Taiwanese Americans

Traditional Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人 Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-Bí-jîn
Americans with Taiwanese ancestry by PUMA and state
Total population
331,224 (2023)[a] (by ancestry or ethnic origin) 392,012 (2023)[2] (born in Taiwan) Range:195,000[3] –900,595[4] 0.06%–0.3% of the U.S. population (2017)
Regions with significant populations
Los Angeles metropolitan area,New York City metropolitan area,San Francisco Bay Area,Greater Boston,Philadelphia metropolitan area,Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area,Seattle metropolitan area,Chicago metropolitan area,Greater Houston,Miami metropolitan area,Las Vegas Valley.
Languages
Taiwanese Mandarin,Taiwanese Hokkien,Taiwanese Hakka,Formosan languages
Religion
Christianity,Taiwanese folk (Confucianism,Taoism,Buddhism)
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Taiwanese,Chinese Americans[5]

Taiwanese Americans (Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人;pinyin:Táiwān yì měiguó rén;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tâi-Bí-jîn) areAmericans ofTaiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrants from theRepublic of China (Taiwan).^[6] A 2008 survey by the Taiwanese government placed the Taiwanese American population at approximately 627,000.^[7]

Taiwanese Americans are thehighest-earning American ethnic group byper capita income and have the highesteducational attainment of any ethnic group in the United States.^[8] AfterWorld War II and theChinese Civil War, immigrants from Taiwan first began to arrive in the United States, where Taiwanese immigration was shaped by theHart-Celler Act (1965) and theTaiwan Relations Act (1979).^[9] As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in eitherCalifornia,New York, orTexas.^[10]

Notable Taiwanese Americans include billionaire CEOsJensen Huang (Nvidia),Lisa Su (AMD), andMorris Chang (TSMC); entrepreneursJerry Yang (co-founder ofYahoo),Steve Chen (co-founder ofYouTube),Tony Hsieh (Zappos); politiciansMichelle Wu,Andrew Yang,Lanhee Chen, andElaine Chao; juristsGoodwin Liu,Florence Pan, andJames Ho;HIV/AIDS researcherDavid Ho, chemistDavid R. Liu, andNobel Prize laureatesSamuel C. C. Ting andYuan T. Lee. Taiwanese American celebrities includeNBA basketball playerJeremy Lin, singer-songwriterWang Leehom, and actressConstance Wu.

Taiwanese Americans are one of the newestAsian American ethnic groups in the United States.^[11][12] They encompass immigrants to the U.S. from theRepublic of China (known as Taiwan), which is primarily located on the island ofFormosa, and their American-born descendants.^[13] The country consists mostly of Chinese descendants from the provinces ofFujian andGuangdong and theirFujianese andHakka subgroups (benshengren).^[14] As a result, theculture of Taiwan also shares many commonalities withChinese culture which has often led to the categorization of Taiwanese Americans withChinese Americans.^[15] Taiwanese immigrants, prior to 1982, were listed in the "China-born population" category in theUnited States census.^[16]

Together, immigrants from Taiwan,Hong Kong, and China constitute the three largest groups which form the Chinese American population, each with unique socioeconomic, cultural, and historical backgrounds.^[17][b] The term "Taiwanese American" may be considered a subgroup of "Chinese American", though multiple Taiwanese ethnic groups—i.e.,Taiwanese indigenous peoples or Fujianese descendants fromZhangzhou orQuanzhou—distinguish themselves from mainland China, and the experience of Taiwanese immigrants differ from that of other Chinese immigrant groups.^[19]

The identity of being Taiwanese among both immigrants and descendants in the U.S. has multiple dimensions and has changed over time.^[20] Since the leaders, social elites, and affiliates of the nationalistRepublic of China (1912–1949), under itsKuomintang government, moved to Taiwan in 1949, Taiwanese Americans also include thesemainland Chinese migrants (known aswaishengren). The group is more closely associated with China and may also identify as Chinese immigrants or Chinese Americans.^[21] However, Taiwanese Americans who consider Taiwan to beindependent from China favor a separate political and cultural identity and have lobbied to be counted as a distinct population in theUnited States census.^[12][c]

