How many South Asian Americans there are, and who counts

This book counts as South Asian American anyone who reports a single race of Asian Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan or Bhutanese in the American Community Survey (ACS). This chapter sets that count against the alternatives. Profiles pool the 2022, 2023 and 2024 samples; counts from the pool are annual averages.The ACS counted 6.45 million residents who reported a single South Asian race in 2024 (90% interval 6.38 to 6.53 million), 2.5 times the 2.61 million of 2005 [1]. The 2005 survey had no Nepali or Bhutanese codes and did not cover people living in group quarters, so the 2005 figure is somewhat low. Over the same years South Asian Americans went from 0.90% to 1.90% of the US population and from 21% to 30% of residents who report a single Asian race. Indian Americans numbered 5.15 million in 2024, 80% of the total; Pakistani Americans numbered 634 thousand, Bangladeshi 310 thousand, Nepali 268 thousand, Sri Lankan 63 thousand and Bhutanese 27 thousand. Immigrants were 74.4% of South Asian Americans in 2005 and 68.7% in 2024.

Figure 1

South Asian Americans who report a single race numbered 2.61 million in 2005 and 6.45 million in 2024

US residents reporting a single South Asian race, millions, ACS 2005–2024.

• South Asian, total
• Indian
• Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan and Bhutanese

Show data

Counting multiracial people and other ties adds 0.96 million

The book uses the single-race count because the ACS public-use files do not separate Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan or Bhutanese Americans who report more than one race from other multiracial Asian Americans. Asian Indian is the exception among South Asian groups: in 2024, 286 thousand residents reported Asian Indian together with white, Black, American Indian or a written-in race. Another 673 thousand residents reported neither, but were born in one of the six countries, named a South Asian ancestry, or lived with a parent born in South Asia [2, 3]. All three groups together come to 7.41 million, and the single-race count is 87% of that total.

The ties of that outer group vary. In the pooled 2022–24 samples, birthplace was the first tie for 283 thousand people a year, a co-resident South Asian-born parent for 198 thousand, and ancestry alone for 155 thousand. 41% reported another single Asian race, which includes Asian groups that the Census Bureau does not list separately as well as Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese responses from people born in South Asia. 29% reported a multiracial combination that does not name Asian Indian, 12% some other race, 11% white alone and 4% Black alone. Being born in India or having a parent born there does not by itself make someone South Asian American in the usual sense, so this group sets an upper bound on the count.

The Census Bureau's own tables give a similar picture. The 2024 ACS counted 5.09 million people who reported Asian Indian alone and 5.56 million who reported it alone or with any other race or Asian group, 9% more [4, 5]. For the six groups the published responses sum to 6.38 million alone and 6.97 million in any combination; a person who reports two of the groups appears twice in the second figure. Pew Research Center's analysis of the 2021–23 ACS finds that 91% of Indian Americans identify as Indian alone [6].

Figure 2

Counting multiracial people and others tied to South Asia raises the 2024 count from 6.45 million to 7.41 million

US residents, 2024, millions, under three definitions.

Single-race South AsianMultiracial, reporting Asian IndianOther race, with a South Asian birthplace, ancestry or co-resident parent

Use the arrow keys to move between marks.

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Within the single-race count, the usual markers of origin overlap without matching. In 2022–24, 62.6% of single-race South Asian Americans were born in South Asia and 74.1% named a South Asian ancestry; 31% of the US-born and 23% of immigrants named none. 10.2% of immigrants, 422 thousand people a year, were born outside South Asia: of these, 18% were born in the Caribbean or Guyana, 10% in Africa, 7% in Canada, 7% in the Persian Gulf states, 6% in the United Kingdom and 2% in Fiji.

