A data book

South Asians in America

A data book in nine chapters on the 6.45 million US residents who reported a single South Asian race in 2024: who they are, where they live, how they earn and form families, and how they vote.

Author: Vishal Singh
Affiliation: NYU Stern
Published: 7 November 2026

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Each chapter is a standalone page with its own figures, data tables, references and methods. The chapters draw mainly on the American Community Survey (ACS) microdata from IPUMS USA, with the Current Population Survey for turnout and the second generation, and with election surveys for vote choice.

Part I People

1
How many South Asian Americans there are, and who counts
In 2024 the American Community Survey counted 6.45 million US residents who reported a single South Asian race, 1.9% of the population; adding multiracial people who reported Asian Indian and others tied to South Asia by birthplace, ancestry or a parent raises the count to 7.41 million.
2
Where South Asian Americans live
In 2022–24, 55% of South Asian Americans lived in five states, and in the 2020–24 county tables half lived in 34 of the nation's 3,144 counties; South Asians were 5.3% of New Jersey's residents and 11.8% of the San Jose metro area's.

Part II Economy and family

3
Income, poverty and education across South Asian American groups
In 2022–24 the median Indian American household had an income of $163,100 in 2024 dollars, about twice both the national median ($80,700) and the Bangladeshi American median ($81,700); 15.9% of Bangladeshi Americans lived below the poverty line, against 12.3% of all US residents and 6.4% of Indian Americans.
4
Where South Asian Americans work
In 2022–24 South Asian Americans were 2.0% of US workers but 19.9% of software developers and 12.5% of physicians; the median full-time, year-round Indian American worker aged 25 to 64 earned $116,400 in 2024 dollars, against $64,700 for all such US workers and $61,800 for Bangladeshi Americans.
5
Marriage and households among South Asian Americans
In 2022–24, 56% of South Asian Americans aged 25 to 34 were married, against 38% of all Americans that age, and 52% of those 65 and older lived with an adult son or daughter, against 18% of all Americans 65 and older.
6
The second generation of South Asian Americans
In 2023–25, about 2.2 million US-born children and adults had a parent born in South Asia, 61% of them under 18; in 2015–25, 82% of those aged 25 to 44 held a bachelor's degree, against 71% of South Asian immigrants of their parents' generation, aged 55 to 74, and 41% of Americans aged 25 to 44 whose parents were born in the US.

Part III Politics

7
The South Asian electorate, 2005 to 2024
South Asian American adult citizens rose from 1.02 million in 2005 to 3.13 million in 2024, and another 1.89 million South Asian adults (38%) could not vote because they were not citizens.
8
South Asian turnout, 1998 to 2024
South Asian American citizens now vote in presidential elections at about the national rate, 67.4% in 2024 against 65.3% for all citizens, after trailing by 16.7 points in 2000 (an estimate covering Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans only); in midterm years they still vote less, 46.2% against 52.2% in 2022.
9
How South Asian Americans voted, 2016 to 2024
In the three surveys that identify them, South Asian American voters gave the Democratic presidential candidate 80.2% to 86.0% of the two-party vote in 2016 and 2020, 10 to 13 points more than other Asian American voters; none of the public files available measures their vote in 2024.

Definitions used across chapters

South Asian American. In the ACS chapters, a resident who reports a single race of Asian Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan or Bhutanese (IPUMS detailed race codes 610, 678 and 657 for Indian; 669; 664; 643; 670; 641). Nepali and Bhutanese have codes from 2012. Chapter 1 compares this count with wider definitions that add multiracial people and people tied to South Asia by birthplace, ancestry or a parent. The Current Population Survey has no detailed Asian race, so chapters 6 and 8 define the group by own or a parent's birthplace in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka or Bhutan. Chapter 9 uses each election survey's own national-origin question.

Other Asian American. In the ACS chapters, residents who report a single Asian race outside the South Asian codes, including Afghan respondents (coded as Asian groups not listed separately before 2024 and as Afghan in 2024).

Immigrants and US-born. Immigrants were not US citizens at birth. US-born residents were born in the US or its territories; people born abroad to American parents are counted in group totals and, depending on the chapter, either with the US-born as "citizens at birth" or in neither group. Each chapter's Methods section states its rule.

Uncertainty. ACS intervals use the Census Bureau's 80 replicate weights; CPS intervals use a household bootstrap. All intervals are 90% intervals. Estimates resting on few records are suppressed or marked in each chapter.

Open questions of definition. In the ACS chapters, Indo-Caribbean and Indo-Fijian Americans who report Asian Indian race are counted and those who report another race are not. The CPS chapters count people by birthplace in South Asia, so Indo-Caribbean immigrants and their children fall outside them. Afghan Americans are not counted as South Asian in any chapter.

Data sources

American Community Survey 1-year samples, 2005–2024, IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota. usa.ipums.org
Current Population Survey, Voting and Registration Supplement and Annual Social and Economic Supplement, IPUMS CPS, University of Minnesota. cps.ipums.org
US Census Bureau published tables (ACS 1-year and 5-year, 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A). data.census.gov
National Asian American Survey 2016 and Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Surveys 2016 and 2020, via ICPSR; Pew Research Center 2022–23 survey of Asian Americans. Each chapter lists its exact files and references.

How to cite

Each chapter ends with a BibTeX entry for that chapter. The entry for the whole book:

@misc{singh2026southasiansinamerica,
  author = {Singh, Vishal},
  title  = {South Asians in America},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://vishalsingh.org/south-asians}
}

Acknowledgments

ACS and CPS microdata are from IPUMS USA and IPUMS CPS, University of Minnesota. IPUMS is not responsible for the analysis here.