Among Asian immigrants, Chinese and Indian migrants are the most populous, ranking as the third and second countries of origin for US immigrants, only behind Mexico. Despite coming from the same continent, the migration trends of both demographics related to which cities and states they settle in the US have both similarities and differences. Many Chinese and Indian immigrants come to study at universities and tend to land high-paying jobs in the high-technology sector, which leads to overlap in migration destinations. In our analysis, we seek to answer the question: do Chinese and Indian immigrants tend to settle in the same places in the US?
Taking data from the US Census, we can investigate population centers for both demographics; combined statistical areas (CSA) in the US with the largest Indian population include San Jose (5.56% of total CSA population), New York (3.53%), Dallas-Fort Worth (2.93%), Sacramento (2.85%), and Seattle-Tacoma (2.79%). In terms of raw population numbers, New York (800,000), San Jose (500,000), and Chicago (250,000), had the largest Indian populations. Given that the Indian population barely constitutes 1.4% of the national population, Indians are vastly overrepresented in these cities. Taking a look at the economic sectors of these cities, it isn’t hard to see why; all of these cities are hubs for high-tech corporations, with San Jose’s Silicon Valley being the best example of how jobs in the technology industry attract highly educated Indian immigrants. On the state level, New Jersey has the highest percentage of Indians at 4.47% of the total population, which is a huge leap from California in second place at 2.1% and Illinois in third place at 2.03%. However, in terms of raw numbers, California is by far the most popular state for Indian immigrants with over 830,000 Indians, almost double that of Texas in second place with 480,000 and New Jersey in third place with 415,000.
In comparison, CSAs with the largest Chinese population were New York (865,000), Los Angeles (664,000), San Francisco, (587,000), and San Jose (243,000). Here, we start to see some differences; although New York, San Francisco, and San Jose are all shared cities, Los Angeles has a uniquely large Chinese population, while Chicago has a uniquely large Indian population. What makes this more interesting is that the number of Chinese and Indians living in the US is roughly the same, both at around 4.4 million, meaning that there are different factors that determine whether or not a city has a larger Chinese or Indian population. In Los Angeles, this could be explained by the San Gabriel Valley, a wealthy suburb that is home to one of the largest ethnic enclaves of Chinese and Taiwanese Americans in the US. Due to its established presence as a hotbed for Chinese culture, the region has attracted further Chinese immigrants, culminating in several Chinese-majority cities such as Monetery Park, Cerritos, and Walnut.
On the state level, the distributions of Chinese Americans were even more extreme, with California (1.8 million) having more than double New York in second place (740,000), which has almost triple Texas in third place (240,000). Out of the 4.4 million Chinese in the US, over half reside in just California and New York, and almost 3/4th live in the top 4 states. Though both Indians and Chinese pick California as their top migration destination, they differ greatly in which other states to reside in. In conclusion, we can see broad migration patterns that attract Chinese and Indian immigrants to places with high paying jobs in the technology industry and top-tier universities, most notably California. However, outside of the Golden State, there are clear differences in the other cities and states that these demographics move to; whereas Los Angeles has a significant Chinese population but a small Indian population, Chicago has the opposite. These differences speak to the incredible diversity of immigrant culture and demographics in America, reflecting the foundation of what makes America so unique.
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