14% of residents born in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago or Fiji report a single South Asian race

Indo-Caribbean and Indo-Fijian Americans trace their families to South Asia through migration to the Caribbean, Guyana, Suriname and Fiji, and the ACS has no question that identifies them directly. Of the 582 thousand residents born in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago or Fiji in 2022–24, 14.0% reported a single South Asian race and 1.9% reported Asian Indian with another race. 41.0% reported Black alone, 22.2% another multiracial combination and 12.7% some other race. The figures differ by country. Among people born in Guyana, 17% reported a single South Asian race, 21% some other race and 33% another multiracial combination; among those born in Trinidad and Tobago, 72% reported Black alone; and among those born in Fiji, 20% reported a single South Asian race and 54% Pacific Islander. Written-in answers such as "Guyanese" or "Trinidadian" end up in a race category: in the 2024 public-use file they carry codes under some other race and under Black. The ACS does not record Indian descent apart from race and ancestry, so these shares do not separate Indo-Caribbean from Afro-Caribbean immigrants. The New York City Department of City Planning described Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park in Queens as home to Guyanese New Yorkers "primarily of Asian Indian descent" [7].

Among the 230 thousand US-born residents who report Guyanese, Trinidadian, Surinamese or Fijian ancestry, 5.3% report a single South Asian race. The book's single-race count includes 95 thousand people born in these countries or reporting these ancestries, 1.6% of single-race South Asian Americans. Suriname has no birthplace code of its own in the 2022–24 public-use files.

Figure 3

93% of people born in South Asia report a single South Asian race, against 17% of people born in Guyana and 9% of people born in Trinidad and Tobago

Race reported, % of each group, pooled ACS 2022–24.

Single-race South AsianMultiracial, with Asian IndianAnother Asian groupBlackOther multiracialSome other raceWhitePacific Islander or other

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Coding rules decide where Afghan, Sikh and Bhutanese responses fall

The 2020 Census tabulated Afghan responses as Asian for the first time [8], and the ACS gave them a detailed code in 2024. That year 217 thousand residents reported Afghan as their single race, 253 thousand were born in Afghanistan, 253 thousand reported Afghan ancestry, and 359 thousand did at least one of the three. 45% of the Afghan-born residents counted in 2024 had arrived in 2021 or later; Operation Allies Welcome resettled more than 76,000 Afghans after the US withdrawal in 2021 [9]. This book does not count Afghan Americans as South Asian. In comparisons with other Asian Americans they are part of the other Asian group, coded as Asian groups not listed separately in 2022 and 2023 and as Afghan in 2024.

Sikh is a religion, but the ACS records it when respondents write it in as their Asian group. The 2023 sample is the only one with a separate Sikh code in the public-use files: 16 thousand residents (90% interval 11 to 20 thousand), whom this book counts as Indian. In 2024 IPUMS folded Sikh responses into Asian groups not listed separately [10], so that year they fall in the other Asian group; the Census Bureau's published 2024 table counts 8,756 Sikh alone [4]. The 2020 Census tabulated Sikh separately for the first time, after counting it as Asian Indian in 2010 [11].

Refugees from Bhutan are split across two codes. Of residents born in Bhutan in 2022–24, 50% reported Nepali as their race and 25% Bhutanese (n = 895 records). The US had resettled 90,000 Bhutanese refugees by September 2016 [12], far more than the 23 thousand residents the Census Bureau counted as Bhutanese alone in 2024 [4], because many of them and their US-born children appear in the Nepali count.

The counts will shift again. The federal race and ethnicity standards revised in March 2024 combine race and Hispanic origin into one question and require detailed groups by default, with full compliance due by 2029 [13]. The ACS has not yet announced the year it will adopt the new question.

Two in three are immigrants, and a third of immigrants arrived in 2015 or later

In 2022–24, 68.6% of South Asian Americans were immigrants and 30.1% were born in the US; the rest were born abroad to American parents. The two groups have different ages. The median South Asian immigrant was 41 years old and the median US-born South Asian American 14; 78% of South Asian children under 18 were born in the US. Overall the median age was 35, against 39 for all US residents, and 9.1% were 65 or older, against 17.7% of all residents. 47% of South Asian immigrants were not US citizens.

Figure 4

US-born South Asian Americans are concentrated among children, and immigrants among adults of working age

Single-race South Asian Americans by five-year age group and nativity, % of all South Asian Americans, with all US residents for comparison, pooled ACS 2022–24.

