MANILA, Philippines — Residents of Filipino descent are now the second largest subgroup in the single-race Asian category in the United States, according to latest data from the US Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau said there are now 3.4 million residents of Filipino descent in the US in 2010, a 44.5 percent increase from year 2000.
Among the Asian race, Filipinos rank second in the US to the Chinese who number around 4 million in 2010. People of Indian descent rank third with 3.2 million.
These three groups accounted for 60 percent of Asians which is considered as the fastest-growing segment by race of the US population within the period 2000-2010.
According to the bureau, almost half of the total Filipino population in the US (49 percent) reside in the West Coast, 16.3 percent live in the South, 9.7 percent in the Northeast and 8.4 in the Midwest, while the rest are scattered throughout the other states of the US.
Meanwhile, Filipinos had the highest proportion of Asians that lived in California (43 percent).
The state with the second-largest proportion of Filipinos was Hawaii (10 percent), followed by Illinois (4.1 percent), Texas and Washington (both with 4 percent).
The latest bureau report said people in the US population who trace 100 percent of their origins back to Asia numbered 14.7 million in the 2010 census, while people who said their Asian heritage was mixed with one or more other races numbered 2.6 million.
Combined, the two categories totaled 17.3 million, accounting for 5.6 percent of the US population.
Their numbers grew by 45.6 percent from 2000 to 2010, compared to 9.7 percent growth for the overall population.
The bureau defines the US Asian population as people who say their roots extend entirely or partially back to the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, North or South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The report pointed out that Asians in the United States are faring well economically, by and large.
The median household income for single-race Asians was nearly $69,000 in 2010, compared to the $52,000 US national average.
Asian communities in the United States reported a range of incomes, including a median annual income of more than $90,000 among Indian households and less than $47,000 for Bangladeshi households.
In terms of educational attainment, a high percentage of US Asians go to university.
The bureau reports that 50 percent of people at least 25 years old who identify themselves as single-race Asians have a bachelor’s degree. The percentage for the overall US population is 28 percent.
Twenty percent of the same category has gone on for more advanced degrees, such as master’s, doctorates or professional degrees. This is double the percentage of the total US population that has advanced degrees.
The fastest-growing subgroup among US Asians was the population from the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. There were about 200 Bhutanese living in the United States in 2000; their number expanded to more than 19,000 by 2010. Still, the Bhutanese population remains one of the smaller Asian subgroups in the United States.
The Census Bureau says that Asian population in every state except Hawaii grew by at least 30 percent, with the most growth occurring in Nevada (116 percent), Arizona (95 percent), North Carolina (94 percent), North Dakota (85 percent), and Georgia (83 percent). But the U.S. Asian population is not evenly distributed across the country. Nearly three-fourths of all Asians live in just 10 states — California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the bureau reported.
The Census Bureau projects that the number of US residents who identify themselves as Asian or Asian in combination with one or more other races will rise to 40.6 million by the 21st century’s midpoint, making up 9 percent of the US population.
The data for this report are based on the 2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, which was the first 2010 Census data product released with data on race and Hispanic origin, including information on the Asian population, and was provided to each state for use in drawing boundaries for legislative districts.
Data for this report also come from the 2010 Census Summary File 1, which was one of the first 2010 Census data products to provide information on selected detailed groups, such as Asian Indians, Koreans, and Filipinos.
source: mb.com.ph