Surprise! Asians are the fastest-growing ethnic group -- up 31.5 percent over the last decade, to about 5 million -- in the state of California. There are more Asians in California than the total population of any American city but New York, and as a group, we are larger than 28 of the states.
Traditionally, the story used to be all about urban Chinatowns, but this booming growth can largely be attributed to suburban population center dominated by Asians ("ethnoburbs") across areas like the San Gabriel Valley. This has huge implications for political power and the way voting lines are drawn. Here's an interesting New York Times piece on this phenomenon: Rise of the Ethnoburbs.
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