South Asian, US-bornSouth Asian, immigrantAll US residents (total in each age group)

Use the arrow keys to move between marks.

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Arrival dates differ by origin. Of all South Asian immigrants counted in 2022–24, 33% had arrived in 2015 or later and 14% before 1990. Nepali immigrants were the most recent, with 41% arriving in 2015 or later. 41% of Bhutanese immigrants arrived in 2010–14, during the resettlement of refugees from camps in Nepal that began in 2007 [12], and 37% of Pakistani immigrants arrived before 2000. These shares describe immigrants living in the US in 2022–24, not arrivals in each period, because some earlier arrivals have died or left.

Figure 5

41% of Nepali immigrants arrived in 2015 or later, and 41% of Bhutanese immigrants in 2010–14

South Asian immigrants by period of arrival, % of each origin's immigrants, pooled ACS 2022–24.

Before 19901990–992000–092010–142015–192020–24

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What these counts cannot show

Race in the ACS is what the respondent, or the person filling in the form for the household, reports, and the Census Bureau imputes missing answers from similar households. Among multiracial people, the public-use files name Asian Indian but not the other five South Asian groups. Parents' birthplace is known only for parents living in the same household, so adult children who live apart from their parents can be linked only by their own ancestry answer, which allows two responses. None of these sources records religion, caste, language of origin or descent apart from race and ancestry, so Indo-Caribbean, Sikh, Tamil or Bengali Americans can be counted only to the extent that the race and ancestry answers capture them.

Appendix tables

Figure 6

Microdata counts by detailed code agree with the Census Bureau's published 2024 table

Residents of each group in 2024: ACS microdata estimate with its 90% margin, and published counts alone (B02015) and alone or in any combination (B02018)

Table of seven groups in 2024 comparing the ACS microdata estimate and its 90% margin with the published counts. Asian Indian (code 610): microdata 5,091,588 plus or minus 70,549, published alone 5,094,694 plus or minus 64,079, alone or in any combination 5,559,778; Pakistani (code 669): microdata 634,256 plus or minus 31,969, published alone 624,982 plus or minus 29,161, alone or in any combination 706,253; Bangladeshi (code 664): microdata 310,451 plus or minus 18,952, published alone 308,332 plus or minus 16,794, alone or in any combination 324,554; Nepali (code 643): microdata 268,473 plus or minus 19,518, published alone 259,874 plus or minus 18,110, alone or in any combination 277,448; Sri Lankan (code 670): microdata 62,582 plus or minus 7,543, published alone 63,896 plus or minus 7,133, alone or in any combination 76,678; Bhutanese (code 641): microdata 27,394 plus or minus 9,161, published alone 23,353 plus or minus 7,011, alone or in any combination 27,564; Afghan (code 655): microdata 216,917 plus or minus 19,338, published alone 210,193 plus or minus 17,399, alone or in any combination 298,601.

2024	IPUMS code	Microdata estimate	90% margin	Published, alone (B02015)	90% margin	Published, alone or in any combination (B02018)
Asian Indian	610	5,091,588	±70,549	5,094,694	±64,079	5,559,778
Pakistani	669	634,256	±31,969	624,982	±29,161	706,253
Bangladeshi	664	310,451	±18,952	308,332	±16,794	324,554
Nepali	643	268,473	±19,518	259,874	±18,110	277,448
Sri Lankan	670	62,582	±7,543	63,896	±7,133	76,678
Bhutanese	641	27,394	±9,161	23,353	±7,011	27,564
Afghan	655	216,917	±19,338	210,193	±17,399	298,601

The 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A counts, for reference [14]:

Figure 7

Every group counts more people alone or in any combination than alone in the 2020 Census

2020 Census Detailed DHC-A counts by detailed group, people reporting the group alone and alone or in any combination

Table of eight groups in the 2020 Census, alone and alone or in any combination: Asian Indian 4,397,737 alone and 4,768,846 in any combination; Pakistani 618,037 alone and 687,942 in any combination; Bangladeshi 256,519 alone and 273,050 in any combination; Nepalese 205,297 alone and 219,503 in any combination; Sri Lankan 69,694 alone and 85,785 in any combination; Bhutanese 39,565 alone and 46,146 in any combination; Sikh 48,321 alone and 70,697 in any combination; Afghan 129,949 alone and 190,389 in any combination.