The first Taiwanese immigrants to the United States arrived in the late 19th century, but significant immigration from the island to the U.S. only began in the mid-20th century, when Taiwanese migrants traveled to the U.S. in search of educational opportunities either on theWest Coast orEast Coast, particularly in scientific fields.^[13][17] After the end ofWorld War II, theCommunist victory in theChinese Civil War forced the nationalistKuomintang government toretreat to Taiwan in 1949. American aid to Taiwan in the wake of theKorean War (1950–1953) supported the Kuomintang government and culminated in the 1954Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Republic of China, which precipitated a small influx of Taiwanese immigrants to come to the United States.^[12]

From 1949 up until 1979, the United States recognized theKuomintang-led ROC as the sole legitimate government of China. As a result, immigration from Taiwan was counted under within the same quota for both mainland China and Taiwan. However, because thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) banned emigration to the United States until 1977, the quota for immigrants from China was almost exclusively filled by immigrants from Taiwan. In 1979, the United States broke diplomatic relations with the ROC, while theTaiwan Relations Act gave Taiwan a separate immigration quota from that of the PRC.

Before the late 1960s, immigrants from Taiwan to the United States tended to be "mainland Chinese" who had immigrated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang (KMT) after theChinese Civil War. Later immigrants tended to increasingly be Taiwanesebenshengren, or Han Taiwanese whose ancestors had already lived in Taiwan before 1949. Taiwanese immigration to the United States began to subside in the early-1980s due to improving economic and political conditions in Taiwan.

A wave of Taiwanese investment in the 2020s especially around theTSMC Arizona megaproject brought with it a surge of Taiwanese moving to the US for temporary or permanent work in support of these projects. In 2024 a record 137,000 Taiwanese went overseas to work in the United States.^[23]

Taiwanese Americans are the most educated ethnic group in the United States.^[26] Both Taiwanese immigrant men and women in the U.S. consist primarily of professionals with high income and higheducational attainment.^[27] Largely influenced bytraditional Confucian beliefs widespread in Taiwan,^[d] Taiwanese American culture places the greatest emphasis on education.^[29] According to a 2000 survey, children's education was considered by Taiwanese couples as a family's most important decision.^[30]

The main focus of the Taiwanese American family is the achievement of the highest level of education for children, who "are encouraged to study hard and attempt to attend outstanding universities and graduate schools".^[31] In addition to supporting extracurricular activities, Taiwanese American parents "support the development of musical skills over athletic skills [and support] engagement in social causes," with a large portion choosing to enroll their children in Chinese language schools that teach Chinese culture, history, martial arts, andStandard Chinese as opposed toSouthern Min dialects such asTaiwanese Hokkien.^[32] Parents devote and invest themselves financially in youth education, especially for boys; a child's academic achievements are considered as collective achievements for the family as a whole.^[28]

In 2010, 73.7 percent of Taiwanese Americans had earned abachelor's degree or higher, a percentage significantly higher compared to the American average of 17.6 percent.^[27][e] In the 2013American Community Survey, over 94 percent of Taiwanese Americans had at least a high school degree or higher.^[35] As of 2018, in theChicago metropolitan area, where more than 80 percent of the Taiwanese American population in theMidwestern United States resides, 97 percent of Taiwanese Americans aged 25 years or older had at least ahigh school diploma and 84 percent had gone on to earn a bachelor's degree or higher—the highest educational attainment of all other ethnic groups in the area.^[36] In 1990, 62 percent of immigrants from Taiwan to the U.S. completed at least four years of college, compared to 46 percent ofHong Kong Americans, 31 percent of immigrants from China, and 21 percent of non-Hispanic whites aged 25 to 64.^[37]

Taiwanese Americans are thehighest-earning ethnic group in the United States by per capita income and are one of thehighest-earning American ethnic groups by household income.^[40] In 2010, approximately two-thirds of the adult employed Taiwanese American population worked aswhite-collar professionals and managers who were highly educated.^[27]

Many Taiwanese Americans are highly educated, salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed in management, professional and related occupations such as engineering, medicine, investment banking, law, and academia. 66.2% of Taiwanese Americans work in many white collar professions compared to 35.9% for the general American population and 48.1% for Asian Americans. 71.3% of Taiwanese men and 60.4% of Taiwanese women work in management, professional, and related occupations. They also hold some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation with a figure of 4.3% compared to a national rate of 6.9%.^[34] The unemployment rate among Taiwanese Americans is generally low at roughly 5 percent.^[41]

