Census: AANHPI community is fastest growing group in the US but there's danger ahead

AANHPI fought for disagregated data leading up to the 2020 Census.

America's reputation as the land of opportunity and promise is taking a hit among would-be immigrants thus achieving Donald Trump's goal of the making America white again.

In addition, In a series of executive orders and policy shifts, the Trump regime has moved to fundamentally reshape how the U.S. Census Bureau counts the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community—a move advocates warn could leave the "fastest-growing" group in America both underrepresented and underfunded.

Population growth in the United States has slowed significantly with an increase of only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, according to the new Vintage 2025 population estimates released Jan. 27 by the US Census Bureau.

This was the nation’s slowest population growth since the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population grew by a historically low 0.2% in 2021. The slowdown also comes after a sizeable uptick of growth in 2024, when the country added 3.2 million people and grew by 1.0%, the fastest annual population growth rate since 2006.

“The slowdown in US population growth is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million in the period from July 2024 through June 2025,” said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau. “With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in net international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today.”

Currently, the estimates of NIM are trending toward negative net migration. If those trends continue, it would be the first time the United States has seen net negative migration in more than 50 years.

Despite the slowdown in immigration growth, AANHPI is still the fastest growing demographic in the US according to Census estimates.

if you’ve been following this blog, you know the "model minority" myth usually hides the real struggle. While the Bureau hasn't released a 2026-specific "America Counts" report yet, the 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Estimates just went live on January 29, 2026, and they tell a story of a community that's growing fast but still fighting for visibility.

About us:

Here’s the breakdown on what the numbers say about us:

Strength in Numbers: The AANHPI community has topped 26.8 million—with 25.2 million identifying as Asian (alone or in combo) and 1.6 million as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

The Big Three: Chinese (5.5M), Asian Indian (5.2M), and Filipino (4.6M) remain the largest groups followed by Vietnamese (2.3M) and Korean (2.0M).

NHPI Community: Native Hawaiians are the largest detailed group (approx. 693,679), followed by Samoan (268,539) and Chamorro (159,845).

Citizenship & Veterans: Roughly 73.2% of the Asian population and 85.9% of the NHPI population are US citizens. Military service remains prominent in the NHPI community, with 6.6% of adults identifying as veterans.

The Education Gap: On the surface, 56.6% of Asians have a bachelor’s degree, but look closer—the NHPI community sits at 25.6%. This is why we keep screaming for data disaggregation; you can't fix what you don't count.

Hustle and Business: There are now over 650,000 Asian-owned firms with employees, proving we aren't just part of the workforce—we’re the ones creating the jobs.

Regional Concentration: Nearly half of the NHPI population continues to reside in Hawaii and California. For the Asian population, more than half live in just four states:
California, New York, Texas, and Washington.

View From the Edge: Danger ahead

The Trump regime's suspicion of the immigrant community could undermine Census' collection for disaggregated data, something the ANNHPI community has been asking for for decades.

Here is what will happen if the Census Bureau sticks to Trump's edicts:

Undocumented neighbors disappear: By directing the Department of Commerce to exclude undocumented residents from the count used for congressional apportionment, the administration is effectively erasing a portion of our community. Since many AANHPI families live in mixed-status households, this move creates a "chilling effect" that keeps even legal residents from opening their doors to census workers.

Cutting the advocacy cord: On day one, the administration revoked Executive Order 14031, which officially shuttered the White House Initiative on AANHPI. Without this body and its advisory commission, the community loses its primary seat at the table for ensuring the census provides linguistic access and accurate data disaggregation.

Expert voices muted: The official disbanding of the Census Bureau National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations in June 2025 means there are fewer experts in the room to explain why a Hmong farmer in Minnesota or a Tongan family in Utah might be missed by generic counting methods.

Trump's "New Census": The Trump regime has proposed a new data collection model that may rely on administrative records and election info rather than traditional door-knocking. For communities with high numbers of non-citizens or limited-English speakers, this shift risks a massive undercount that could drain resources from local hospitals, schools, and infrastructure for a decade to come.

With billions of dollars and political power at stake, these changes aren't just administrative—they’re personal. An undercount doesn't just mean a smaller number; it means our concerns go unheard and our resources are misallocated.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.