation (up 30 percent between
2000 and 2006, the most recent figures);
Largest Asian Ethnic Group: Chinese Americans represent the largest ethnic group among Asian Americans (about 25 percent)
Higher Education Clustering: Chinese Americans cluster in a small number of colleges and universities (roughly 85 percent of all Chinese Americans who got to colleges or universities attend just three percent of all higher education institutions);
High Levels of Higher Education: Twice as many Chinese American adults have college degrees than the general population;
Lacking High School Education: Conversely, recently arrived Chinese Americans represent the largest number of U.S. adults without the equivalent of a high school education;
Occupations: Chinese Americans are more heavily represented in professional and managerial occupations than the general population (53 percent vs. 34 percent);
Industries: Chinese Americans cluster in industries associated with healthcare, food services, manufacturing and professional/scientific fields;
Pay Equity: Chinese American men earn less in salaries than majority Whites for the same level of education;
Geographic Clustering: 60 percent of all Chinese Americans live in a handful of cities beginning with New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles , Chicago , Philadelphia , as well as the Washington , D.C. metropolitan area, the Boston metro area and the Dallas metro area.
Suburban Migration: In the past 20 years, Chinese Americans have settled increasingly away from traditional ethnic enclaves characterized as Chinatowns . Many of the more affluent Chinese Americans now reside in suburban communities commonly known as �ethnoburbs� or mixed “Asiatowns;”
Citizenship: Three out of four Chinese Americans are U.S. citizens and exhibit very high rates of naturalization. However, this is less true among the recent immigrants who have been slower to seek citizenship;
Multiethnic/Multiracial: One in ten Chinese Americans are multiethnic and/or multiracial;
Divorce: Once they marry, Chinese Americans tend to stay married � with a divorce rate less than half that of the general population (4.4 percent vs. 10 percent);
Recommendation
“This study marks the progress of Chinese Americans entering the mainstream fabric of American life as well as the challenges that remain,” Shinagawa says. “It surely demonstrates the need to stop treating Chinese Americans as a monolithic group. Different segments of the population have very different needs. One size fits all simply won’t work. We hope recognition of this diversity will serve as a guide for policy makers so that their decisions will improve the lives of all Chinese Americans and Asian Americans.”
Related links
The full text of “A Portrait of Chinese Americans” (including a brief executive summary and conclusions) is available online as a downloadable pdf: www.aast.umd.edu/mapsportrait.html
The Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland – http://www.aast.umd.edu/
Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) – www.ocanational.org/
Source: University of Maryland , College Park

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