Fact Sheet

Who Are Asian Americans?

These fact sheets provide a detailed look at 10 groups of Asian Americans by national origin.

Hmong American Partnership navigator Mai Lo Lee, right, enrolls a woman in Minnesota's health insurance exchange on February 13, 2015. (AP/Jim Mone)
Hmong American Partnership navigator Mai Lo Lee, right, enrolls a woman in Minnesota's health insurance exchange on February 13, 2015. (AP/Jim Mone)

The Asian American population is one of the fastest-growing and most diverse demographic groups in the United States. While the “Asian” label is meaningful as a racial category that has been used in government classification for several decades, various national-origin groups have starkly different outcomes in many areas. Thus, while some Asian groups may fare well on socioeconomic outcomes when compared to the national average, other Asian groups fare much worse. Unfortunately, a lack of disaggregated data makes it difficult to assess the state of the Asian American community in the United States. Furthermore, this dearth of information makes it more difficult to properly allocate resources within this community.

The following fact sheets provide a detailed look at 10 groups of Asian Americans by national origin, including data on educational attainment, income and poverty, civic participation, language diversity, immigration and nativity, labor-force participation, and access to health insurance.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.

Authors

Progress 2050