2020 Census	Alone	Alone or in any combination
Asian Indian	4,397,737	4,768,846
Pakistani	618,037	687,942
Bangladeshi	256,519	273,050
Nepalese	205,297	219,503
Sri Lankan	69,694	85,785
Bhutanese	39,565	46,146
Sikh	48,321	70,697
Afghan	129,949	190,389

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Data sources

• American Community Survey 1-year samples (IPUMS USA)1-year samples 2005 to 2024, with the supplementary extract that adds ancestry (ANCESTR1D, ANCESTR2D) and the birthplaces of co-resident parents (BPLD_MOM, BPLD_POP, BPLD_MOM2, BPLD_POP2) [1]Years: 2005 to 2024 · Weights: PERWT, with the 80 replicate weights REPWTP
• American Community Survey 1-year samples pooled over three years (IPUMS USA)the 2022, 2023 and 2024 samples pooled for the profiles; counts from the pool are annual averagesYears: 2005 to 2007 and 2022 to 2024 · Weights: PERWT divided by three, with replicate weights paired across years
• US Census Bureau published ACS tablestables B02015 and B02018, 2024 ACS 1-year estimates, United States [4, 5]Years: 2020 to 2024 · Weights: published weighted estimates with 90% margins of error
• 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A2020 Census Detailed DHC-A, Asian alone and alone or in any combination counts [14]Years: 2020 · Weights: full counts (with disclosure avoidance)

Methods

Single race. South Asian American: RACED 610 (Asian Indian), 678 (Asian Indian with another Asian group) or 657 (Sikh, a write-in with its own code only in the 2023 sample), all counted as Indian; 669 (Pakistani); 664 (Bangladeshi); 643 (Nepali, coded from 2012); 670 (Sri Lankan); 641 (Bhutanese, coded from 2012). Single-race Asian: RACE 4 to 6 without the Pacific Islander combinations, as in chapters 3 and 7. The 2005 sample excludes the group-quarters population.

Wider definitions. Multiracial with Asian Indian: RACED 814, 835, 852, 866 or 884. Birthplace: BPLD 52100 (India), 52140 (Pakistan), 52110 (Bangladesh), 52400 (Nepal), 52150 (Sri Lanka) or 52120 (Bhutan). Ancestry, first or second response: Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Bhutanese, Nepali, Goan, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Pakistani, Kashmiri or Sri Lankan (ANCESTR1D/ANCESTR2D 6030–6032, 6070, 6090, 6150–6152, 6280, 6300, 6500, 6560, 6800–6802, 6900). Parent: a mother or father in the household born in one of the six countries. Caribbean and Fiji: BPLD 30040 (Guyana), 26060 (Trinidad and Tobago) or 71015 (Fiji), or Guyanese, Trinidadian, Tobagonian, Surinamese or Fijian ancestry (3700, 3140, 3150, 3800, 8410). Afghan: RACED 655, BPLD 52000 or ancestry 6000. Regions of birth for immigrants born outside South Asia group BPLD codes for the West Indies, Guyana and Suriname; Africa; Canada; England and the United Kingdom; Fiji; and Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Nativity and age. Immigrants: CITIZEN 2 to 5. US-born: CITIZEN 0. People born abroad to American parents (CITIZEN 1) are in totals but in neither nativity group, so the US-born shares here run slightly below the "born a citizen" shares in chapter 7. Medians are weighted medians of age in whole years. Arrival periods use YRIMMIG.

Uncertainty. Intervals use the 80 successive-difference replicate weights, Var = 4/80 × Σ(θᵣ − θ)², pairing replicate r across pooled years [15]. Intervals are 90%. The 2020 sample used experimental weights and has no interval. Cells with fewer than 50 records are suppressed and those with fewer than 200 are marked †.

