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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 7,045,163, 20% (Alone and in combination, 2024) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| San Francisco Bay Area | Fremont,San Mateo County,San Francisco,San Jose/Santa Clara County areas |
| Los Angeles County/Southern California | Irvine andWestminster,Orange County;San Gabriel Valley,West Los Angeles |
| Languages | |
| English,Spanish[1]Chinese,Tagalog,Vietnamese,Hindustani,Korean,Japanese,Khmer,Hmong,Thai,Lao, otherLanguages of Asia | |
| Religion | |
| Protestantism,Catholicism,Buddhism,Hinduism,Islam,Sikhism,Irreligion,Others[2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Asian Americans | |
Asian Californians are residents of the state of California who are ofAsian ancestry. California has the largest Asian American population in theUnited States, and second highest proportion of Asian American residents, afterHawaii. As of the2020 US census, there were over 6 million Asian Americans in California; 15.5% of the state's population.[3] If including those with partial Asian ancestry, this figure is around 17%. This is a jump from 13.8% recorded in 2010.[4]
The largest Asian American ethnic subgroups in California areChinese Americans,Filipino Americans,Indian Americans, andVietnamese Americans. Asian Americans in California are concentrated in theSan Francisco-San José andLos Angeles metropolitan areas.
Including those with partial Asian ancestry, the following Asian ethnic groups in California are: Filipino (3.9%, 1,474,707), Chinese (except Taiwanese; 3.6%, 1,349,111), Vietnamese (858,589, 1.7%), Indian (666,445, 1.5%), Koreans (505,225, 1.3%), Japanese (428,014, 1.1%), Taiwanese (109,928, 0.2%), Cambodians (102,317, 0.2%), Hmong (91,224, 0.2%), Laotians (69,303, 0.2%), Thai (67,707, 0.1%), Pakistanis (53,474, 0.1%), Indonesians (39,506, 0.1%), Burmese (17,978, 0.05%), Sri Lankans (11,929, 0.03%), Bangladeshis (10,494, 0.03%), Nepalese (6,231, 0.01%), Malaysians (5,595, 0.01%), Mongolians (4,993, 0.1%), Singaporeans (1,513, 0.004%), Okinawans (1,377, 0.003%), and Bhutanese (750, 0.001%).[4]
Asians have the highest income per capita in the US, and may have a slightly above average rate in California. However, income average varies with Asian groups, from Cambodians and Hmong to Taiwanese and Indians.
Asians make up approximately 2-4% of homeless in California, which is low, but communities exist especially in San Francisco and San Jose.
While a large proportion of Asian Americans have higher educational attainments and median income averages, many Asian American groups, often those coming from low-income Southeast Asian families, face hardships such as poverty, depression, emotional and domestic abuse, racial bullying, and gang violence. Cambodian and Southeast Asian-dominant street gangs such as theAsian Boyz, which is an off-shoot of the African American and Los Angeles basedCrips gang, formed in Los Angeles County the late 1970s to the 1980s during the Cambodian refuge migration to the US, especially in Long Beach, Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Often, these gangs would fight with Hispanic gangs but would eventually shift into fighting with fellow Cambodia and Asian gang members, mostly with rival Asian gangs or criminals/dealers. This violence over drugs, turf, and arguments would sometimes lead to violence and murders, and violence involving innocent children and families during home invasions have been reported in the San Bernardino area in the 1990s and elsewhere.
Asian Americans and immigrants have a high student body percentage among many California colleges; UC Berkeley is about 40% Asian.
There are many Cambodians inLong Beach,Stockton, andFresno. Long Beach is 4% Cambodian with over 20,000 people of Cambodian residents. There is aCambodiatown in LB. There is a Cambodian population in Oakland, and there were, and to a lesser extent today, Cambodian communities inTenderloin, San Francisco.
San Francisco is 21.4% Chinese, and theSan Francisco Bay Area is 8% Chinese. Many of the Chinese Americans areCantonese-speaking immigrants or descendants fromGuangdong province andHong Kong. There are also many Taiwanese and mainland Chinese immigrants in theSilicon Valley area.
The Bay Area in general is 8-9% Chinese. Many live inSanta Clara County, with many prevalent inCupertino,Sunnyvale, andMilpitas. In the East Bay, many in San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, Oakland, Walnut Creek, and Piedmont. Berkeley has many Chinese in the area; UC Berkeley is about 20% Chinese. On the Peninsula, there are many Chinese Americans inDaly City, San Mateo, San Bruno, and Foster City.
Northern California and America at large's Chinese population largely originated in theTaishan area, with at least half of Chinese Americans in the 1980s reporting some or all Taishanese ancestry. Nearby cities such as Zhongshan had larger emigration waves to the US and/or California. There were also some Shanghainese immigrants coming into the Bay Area to a lesser extent during the 70s-80s.
Sacramento is 3-5% Chinese. Davis has many Asian American residents and students at UC Davis. Elk Grove has a Chinese community.
Los Angeles is 1.8% Chinese, andLos Angeles County is 4% Chinese. A large portion of the Chinese population resides in theSan Gabriel Valley. Areas with notable Chinese and Chinese-American populations includeChinatown, parts ofSan Fernando Valley, andWestwood inLos Angeles, theSan Gabriel Valley, the626 (Arcadia,Alhambra,El Monte,Monterey Park,Rosemead,San Gabriel,Temple City),Rowland Heights,Diamond Bar,Hacienda Heights, and the Los Angeles County/Orange County border cities ofCerritos andArtesia. Chinatown in Los Angeles is populated by mostly working-classCantonese and mainland Chinese while the western San Gabriel Valley has a diverse Chinese population. Rowland Heights and the Eastern San Gabriel Valley is mainly populated byTaiwanese. InOrange County,Irvine has a large Chinese population.
