Asian Americans in 2001 - growing ethnic group has above-average incomes, lives mostly in cities

American Demographics, Feb, 1997 by Brad Edmondson

Some of them still disappear into the ethnic underground. But for every Asian immigrant who works illegally in a downtown restaurant, another owns a business in the suburbs. In fact, most Asian Americans live in pleasant enclaves like (1) DuPage County, IL (2001 population 883,800, 6.5 percent Asian), where the median household income in 1990 was about Coo percent higher than the national average.

This map shows the proportion of each U.S. county that will be Asian or Pacific Islander in 2001, according to projections by Equifax National Decision Systems of San Diego. The map conceals the fact that American largest and wealthiest places are being transformed by Asian money. It shows only 83 counties where the share of Asians reaches 1 in 20. But immigration should push the Asian-American population from 7.3 million in 1990 to 20. But million in 2001. And Asian median household income was $40,000 in 1995, compared with $37,000 for non-hispanic white households.

Seven in ten Asian immigrants arrive in just three metros. (2)_San Francisco County, CA (pop. 754,000 36.2 percent), was the port of entry for 21 percent of Asian immigrants in 1993; Los Angeles and New York-Newark accounted for 25 percent apiece. Most Asians who have arrived since 1965 still live in ten large metros. Asians, tendency to stay near entry ports means that the further west you go, the more Asian you get. In 1996, an estimated four in ten Asian Americans live in California. Filipino immigrants are a force in National City in (3) San Diego County, CA (pop. 2,751,800, 10.4 percent), where you can find a thriving 24,000-square-foot market called Manila Seafood City. Vietnamese and Cambodian immigration is changing (4) Stanislaus County (pop. 487,200 8.2 percent), 90 miles east of San Francisco. Asians will be 13.2 per cent of California residents in 2001, compared with 9.6 percent in 1990.

What is an "Asian," anyway. The Census Bureau's category Asian and Pacific Islander covers more than 17 countries. The Immigration and Naturalization Service counts people from more than 29 countries, ranging from the Middle East to Taiwan. In majority-Asian (5) Honolulu County (pop. 945,200,62.3 percent) and the rest of Hawaii, about 22 percent of 1990 residents traced their ethnicity to Japan, 15 percent were Filipino, 13 percent were ethnic Hawaiians, 6 percent were Chinese, and 2 percent were Korean.

Generations matter, too. The most affluent subgroup, Asian Indian, contains three cohorts, says SUNY-Buffalo professor Arun Jain. Indians who came to the U.S. in the 13 are well-educated professional men, homemaker wives, and grown children. Those who came in the 1970s tend to be well-educated, dual@earner couples with teenagers. Recent arrivals are younger, less-educated, and likely to own motels and small stores. In (6) Middlesex County, NJ (pop. 679,000, 9.9 percent), merchants from Punjab and Goa cluster along Oak Tree Road in Iselin.

As their numbers grow, Asians are leaving the coasts for greener pastures inland. The International Village shopping center in (7) Dekalb County, GA (647,200, 4.6 percent), serves the estimated 77,200 Asians who live in Atlanta, plus thousands more who drive in from all over Georgia. Asians also take up temporary residence in college zones like (8) Whitman County WA (41,800,8.9 percent), the home of Washington State University. And in (9) Finney County, KS (35,500, 5.2 percent), the IBP Corporation recruits Southeast Asians to work in its huge meat-processing plant in Garden City.

Asian Americans are overwhelmingly urban, but they are the least segregated minority group. "Historically, inner-city Chinatowns were created because of discrimination and because the Chinese were not ready to assimilate", says Eleanor Yu of Adland in San Francisco. "Today, many Asians are ready to assimilate. They speak English, and they have been exposed to the culture."