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. 

Pew Reports: Data shows the diversity and the growing significance of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

It's no surprise that almost half of Asian Americans live in the West. What's surprising is that about 1 in 4 Asian Americans live in the South.

That's just one of the facts that the Pew Research Center has compiled into a huge package chock-full of facts about Asian Americans. The treasure chest of data and information  was released Thursday, days before the beginning of May, which is celebrated as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

California had an Asian population of roughly 6.7 million in 2019, by far the nation’s largest. It was followed by New York (1.9 million), Texas (1.6 million), New Jersey (958,000) and Washington (852,000). A majority of U.S. Asians (55%) lived in these five states.

Aside from Hawaii, where U.S. Asians accounted for 57% of the population in 2019, Asians made up the largest share of the overall population in California (17%), Washington (11%), New Jersey (11%) and Nevada (11%).

While a plurality of Asian Americans lived in the West in 2019, some 24% lived in the South, 19% in the Northeast and 12% in the Midwest.

The Pew fact sheets provide a wealth of information about Asian Americans as media, schools and governments observe AAPI Heritage Month in May. One of the drivers of hate targeting AAPI is that not much is known about the growing segment of America.

Many polls and surveys in the United States often break down to Blacks, White and Hispanics, often labeling Asian American responses as "statistically insignificant." In other words, not enough AAPI were surveyed to come to any general conclusions about their responses as a community.

Much of Asian American history and individual contributions to the U.S. have been ignored or erased contributing to the view held by many non-Asians that AAPI are forever seen as foreigners, even though many have been in this country for generations.

The 2000 Census counted 11.9 million Asian Americans and then nearly doubled to 23.2 million by 2019 – a 95% increase within two decades making them the fastest growing group in the U.S. 

Although the 2020 Census results haven't released its findings yet, the 2019 numbers show Asians now make up about 7% of the nation’s overall population, and their numbers are projected to surpass 46 million by 2060, nearly four times their current total.

Largely due to an immigration rate that has surpassed Mexico, people of Chinese descent make up the largest group, or 23% of Asian Americans. Indian Americans make up 20%, followed by Filipinos, 18%; Vietnamese, 9%; Korean, 8%; and Japanese, 6%. These six groups make up 85% of the Asian American population.

In fact, according to Pew projections, if there are no major immigration policies that would change those predictions, Asian Americans are projected to be the nation’s largest immigrant group by the middle of the century. Single-race, non-Hispanic Asians are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the country, surpassing Hispanics in 2055. By then, Asians are expected to make up 36% of all U.S. immigrants, while Hispanics will make up 34%.

Of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants, 14% of them are from Asian countries. Four nations in Asia were among the top 15 countries of birth for U.S. unauthorized immigrants: India (525,000), China (375,000), the Philippines (160,000) and Korea (150,000).

Which Asian origin group is largest varies by state. In 22 states that are largely concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest, Indian Americans are the largest Asian origin group. Chinese are the largest group in the District of Columbia and 12 states – predominantly in the West and Northeast – while Filipinos are the largest origin group in nine states. Vietnamese Americans are the largest Asian origin group by population in four states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Nebraska); Hmong Americans are the largest in Minnesota and Wisconsin; and Korean Americans are the largest in Alabama.

The population concentrations of Asian Americans in each state reflect each origin group’s migration patterns over time. Many Indians, for example, have recently migrated to the U.S. on work visas and student visas. 

While immigrants from China are still coming to the U.S. in droves, the Chinese population also has a long history in Western states, arriving in California as early as the 19th century. Hmong Americans, meanwhile, entered the U.S. starting in the late 20th century as refugees with many settling in Central California and Minnesota.

The Pew fact sheets cover a wide range of topics, economic status, English proficiency, educational attainment, home ownership, and more. 

Pew, a nonpartisan research agency, acknowledges the wide diversity of Asian Americans and the disparities among the the groups and within single groups. Pew also allows researchers to delve deeper into each ethnic group to uncover the differences within each ethnicity.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

TGIF Feature: Foreign born find homes all over the United States

Filipino American immigrants are the largest non-Mexican immigrants in Wyoming and Indian American immigrants are the largest non-Mexican immigrant minority in Texas and 20 other states.

Those are the surprising findings of research by Business Insider which produced the map above.

Business Insider based their map on the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey which asks millions of people every year detailed questions about their social, economic, and demographic situations inccluding the question asking respondents what their country of birth is.

Immigrants from Mexico were the largest minority in 32 states. Oregon is a stronghold for Vietnamese immigrants and Massachusetts is the only state where Chinese immigrants are the clear majority minority other than Mexicans.

Except for Canadians and Germany (the largest foreign-born group in New Mexico) the majority of foreign born come from Asia and Latin America, including Mexico and Central America.

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The browning of America: Predictions about the U.S.'s future

read this article This is an article on a phenomenon I've been writing about for decades, the growth of multi-racial families which will result in a quite different America than what we see today or what we are given to THINK is America thanks to a loud and vocal minority and a media still dominated by white, old male decision-makers. What Will America Look Like in 2060? 9 Bold Predictions About Our Future The U.S. is about to undergo some radical demographic shifts that will make our country a more beautiful, open place. View or comment on Ed Diokno's post »

Filipinos, Cesar Chavez and Hollywood

JUST FOR THE RECORD, With the recent release of a motion picture "Cesar Chavez" it should be noted that Filipino farmworkers began the grape boycott in 1965 forcing Chavez and the Mexican farmworkers to join in the strike.

The two unions became the United Farm Workers. Although led by Chavez, Andy Imutan and Larry Itliong were vice presidents and played major roles in cementing the UFW's role in labor history.

Unfortunately, in the movie, Filipinos were depicted only in minor roles, extras, spear carriers: a backdrop. You would think that in one of the few historical events in America where Filipinos played a major role, they would get more credit than what was shown on the screen.