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Indian Americans

Nikki Haley Bobby Jindal Fareed Zakaria Rajiv Shah Vivek Kundra Kalpen Modi Kalpana Chawla Padma Lakshmi
Total population
Indian alone: 2,843,391[1] 0.9% of the U.S. population (2010) Multiracial: 3,183,063[2] 1.0% of the U.S. population (2010)
Regions with significant populations
New Jersey · New York City · Atlanta · Baltimore-Washington · Boston · Chicago · Dallas · Houston · Los Angeles · Philadelphia · San Francisco Bay Area
Languages
American English · Hindi[3][4] · Gujarati[3][4] · other Indian languages[4]
Religion
Hinduism · Sikhism · Buddhism · Jainism · Christianity · Islam · Zoroastrianism · others
Related ethnic groups
Indian Diaspora · Indian people Indo-Canadians · Indo-Caribbeans · British Indians

Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with the indigenous peoples of the Americas commonly referred to as American Indians.

History[link]

The term: Indian[link]

In North America, the term Indian has an ambiguous meaning. In the western hemisphere, historically and currently, Indian has been commonly used to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Qualifying terms such as American Indian and East Indian were and are commonly used to avoid ambiguity.

While East Indian remains in use, South Asian is often chosen instead. The U.S. government coined Native American to refer to the indigenous peoples of the United States, but American Indian remains popular among the indigenous and general populations.

People of Indian origin often prefer the term Desi to refer to the diasporic subculture of South Asians. Indian Americans are categorized as Asian Indian (and more broadly, Asian American) by the United States Census Bureau.

Arrival in the U.S.[link]

It was after the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, that Indian Americans were restored naturalization rights in the United States.^[5] A number of Indian Americans came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada, in both of which 2% of the population is currently of Indian origin,^[6] Mauritius, nations of Southeast Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore, South Africa, Suriname, Guyana, Fiji, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica.

Demographics[link]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census,^[7] the Asian Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,678,765 in 2000 (0.6% of U.S. population) to 2,843,391 in 2010 (0.9% of U.S. population), a growth rate of 69.37%, one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States.^{[8][9][10][11]}

India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, is one of at least 20 Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India which have emerged within the New York City Metropolitan Area.

The New York metropolitan area, consisting of New York City, Long Island, and adjacent areas within New York, as well as nearby areas within the states of New Jersey (extending to Trenton), Connecticut (extending to Bridgeport), and including Pike County, Pennsylvania, is home to approximately 557,000 Indian Americans as of the 2010 Census, comprising by far the largest Indian American population of any metropolitan area in the United States. New York City itself contains the highest Indian American population of any city proper, at approximately 195,000. As of June 2011, Indian airline carriers Air India and Jet Airways as well as United States airline carrier Continental Airlines were all offering flights from the New York City Metropolitan Area to and from India. At least twenty Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India have emerged in the New York City Metropolitan Area.

Other metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations include Atlanta, Baltimore–Washington, Boston, Chicago, Dallas – Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco – San Jose – Oakland.

U.S. metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations[link]

While the table above provides a picture of the population of Indian American (alone) and Asian Americans (alone) in some of the metropolitan areas of the US, it is incomplete as it does NOT include multi-racial Asian Americans. Please note that data for Multi-racial Asian Americans has not yet been released by the US Census Bureau.

List of U.S. States by population of Asian Indians[link]

Statistics on Indians in the U.S.[link]

In the year 2006, of the total 1,266,264 legal immigrants to the United States, 58,072 were from India. Immigration from India is currently at its highest level in history. Between 2000 and 2006, 421,006 Indian immigrants were admitted to the U.S., up from 352,278 during the 1990–1999 period.^[14] According to the 2000 U.S. census, the overall growth rate for Indians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 percent. The average growth rate for the whole of USA was only 7.6 percent.

Indians comprise 16.4 percent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in U.S., Indians were 1.007 million. From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the per cent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by over 100 percent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000, the Indian population in the U.S. grew 130% — 10 times the national average of 13%.

