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Asian Population in United States
Asian people are those having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It excludes people with ethnic origins in certain parts of Asia, including West Asia who are now categorized as Middle Eastern Americans. The United States has an estimated population of 24 million people of Asian descent.
Approximately 19.6 million people (5.9% of all respondents) identified as Asian alone in 2020, up from 14.7 million people (4.8%) in 2010. Coupled with the 4.1 million respondents who identified as Asian in combination with another race group, such as White or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, the Asian alone or in combination population comprised 24 million people (7.2% of the total population).
The Asian alone population grew by 35.5% between 2010 and 2020. In comparison, the Asian in combination population grew by 55.5%. The U.S. Asian population is projected to reach 46 million by 2060.
| Census Classification | Population | % of total |
| Asian alone | 19,157,288 | 5.77% |
| Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races | 23,545,238 | 7.09% |
Source: US Census 2021 Estimates
Asian Americans by Country of Origin
Chinese Americans are the largest Asian origin group, making up 23.5% of the Asian population, or 5.5 million people. The next two largest origin groups are Indian Americans, who account for 21% of the total (4.8 million people), and Filipinos, who account for 19% (or 4.4 million people). Vietnam (2.2 million), Korea (1.9 million), and Japan (1.5 million) are other major groups.
Let’s have a look at the Asian Population by Origin
| # | Origin/Sub Group | alone or in any combination | Alone population | % of Total Asian Pop. |
| 1 | Chinese | 5,549,293 | 4,360,466 | 23.57% |
| 2 | Asian Indian | 4,797,210 | 4,402,223 | 20.37% |
| 3 | Filipino | 4,426,904 | 2,960,811 | 18.80% |
| 4 | Vietnamese | 2,288,082 | 1,896,690 | 9.72% |
| 5 | Korean | 1,962,184 | 1,445,315 | 8.33% |
| 6 | Japanese | 1,636,634 | 742,549 | 6.95% |
| 7 | Pakistani | 629,946 | 555,917 | 2.68% |
| 8 | Cambodian | 369,562 | 272,408 | 1.57% |
| 9 | Hmong | 368,609 | 345,338 | 1.57% |
| 10 | Thai | 319,617 | 180,364 | 1.36% |
| 11 | Taiwanese | 310,503 | 257,430 | 1.32% |
| 12 | Bangladeshi | 261,885 | 245,131 | 1.11% |
| 13 | Laotian | 248,920 | 181,458 | 1.06% |
| 14 | Burmese | 248,822 | 233,347 | 1.06% |
| 15 | Nepalese | 229,325 | 217,150 | 0.97% |
| 16 | Indonesian | 161,807 | 85,957 | 0.69% |
| 17 | Sri Lankan | 86,690 | 72,271 | 0.37% |
Source: US Census 2020
Asian Americans population by U.S. State
Almost half of Asian Americans (45%) live in the West, with nearly a third (30%) in California alone. California had an Asian population of roughly 7 million, by far the nation’s largest. It was followed by New York (2 million), Texas (1.85 million), New Jersey (1 million), and Washington (0.94 million). A majority of U.S. Asians (55%) lived in these five states.
As a proportion of the total population, Hawaii is the only state with an Asian American majority population, at 56.6 %. Next comes California (17.8%) and Washington State (12.2%).
Let’s have a look at the Asian Population by States
| # | States | Asian Population | % of Total State pop. |
| 1 | California | 7,045,163 | 17.8 |
| 2 | New York (State) | 2,173,719 | 10.8 |
| 3 | Texas | 1,849,226 | 6.3 |
| 4 | New Jersey | 1,046,732 | 11.3 |
| 5 | Washington (State) | 939,846 | 12.2 |
| 6 | Illinois | 875,488 | 6.8 |
| 7 | Florida | 843,005 | 3.9 |
| 8 | Hawaii | 824,143 | 56.6 |
| 9 | Virginia | 757,282 | 8.8 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 603,726 | 4.6 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 582,484 | 8.3 |
| 12 | Georgia | 565,644 | 5.3 |
| 13 | Maryland | 502,173 | 8.1 |
| 14 | North Carolina | 425,449 | 4.1 |
| 15 | Michigan | 411,928 | 4.1 |
| 16 | Ohio | 377,303 | 3.2 |
| 17 | Minnesota | 357,704 | 6.3 |
| 18 | Nevada | 353,593 | 11.4 |
| 19 | Arizona | 351,132 | 4.9 |
| 20 | Colorado | 285,784 | 4.9 |
| 21 | Oregon | 275,296 | 6.5 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 216,345 | 3.7 |
| 23 | Indiana | 212,649 | 3.1 |
| 24 | Connecticut | 205,693 | 5.7 |
| 25 | Missouri | 179,336 | 2.9 |
| 26 | Tennessee | 178,683 | 2.6 |
| 27 | Utah | 125,088 | 3.8 |
| 28 | South Carolina | 123,666 | 2.4 |
| 29 | Oklahoma | 123,614 | 3.1 |
| 30 | Kansas | 112,195 | 3.8 |
| 31 | Louisiana | 111,836 | 2.4 |
| 32 | Alabama | 102,777 | 2 |
| 33 | Kentucky | 98,763 | 2.2 |
| 34 | Iowa | 96,861 | 3 |
| 35 | Nebraska | 69,006 | 3.5 |
| 36 | Arkansas | 68,568 | 2.6 |
| 37 | Alaska | 61,460 | 8.4 |
| 38 | New Mexico | 55,997 | 2.6 |
| 39 | Delaware | 50,969 | 5.1 |
| 40 | Rhode Island | 48,450 | 4.4 |
| 41 | Idaho | 47,513 | 2.6 |
| 42 | New Hamshire | 46,861 | 3.4 |
| 43 | District of Columbia | 45,465 | 6.6 |
| 44 | Mississippi | 44,931 | 1.5 |
| 45 | Maine | 25,473 | 1.9 |
| 46 | West Virginia | 22,281 | 1.2 |
| 47 | North Dakota | 18,675 | 2.4 |
| 48 | South Dakota | 18,489 | 2.1 |
| 49 | Montana | 16,889 | 1.6 |
| 50 | Vermont | 16,182 | 2.5 |
| 51 | Wyoming | 9,473 | 1.6 |
| United States | 24,000,998 | 7.2% |
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