Bangladeshi Americans are one of the fastest growing Asian origin groups in the United States with their number surging 263 percent over the past two decades from just 57,000 in 2000 to 208,000 in 2019, according to US Census Bureau data.
But Bangladeshis still have a long way to catch up with their two sub-continental neighbours, India and Pakistan, whose diaspora populations are far higher in the US.
A Pew Research Center analysis of the census data found that the Indian Americans’ number saw a 142 percent rise over the past two decades from 1.9 million to 4.6 million while the number of Pakistanis rose 171 percent from 204,000 to 554,000.
The Asian population in the US grew 81% during that span, from roughly 10.5 million to a record 18.9 million. Furthermore, by 2060, the number of US Asians is projected to rise to 35.8 million, more than triple their 2000 population.
Overall, Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing major racial or ethnic group in the United States. More than 20 million Asians live in the US, and almost all trace their roots to at least 19 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
The 19 largest Asian origin groups in the US differ significantly by income, education and other characteristics. These differences highlight the wide diversity of the United States’ Asian population.
Bangladeshis in America in higher poverty
In 2019, Asian Americans had a poverty rate of 10%, 3 percentage points lower than the overall US poverty rate (13%).
But incidence of poverty was found to be relatively higher among Bangladeshi Americans (19%).
Average annual household income for Asian-Americans was USD 85,800 in 2019, higher than the USD 61,800 among all US households. But the average Bangladeshi's income was only USD 59,500.
Only two Asian origin groups had household incomes that exceeded the median for Asian Americans overall: Indians (USD 119,000) and Filipinos (USD 90,400). Most of the other origin groups were well below the national median for Asian Americans, including the two with the lowest median household incomes – Burmese (USD 44,400) and Nepalese (USD 55,000).
Mongolian and Burmese had the highest poverty rates among all Asian origin groups, at 25% – more than twice the national average and about four times the poverty rates among Indians (6%).
Poverty rate was as high as 13 percent among Chinese, 15 percent among Pakistanis, and only 7 percent among Filipinos.
When it comes to education, 30 percent of Asian-American population (25 years of age and above) have bachelor degrees, one percent higher than that of the overall American population. This percentage is 26 in case of Bangladeshi-Americans.
When it comes to concentration of Bangladeshis in the US, the Big Apple comes as number one destination of Bangladeshis. Out of 208,000 Bangladeshi Americans in the US in 2019, an overwhelming plurality of 93,000 lived in New York, followed by 14,000 in Detroit, 11,000 in Washington DC, 9,000 in Los Angeles, 7,000 in Philadelphia, 6,000 in Dallas, 4,000 each in Houston and Miami, and 2,000 in Boston.
Six origin groups account for 85%
Out of the 19 largest Asian origin groups in the United States, six groups make up 85% of all Asian Americans as of 2019. These groups are – Chinese (5.4 million, 23% of total population) Indian (4.6 million, 20 percent) Filipino (4.2 million, 18 percent), Vietnamese (2.2 million, 9 percent), Korean (1.9 million, 8 percent) and Japanese (1.5 million, 6 percent). These groups together largely shape the demographic characteristics of the overall US Asian population.
The other 13 Asian origin groups -- that include Bangladeshi Americans -- in this analysis each make up about 2% or less of the nation’s Asian population. Demographically, these groups often differ greatly from the largest groups.
