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3.26.2012

asians are the fastest-growing population in the u.s.



Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released a new brief, based on 2010 Census figures, that shows that America's Asian population grew faster than any other race group over the last decade: 2010 Census Shows Asians are Fastest-Growing Race Group.

According to The Asian Population: 2010 (PDF), those that identified as Asian, either alone or in combination with one or more other races -- a total of 17.3 million people -- grew by 45.6 percent from 2000 to 2010.

Out of the total U.S. population, 14.7 million people, 5.6 percent of all people identified as Asian, either alone or in combination with one or more other races. Some more findings:
Asians Grew by 30 Percent or More in Nearly Every State

The Asian alone-or-in-combination population grew by at least 30 percent in all states except for Hawaii (11 percent increase). The top five states that experienced the most growth were Nevada (116 percent), Arizona (95 percent), North Carolina (85 percent), North Dakota (85 percent) and Georgia (83 percent). These same five states also experienced the most growth in the Asian alone population.

Asians Represent More Than 50 Percent of the Population in Hawaii

The states with the highest proportions of the Asian alone-or-in-combination population were in the West and the Northeast. The Asian alone-or-in-combination population represented 57 percent of the total population in Hawaii. California had the next highest proportion at 15 percent, followed by New Jersey (9 percent), Nevada (9 percent), Washington (9 percent) and New York (8 percent). These same six states had the highest proportions of the Asian alone population.

New York City had the Largest Asian Population among Places

The 2010 Census showed that New York had the largest Asian alone-or-in-combination population with 1.1 million, followed by Los Angeles (484,000) and San Jose, Calif. (327,000). Three other places - San Francisco, San Diego and Urban Honolulu - had Asian alone-or-in-combination populations of more than 200,000 people. This ranking was identical for the Asian alone population.

The places with a total population of 100,000 or more with the greatest proportion of the Asian alone-or-in-combination population were Urban Honolulu (68 percent) and nine California cities - Daly City (58 percent), Fremont (55 percent), Sunnyvale (44 percent), Irvine (43 percent), Santa Clara (41 percent), Garden Grove (39 percent), Torrance (38 percent), San Francisco (36 percent) and San Jose (35 percent).

Among Asians, the Largest Multiple-Race Combination was Asian and White

Of the 17.3 million people who reported Asian, 2.6 million, or 15 percent, reported multiple races. Of the multiple-race Asian population, the majority (1.6 million or 61 percent) identified themselves as both Asian and white. The next largest combinations were Asian and "some other race" (9 percent), Asian and black (7 percent), Asian and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (6 percent), and Asian and white and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (5 percent).
For further findings, including information on detailed Asian groups like Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese populations, go to the Census website here, or download the brief here.

I should add... This is an okay report, but it seems to replicate a lot of the information that can be found in the more comprehensive, detailed demographic report, A Community of Contrasts, that the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice released last fall. Check that one out.