San Diego has Chinese communities inTorrey Pines andRanchos Penasquitos, and there are sizeable numbers in other County cities such as Carlsbad and Poway.
The majority of Filipinos in California reside in the Greater Los Angeles area. According to a 2013 study, there are 1.5 million Filipino Americans in California,[5] making them one of the largest Asian ethnic groups in the state. Since 2018 the population has grown to 1.6 million according to some sources.[6]
As of the 2010 census, a little over 91,000 Hmong live in California alone, out of the total 260,000 in the country.[7] They mainly live inFresno,Merced,Sacramento, andStockton areas.
TheSan Francisco Bay Area is home to the second largest Indian-American population in the United States. Many are primarily concentrated in theSanta Clara Valley and theTri-Valley in Alameda County. Indians began migrating to Northern California in the early 20th century, but Indians would arrive in much greater numbers after immigration quotas were lifted along with the growth of the high tech sector.Kamala Harris, former Vice President of the United States, is of Indian origin and was born inOakland, CA.
Yuba City, which has a significantSikh community, draws thousands of visitors annually for its Sikh Parade.[8]
Southern California is also home to a significant Indian-American population. Over 150,000 Indian Americans live in the greater Los Angeles area.
Los Angeles, California is home to the largest population of Indonesians in America, withRiverside, California having the second largest population.[9]
California contains five of the top 10 metropolitan cities with the greatest Japanese population in the United States.[10] Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, and Sacramento have the largest Japanese populations in California, with Los Angeles having more than the other cities combined.
There are several areas of California that held assembly centers and internment camps (also known as relocation centers) where Japanese Americans were forced to relocate to after theAttack on Pearl Harbor, such asArcadia(Santa Anita Racetrack),Fresno(Fresno Fairgrounds),Arboga,Merced,Owens Valley(Manzanar War Relocation Center),Pinedale(Pinedale, California),Pomona(Fairplex),Sacramento(Camp Kohler),Salinas(California Rodeo Salinas),San Bruno(Tanforan),Stockton, California(San Joaquin County Fairgrounds),Tulare,Turlock(Stanislaus County Fairgrounds), andWoodland. TheTule Lake War Relocation Center inModoc County was the biggest of the 10 internment camps in its prime.
Koreans make up 16% of the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community in Los Angeles County, the highest percentage in the entire country. In the API community of California, Koreans comprise 9% of the population, but only 1% of the total population.[11]
There are many Koreans inFullerton andIrvine in Orange County, and a significant community inCupertino,Santa Clara andSan Francisco.
California is the top state in the country with the largest Laotian population, which as of 2015 is 271,000 across the country.[12] Among the population of Laotians, Hmong people are counted as well. They are mostly in Northern and Central California, inOakland,Richmond,Fresno,Sacramento, andStockton. There are some inSoutheast San Diego.
Los Angeles is second to New York in terms of Malay population, however the combined population of Malay in Los Angeles and San Francisco is equal to New York.[13]
Los Angeles is home to the largest percentage of Taiwanese Americans in the country. There is a Little Taipei, and Hacienda Heights and Monterey Park both have large Taiwanese communities.
California possesses the largest Thai population outside of Asia, and is the only state in the country that has a designated "Thai Town," which is also the first of its kind globally.
Of the 5.6 million Asian people in California, approximately 68,000 are Thai, which is 28.5% of the entire Thai population in the United States.[14]
Totally (647,589, 1.7%)Vietnamese inCalifornia .
San Jose is 10% Vietnamese, and the San Francisco Bay Area has a sizable Vietnamese population. Other areas ofSanta Clara County likeMilpitas, andAlameda County’sFremont is home to many.Chinatown, San Francisco andTenderloin, San Francisco have communities.
Orange County has a large Vietnamese population, with much of the population inGarden Grove andWestminster, which contains a Little Saigon. There are also smaller but significant Vietnamese communities inAnaheim andSanta Ana in Orange County.
There is a Vietnamese population inSan Diego County.Little Saigon, San Diego inCity Heights has a Vietnamese community, and they can be found inRanchos Penasquitos.
| Ancestry by origin[15] | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
 Chinese | 1,535,224 | |
 Filipino | 1,301,440 | |
 Indian | 924,630 | |
 Vietnamese | 858,043 | |
 Korean | 472,787 | |
 Japanese | 238,913 | |
 Taiwanese | 116,422 | |
 Cambodian | 92,953 | |
 Pakistani | 82,851 | |
 Laotian | 56,678 | |
 Thai | 54,688 | |
 Indonesian | 28,980 | |
 Burmese | 22,472 | |
 Nepalese | 20,566 | |
 Bangladeshi | 15,529 | |
 Sri Lankan | 14,435 | |
 Mongolian | 13,523 | |
 Malaysian | 6,082 | |
 Bhutanese | 301 |
| Racial or Ethnic group | 2000 | 2010[16] | 2020[17] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 10.9% | 13.0% | 15.5% |
| Total Population |
This is a list of notable people of Asian descent who were either born, raised, or spent a significant amount of time in California.
Since the Philippines was colonized by Spain, Filipino Americans in general can speak and understand Spanish too.
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| Central Asian |  | |
|---|---|---|
| East Asian | ||
| South Asian | ||
| Southeast Asian | ||
| Other | ||
| History | ||
| Topics | ||
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