According to the 2009U.S. census, Taiwanese American men had one of "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings" with a figure of $76,587, while Taiwanese American women had a median income of $51,307. Taiwanese Americans have one of the lowest poverty rates in the US, with a poverty rate of 9.5% compared to 11.3% for the general American population.^[34] Taiwanese immigrant men in 1999 earned an average annual income of $60,367 (equivalent to $113,945 in 2024), the highest of any foreign-born men in the U.S. at the time, and Taiwanese immigrant women earned $40,276 (equivalent to $76,022 in 2024) per year, roughly $10,000 more than the average for other foreign-born U.S. women at the time.^[26]

The majority of Taiwanese American communities were formed after 1965, following theImmigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and they have since experienced rapid growth. From 2000 to 2010, the Taiwanese American population increased 59 percent from 144,795 (2000) to 230,382 (2010). In 2013, 59 percent of Taiwanese Americans were between age 18 and age 64, 19 percent were from ages <1 to 17, and 9 percent were over the age of 65. The overall median age was 35.^[12] 68 percent of Taiwanese Americans in 2013 were born outside of the United States, of which 67 percent became naturalized U.S. citizens.^[12]

Immigration to the United States from Taiwan has remained substantial. 42,182 immigrant visas were issued to Taiwan from 2001 to 2010, and among those who received legal permanent residency in 2010, 2,090 (40%) were the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.^[15]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Taiwanese emigrants were instrumental in the development ofMonterey Park, California in Los Angeles – resulting in the moniker of "Little Taipei" – as well asFlushing, Queens, which generally reflected new investments and capital flowing from Taiwan into newer Taiwanese enclaves instead of traditional Chinatowns. Taiwanese Americans have also brought with themTaiwanese cuisine to the communities they have settled, which, possibly excludingbubble tea, is not generally well known or served outside these aforementioned Taiwanese immigrant enclaves.

While Monterey Park is no longer the largest Taiwanese community in Los Angeles today, Flushing remains the main Taiwanese cultural, commercial, and political center in New York City. In Los Angeles County, California, newer communities such asRowland Heights,Hacienda Heights,Arcadia,San Marino,Diamond Bar,Walnut,San Gabriel,Temple City, are similar to "Little Taipei." However, many annual Taiwanese cultural events (especially during Taiwanese Heritage Week) are still held in Monterey Park. As an attempt to duplicate the Taiwanese success of Monterey Park in Houston, Texas, Taiwanese immigrant entrepreneurs established what is now widely considered asHouston's new Chinatown on Bellaire Boulevard in the mid-1980s.

The prestige and performance of particular school districts, as well as access to careers in high-tech firms, have played a significant part in influencing the settlement patterns of Taiwanese Americans. Areas with high concentrations of Taiwanese immigrants include theSan Gabriel Valley (Greater Los Angeles),Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino,San Jose), East Bay (Dublin,Pleasanton,El Cerrito,Oakland), Los Angeles/Orange County border communities (Cerritos/Artesia), andIrvine in CentralOrange County. Outside of California, there are also major Taiwanese concentrations inFlushing,Long Island City, andForest Hills, all withinQueens;Nassau County onLong Island;Jersey City andHoboken in nearbyNew Jersey;Rockville, Maryland (northwest ofWashington, D.C.);Sugar Land, Texas (nearHouston),Plano, Texas (nearDallas);Bellevue, Washington (and adjacent areas) (part of the GreaterSeattle Area's "Eastside" communities) andChandler, Arizona. Additionally, the northeastern suburbs of theAtlanta, Georgia area has also received a significant influx of Taiwanese immigrant residents.

From the middle of the 1980s to the 1990s, large numbers of affluent Taiwanese Americans began moving out to upscale neighborhoods such asCupertino,San Mateo,Palo Alto,Fremont,Newark, andPleasanton in theBay Area;San Marino,Arcadia,South Pasadena, andTemple City in WesternSan Gabriel Valley;Hacienda Heights,Rowland Heights,Walnut, andDiamond Bar in EasternSan Gabriel Valley; with immigrants from thePeople's Republic of China andCantonese andTeochew (mostly fromVietnam) taking their place in Monterey Park, as well asAlhambra. Starting in the 2000s, highly educatedNassau County onLong Island east of New York City, as well as suburbs innorthern andcentral New Jersey, have received a large influx of Taiwanese immigrants.

