Asian American Market

The Asian-American market consists of the purchasing power of people who identify in Census Bureau surveys as “Asian alone.” The word “Asian” can be used to refer to individuals when the term appears in the context of Census data and other survey research data and clearly refers to Asians living in America. The term “Asian American” is used interchangeably with “Asian.”

The Asian-American population is highly diverse.

The Census Bureau compiles detailed data on 17 ethnic and national groups within the Asian population. The largest are Chinese not including Taiwanese, Asian Indian and Filipinos, followed by Vietnamese, Koreans and Japanese. Other countries of origin or descent include Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan and Taiwan.

Between 2000 and 2007 the Asian-American population grew by 26%, reaching a total of 13.4 million. Asian Americans accounted for 14% of all population growth during this period, while the population of non-Hispanic whites increased by only 1.8%. Census Bureau data based on the 2010 Census show that the population of Asian Americans in 2009 was 14.9 million.

With 1.8 and 1.7 million Asian Americans respectively, the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas by far have larger populations than any other metro area. A population of Asian Americans that is nearly as large resides in San Francisco-Oakland and in the adjoining San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area. Other significant Asian-American populations are found in the Chicago, Washington, D.C., Honolulu, and Seattle metro areas.

Compared to Americans as a whole as well, as non-Hispanic whites and blacks, Asian Americans are more likely to live in a family household. Only Hispanics have a higher likelihood of living in a family environment. Asian Americans are especially likely to be part of a married-couple family. While only 50% of all households include a married couple, 60% of Asian-American households are married-couple families.