Validation. For 2024, the microdata counts by detailed code match the Census Bureau's published table B02015 within 17% for each group, inside the combined margins of error. The published table counts Asian Indian alone; the book's Indian count also includes code 678 (Asian Indian with another Asian group, 58 thousand in 2024).

Reproduction. south-asian-voters/chapters/08-who-counts/build_data.py computes every number and writes data.json; build_page.py and charts.js assemble this page; refs.json holds the references and published counts.

References

1. Ruggles, S.; Flood, S.; Sobek, M.; Backman, D.; Cooper, G.; Rivera Drew, J. A.; Richards, S.; Rodgers, R.; Schroeder, J.; Williams, K. C. W. (2025). IPUMS USA: Version 16.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. doi:10.18128/D010.V16.0
2. IPUMS USA (2026). ANCESTR1: Ancestry, first response, and ANCESTR2: Ancestry, second response, variable descriptions. IPUMS USA. usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/ANCESTR1
3. IPUMS USA (2026). BPL_MOM, BPL_POP: Birthplace of mother and father. IPUMS USA (attached characteristics, available only for parents in the same household). usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/BPL_MOM
4. US Census Bureau (2026). Asian Alone by Selected Groups (Table B02015), 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, United States. data.census.gov, accessed November 7, 2026. data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B02015?g=010XX00US
5. US Census Bureau (2026). Asian Alone or in Any Combination by Selected Groups (Table B02018), 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, United States. data.census.gov, accessed November 7, 2026. data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B02018?g=010XX00US
6. Im, C. (2025). Facts about Indians in the U.S.. Pew Research Center fact sheet, May 1, 2025. www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/fact-sheet/asian-americans-indians-in-the-u-s/
7. New York City Department of City Planning (2004). The Newest New Yorkers 2000: Immigrant New York in the New Millennium. Briefing booklet. www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/new-population/newest-new-yorkers-2000-briefing-booklet.pdf
8. Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (2023). CAPAC Chair commends 2020 Census data product. Press release, September 2023 (Afghan, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek responses tabulated as Asian). capac.house.gov/press-release/capac-chair-commends-2020-census-data-product
9. US Department of Homeland Security (2022). Operation Allies Welcome announces departure of all Afghan nationals from U.S. military bases. Press release, February 19, 2022. www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/19/operation-allies-welcome-announces-departure-all-afghan-nationals-us-military-bases
10. IPUMS USA (2026). RACE: Race, variable description and comparability notes. IPUMS USA (Sikh added as a detailed Asian code in the 2023 ACS and combined with other Asian groups not elsewhere classified in 2024). usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/RACE
11. Coritz, A.; Peña, J.; Jacobs, P.; Rico, B.; Hahn, J. K.; Lowe, M. (2023). Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Population for More Than 200 New Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups. US Census Bureau, America Counts, September 21, 2023. www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html
12. The Kathmandu Post (2016). US ambassador bids farewell to 90,000th refugee to resettle in the US. The Kathmandu Post, September 20, 2016. kathmandupost.com/valley/2016/09/20/us-ambassador-bids-farewell-to-90000th-refugee-to-resettle-in-the-us
13. Congressional Research Service (2024). Revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Insight IN12304, January 16, 2024, updated September 14, 2026. www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IN12304.html
14. Rico, B.; Hahn, J. K.; Spence, C. (2023). Chinese, Except Taiwanese, Was the Largest Asian Alone or in Any Combination Group; Nepalese Population Grew Fastest. US Census Bureau, America Counts, September 21, 2023, with Table 1 (2020 Census Detailed DHC-A). www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-asian-population.html
15. IPUMS USA (2026). Replicate weights in the American Community Survey. IPUMS USA user note. usa.ipums.org/usa/repwt.shtml

How to cite

@misc{singh2026whocounts,
  author = {Singh, Vishal},
  title = {How many South Asian Americans there are, and who counts},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://vishalsingh.org/south-asians/who-counts},
  note = {South Asians in America, chapter 1. Published 7 November 2026.}
}

Acknowledgments

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