Indian Americans are the third largest Asian American ethnic group today, following Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.^[15][16][17]

A joint Duke University – UC Berkeley study revealed that Indian immigrants have founded more engineering and technology companies from 1995 to 2005 than immigrants from the UK, China, Taiwan and Japan combined.^[18] A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs.

Socioeconomic[link]

Education[link]

With the recent wave of highly educated Indian professionals, Indian Americans continuously outpace most ethnic groups socioeconomically to reach the summit of the U.S. Census charts.^[19] Indian Americans, along with other Asian Americans, have one of the highest educational levels of all ethnic groups in the U.S. Almost 67% of all Indians have a bachelor's or high degree (compared to 28% nationally and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians in the United States have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average.^[20][21] Thomas Friedman, in his recent book, The World is Flat, explains this trend in terms of brain drain, whereby the best and brightest elements in India emigrate to the U.S. in order to seek better financial opportunities.^[22]

Economics[link]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Indian Americans had the highest household income of all ethnic groups in the United States.

According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, there are close to 35,000 Indian American doctors.^[24]

Among Indian Americans, 72.3% participate in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.^[25]As of 2010 66.3% of Indian Americans are employed in select professional and managerial specialties compared with the national average of 35.9%.^[26]

In 2002, there were over 223,000 Asian Indian-owned firms in the U.S., employing more than 610,000 workers, and generating more than $88 billion in revenue.^[27]

Culture[link]

Entertainment[link]

Hindi radio stations are available in areas with high Indian populations, for example, Easy96 Radio in the New York tri - state areas, KLOK 1170 AM IN San Francisco, RBC Radio; Radio Humsafar, Desi Junction in Chicago; Radio Salaam Namaste in Dallas; and FunAsia Radio, Sangeet Radio and Radio Naya Andaz in Houston. There are also some radio stations broadcasting in Tamil and Telugu within these communities.^[29][30]. Houston based Kannada Kaaranji radio focuses on a multitude of programs for children and adults.^[31]

South Asian magazine, SBR MAGAZINE(Style & Beauty Resource - Previously known as "Sabse Bada Rupaiya Magazine") , one of the world’s leading publications, offers readers a print and online magazine filled with various beauty, health, fashion, and entertainment news and updates targeted to the young professionals in the Indian community nationwide.

Several cable and satellite providers offer Indian channels: Sony TV, Zee TV, Star Plus, Sahara One, Colors, regional channels, and others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup.

Many metropolitan areas with large Indian-American populations now have movie theaters which specialize in showing Indian movies, especially Bollywood. Silicon Valley, for example has two such multiplexes: one in Fremont and one in San Jose.

In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets Indian Americans.^[32] It has been discontinued by MTV.

Religions[link]

Indian religions

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Chicago

Gurdwara Sahib of San Jose

Jain Center of Greater Phoenix (JCGP)

Communities of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, and Jews from India have established their religions in the United States.

The first religious centre of an Indian religion to be established in the US was a Sikh Gurudwara in Stockton, California in 1912. Today there are many Sikh Gurudwaras, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Temples in all the 50 states. As of 2008, the American Hindu population was around 2.2 million,^[33] and Hindus are the majority of Indian Americans.^[34][35] Many sects such as ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S. The Hindu Americans have formed the Hindu American Foundation which is represents American Hindus and aims to educate people about Hinduism.

Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions.^[36] The Vedanta Society has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans have emerged in different cities and towns of America.^[37][38] More than 18 million Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga. Kriya Yoga was introduced to America by Paramahansa Yogananda. In addition, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada initiated a popular ISKCON also known as Hare Krishna movement while preaching Bhakti yoga.

Indian Muslim Americans generally congregate with other American Muslims, including those from Pakistan and Bangladesh, but there are prominent organizations such as the Indian Muslim Council - USA.^[39]