The influx of Taiwanese immigrants during the 20th century contributed towards the establishment of multiple immigrant organizations which sponsored local meetings, cultural events, and conferences. The Taiwanese American Association, founded in the 1970s, was among the first organizations to provide a nationwide network of active local Taiwanese chapters in urban areas.^[53] Multiple early Taiwanese American organizations were dedicated to theTaiwanese independence movement and to advocacy of democratic reform, such as theFormosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), which is based inWashington D.C., and the Formosa Foundation, both of which were established with the aim of supporting Taiwanese political interests and to support theinternational recognition of Taiwan.^[54]

Other early organizations founded by Taiwanese Americans supported specific economic, cultural, or political interests, including the North American Taiwanese Professors Association (NATPA) founded in 1982, the North American Taiwanese Medical Association (NATMA) founded in 1984, the Taiwanese Americans Citizens' League founded in 1985 (which has lobbied to count Taiwanese Americans as separate from Chinese Americans),^[41] and the North American Taiwanese Women's Association (NATWA) founded in 1988.^[53]

Organizations founded by, and dedicated to, second-generation Taiwanese Americans include Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP), theIntercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA), and the Junior Taiwanese American Student Association (JTASA), a high school student network.^[55] Universities that all house astudent association dedicated to Taiwanese Americans includeHarvard University,^[56]Princeton University,Yale University,Cornell University,Brown University,Johns Hopkins University,New York University, and theUniversity of California, Berkeley.^[22] In addition, cities such asSan Jose, California;Rosemead, California;San Diego, California;Seattle, Washington;Flushing, New York; andHouston, Texas, have "Taiwan Centers" which host Taiwanese cultural and recreational activities and sponsor programs for youth and seniors.^[57]

In 1986,Chaotian Temple from Taiwan has also established abranch temple known asMa-Tsu Temple inSan Francisco Chinatown with the support of Taiwanese American community.^[58]

Taiwanese Americans also run several of North America's major Chinese-language newspapers, such as theWorld Journal based in Queens; and the Chicago Chinese News. However, these influential and highly circulated newspapers are not geared solely to Taiwanese immigrants, but also serve a broader Chinese-speaking immigrant readership.Pacific Journal is a weekly Taiwanese-run newspaper that is geared more exclusively toward Taiwanese readers.

Due to the significant Taiwanese American community, Taiwanese media dominates the Chinese-language airwaves in the United States. Cable and satellite television of Taiwan-based media keeps Taiwanese Americans abreast of news developments and programming in Taiwan. For example, satellite stationsETTV America andCTI cater to Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese immigrants.

Passport of Taiwan

Passport of the United States

In the 1960s, many Taiwanese Americans chose to make America their permanent home and had children in the U.S. Most sought refuge from the numerous arrests and executions during theWhite Terror era of theKMT, the political party which haddictatorially ruled the country. By the late 1970s, improving economic conditions in Taiwan slowed the rate of immigration. During the 1990s, politicalliberalization in Taiwan encouraged many who had left Taiwan to return.

Although theoath of naturalization of the United States contains a statement renouncing "allegiance and fidelity" to other countries, the Republic of China (the formal name of Taiwan) does not recognize this renunciation as sufficient for the termination of ROC nationality, and requires a person who wishes to renounce ROC nationality to take another oath before an ROC consular officer. All renunciations are subject to approval from theMinistry of the Interior,^[59] and the Ministry may deny a person's application under Taiwanese law.^[60] Without formal renunciation, the ROC government considers its emigrants with American citizenship to continue to be nationals of the ROC. Acquiring US citizenship has no effect on the holder's status as a national of ROC, which makes Taiwan-born Americans still eligible to vote in the ROC elections, provided that their household registration is still intact in Taiwan.

Unlike their Taiwan-born parents, the American-born second generation do not havehousehold registration in Taiwan at birth, making themnationals without household registration (NWOHRs), despite the fact that they are also ROC nationals under Taiwanese law. In contrast with those with household registration in Taiwan, NWOHRs cannot receive aTaiwanese National Identification Card, do not have right of abode in Taiwan, and are subject to immigration control while in Taiwan.^[61] They are, however, eligible for aTaiwan passport. It is possible for NWOHRs to be registered as nationals with household registration (NWHRs) if they meet the requirements listed under the Immigration Act of Taiwan.

Many Taiwanese Americans play an active role in the politics and culture of Taiwan, aided in large part by recognition ofdual citizenship. According toThe New York Times, Taiwanese Americans are "some of the most determined voters in the world" and several thousand travel back to Taiwan to vote in Taiwanese elections.^[62]

The identity politics of Taiwan also influences at least first generation Taiwanese Americans. Many government officials, including presidentsLai Ching-te,Tsai Ing-wen,Ma Ying-jeou, andLee Teng-hui, have received graduate degrees in the United States. The United States was also a major destination for anti-KMT figures such asPeng Ming-min andChai Trong-rong, where they were politically exiled. Others, including Nobel Prize laureateYuan T. Lee were educated in the United States.

