Pew Research Center: Indian Americans have lowest poverty rate among Asian Americans

Are Asian Americans living the “American Dream”? People outside the United States think that people living there always make a lot of money and live a good life. But reality may be different.

A study by the Pew Research Center shows that by 2022, the number of Asians living in the United States will exceed 2.3 million and live in poverty. An analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that one in 10 Asian Americans live in poverty.

Indian Americans are doing better than any other Asian American group. Indian Americans have a poverty rate of 6%, the lowest of any other Asian group living in the United States.

In comparison, Burmese and Hmong Americans have the highest poverty rates, at 19% and 17% respectively.

Asian American Education and Poverty

The Pew Research Center study also shows that one in three Asian Americans age 25 and older living in poverty has a bachelor’s degree.

By comparison, only 14% of non-Asian poor people have the same education level.

Interestingly, Asian Americans age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree are less likely to live in poverty (5%) than those with lower education levels (13%).

Poor Asian Americans have lower English proficiency

The majority of Asian Americans living in poverty (about 6 in 10) are immigrants. Not many of these immigrants speak English well.

Among Asian immigrants aged 5 and older living below the poverty line, only 44% are proficient in English (meaning they speak only English or very well). By comparison, 61% of immigrants above the poverty line have good English proficiency.

There are approximately 1 million Asians living below the poverty line in 10 major cities in the United States.

Surprisingly, more than half a million of them live in just three cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. More than 100,000 Asians live in poverty in each of these cities. Together they account for 26% of all Asian Americans living in poverty.

In Fresno, California, 19 percent of Asian Americans live in poverty. Buffalo, New York, is at 18%, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is at 15%. Although Asian American poverty rates are high in these places, most poor Asian Americans live in areas with larger Asian populations than these cities.

Poor Asian Americans and the American Dream

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2022 and 2023 showed that nearly 8 in 10 poor adults in Asia (79%) experienced financial hardship in the past year. In stark contrast, 48% of Asian adults living above the poverty line face similar challenges.

Among Asian adults living in poverty, 57% are unable to save money for a rainy day, higher than the 40% of Asian adults above the poverty line who have the same problem.

Additionally, 42% of people living in poverty struggle to pay their bills, more than double the share of people above the poverty line (17%).

Additionally, 38% of Asian adults living in poverty rely on food banks or charitable organizations for food, which is approximately six times higher than the 6% of Asians living above the poverty line.

For the poor, financial problems are often more complex, with 65% of the poor facing two or more of these challenges simultaneously.

The reasons Asian immigrants immigrate to the United States affect their access to government assistance.

Notably, 33 percent of Asian immigrants fleeing conflict or persecution in their home countries received assistance, while a smaller share sought educational or economic opportunities or immigrant reunification with family.

Asian Americans living in poverty have mixed views on the American Dream, with 47% saying it is out of reach. However, people are generally optimistic about achieving this goal, with 15% believing they have already achieved it and 36% believing they are on their way to achieving it.

Asian adults, whether living below or above the poverty line, share similar views on the key elements of achieving the American dream. For those living in poverty, large majorities believe it is important to have freedom of choice (91%), a good family life (91%), secure opportunities for children (91%) and retire comfortably (90%).

However, poor Asian adults are less likely to own a home than those above the poverty line, 40% versus 71%.