New York: The vibrant and influential community of Indians in the US is the country's second-largest community of Asians. With approximately 5.2 million individuals of Indian descent calling the US their home, Indian Americans comprise around 21% of the Asian population in the US, according to an analysis of US Census Bureau data and the American Community Survey by the Pew Research Centre.
The Indian community, according to the Pew Research Centre analysis report, includes people living in the US who self-identify as Indian. This includes people who trace their or their family's origins to India, including immigrants from India and those born in the US or elsewhere.
The meteoric rise of the Indian community in the US has been driven by sustained migration and population growth over the past 20 years, the report said.
With around 5.5 million living in the US, Chinese-Americans are the largest Asian population in the US, the report said.
The number of Indian Americans, which was about 4.9 million in the US in 2021-2023, saw an increase of around 3 lakhs.
Since 2000, the Indian population in the US has surged by approximately 3.1 million, which rose from 1.8 million at 174%, over a span of nearly twenty years.
Immigrants made up 66% of the Indian-American population in the US in 2023, a decrease from 73% in 2000. However, the number of Indian immigrants in the country increased from 1.3 million to 3.2 million people over the same period, according to the Pew report.
A significant portion of Indian immigrants have established long-term roots in the US, with 60% of them residing in the country for over a decade, and 51% having obtained US citizenship through naturalisation.
A significant majority of Indians aged 5 and older in the US demonstrate English proficiency, with 84?le to communicate effectively in the language. This includes 28% who exclusively speak English at home and 56% who, while speaking another language at home, report speaking English very well.
In comparison to other Asian Americans, Indians have a higher English proficiency rate, with 74% of Asian Americans aged 5 and older being proficient.
Besides English, other languages spoken at home by Indian-Americans include Hindi (18%), Telugu (11%), Gujarati (10%), and Tamil (7%).
A significant portion of the population of Indian Americans in the US resides in the state of California, with approximately 9,60,000 individuals accounting for 20%of the community.
Other states with substantial Indian populations include Texas (5,70,000), New Jersey (4,40,000), New York (3,90,000), and Illinois (2,70,000).
In terms of metropolitan areas, the New York metropolitan area tops the list with 7,10,000 Indians, followed by Dallas (2,70,000) and San Francisco (2,60,000), according to the report published on May 1.
Nearly half (48%) of Indians in the United States identify as Hindu, making Hinduism the most common religion in the community.
In comparison, only 11% of Asian adults overall in the US identify as Hindu.
Besides Hindus, 15% are Christian and 15% are religiously unaffiliated, including those who identify as atheist or agnostic or with no religion in particular.