Taiwanese immigrant restaurateurs were largely responsible for the shift ofAmerican Chinese food from Cantonese-focused cuisine to diverse cuisine featuring dishes from many regions in China. The immigration of Taiwanese chefs to the United States began in the 1950s. At the time, cooks in Taiwan were trained in traditional Chinese regional cooking as this fit the chosen identity of the KMT. Taiwanese restaurateurs changed the food landscape of many American cities, includingNew York City, and pioneered innovations such as picture menus and food delivery. Many of the immigrants to the United States during this period had been born in China and fled to Taiwan with the retreating KMT, particularly former residents of the Dachen Islands who had been evacuated in 1955.^[63]

Traditionally, Taiwanese food has been hard to differentiate from Chinese and Japanese food abroad, since many Taiwanese chefs cooked simplified or westernized versions of traditional Taiwanese, Japanese, or Chinese dishes. In 2018, there was a rapid growth in the number of authentic Taiwanese restaurants in New York City^[64][65][66] and across the country, which coincided with an increased interest in regional Chinese food and in Taiwan itself.^[67] Some object to thepolitically fraught inclusion of Taiwanese cuisine under the banner of regional Chinese food and point out that it is inaccurate.^[68]

Taiwanese American cuisine is emerging as a full cuisine in its own right. Myers + Chang in Boston was one of the first restaurants to explicitly describe their food as such. In 2018, James Beard Award-winning chefStephanie Izard opened a Taiwanese snack/dessert shop inChicago.^[69] Taiwanese cuisine has a significant presence in theSan Francisco Bay Area.^[68] Most Taiwanese restaurants in the Bay Area are located in the suburbs.^[70] Increasing interest in authentic Taiwanese food is coming from ex-pats and second generation Taiwanese Americans.^[71]

Kato by Chef Jon Yao is a Michelin-starred restaurant serving Taiwanese food in Los Angeles.^[72]

A Taiwanese American cookbook,First Generation, was published byFrankie Gaw in 2022.^[73][74][75] The book contains recipes from Gaw's childhood growing up in theAmerican midwest.^[76][77]

In 2023,Cathy Erway publishedWin Son Presents: A Taiwanese American Cookbook in collaboration with Josh Ku and Trigg Brown.^[78][79]

Michelle Wu
吳弭

Andrew Yang
楊安澤

Goodwin Liu
劉弘威

Elaine Chao
趙小蘭

Chris Lu
盧沛寧

Julie Su
蘇維思

Lanhee Chen
陳仁宜

David Chiu
邱信福

Ted Lieu
劉雲平

ChemistYuan T. Lee (left) and physicistSamuel C. C. Ting (right) were awarded theNobel Prize in 1986 and 1976, respectively.

Jensen Huang (left), head ofNvidia, andLisa Su (right), head ofAMD, are cousins who immigrated from Taiwan as children.^[80]

Jeremy Lin
林書豪

Constance Wu
吳恬敏

Wang Leehom
王力宏

Ted Chiang
姜峯楠

Alexander Massialas
陳海翔

Charles Yu
游朝凱

• List of Taiwanese Americans
• Taiwanese people
• Han Taiwanese
• Hoklo Americans
• Hakka Americans
• Taiwan-United States relations
• Taiwanese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Taiwanese people in New York City
• Taiwanese Americans in Los Angeles

• History of Taiwanese AmericansArchived 2018-08-29 at theWayback Machine
• Formosan Association for Public AffairsArchived 2021-02-10 at theWayback Machine
• ITASA – Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association
• UMCP TASA – University of Maryland College Park Taiwanese American Student Association
• Taiwanese American Citizens League
• Taiwanese American Foundation
• TaiwaneseAmerican.org
• Taiwan Center of America
• Taiwanese American ProfessionalsArchived 2016-03-03 at theWayback Machine
• U.S. Census 2000 – People Born in Taiwan
• Robert A. Johnston."EXPERIENCES OF IMMIGRATION AMONG WOMEN FROM TAIWAN"(PDF).Sjsu.edu.Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved9 January 2018.

• Taiwanese diaspora in the United States
• American people of Taiwanese descent
• Asian diaspora in the United States

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