Interesting statistics about people from India living in the US.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
5 facts about Indian Americans
BY DREW DESILVER (HTTP://WWW.PEWRESEARCH.ORG/AUTHOR/DDESILVER/)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rapturous reception (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09
/29/world/asia/narendra-modi-madison-square-garden-obama.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&
version=HpSumSmallMedia&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) in New
York City on Sunday, speaking to more than 19,000 people — largely Indian Americans, according to The
New York Times — at Madison Square Garden. During his packed five-day visit (http://qz.com/265670/heres-
the-itinerary-of-narendra-modis-insanely-busy-us-visit/) , Modi also addressed the UN General Assembly and
met with a bevy of U.S. business leaders Monday morning before heading to an “intimate dinner” with
President Obama.
This is the first official trip to the U.S. for Modi, who was elected in May. His visit not only marks an effort
to repair strained U.S.-India relations, but also spotlights the growing presence of Indians and Indian
Americans in American life. Two sitting governors (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-09-28
/news/54400517_1_youngest-current-governor-pm-modi-prime-minister-narendra-modi) (Louisiana’s Bobby
Jindal and South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, both Republicans) are of Indian ancestry; so are Preet Bharara
(http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/meetattorney.html) , U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and
Neel Kashkari (http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/neel-kashkari-the-700-billion-man-makes-a-bid-
for-governor-in-california/2014/09/28/cbf8877c-45cf-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html) , former Treasury
Department official and current GOP candidate for California governor.
In 2012, the Pew Research Center released a pair of reports on Asian Americans — one focused on
demographics and attitudes (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/the-rise-of-asian-americans/) , the
other on religion (http://www.pewforum.org/2012/07/19/asian-americans-a-mosaic-of-faiths-overview/) .
The reports, which drew from 2010 census data and 2012 survey results, included much information about
the country’s nearly 3.2 million Indian Americans; we’ve selected a sampling of facts from both reports:
Many Indian Americans are recent arrivals. 87.2% of Indian-American adults in 2010 were
foreign-born, the highest percentage among the six largest Asian-American groups; 37.6% of those
had been in the U.S. 10 years or less. One consequence of so many Indian Americans having arrived so
recently: Only 56.2% of adults were U.S. citizens, the lowest share among the six subgroups studied in
detail.
Indian Americans are among the most highly educated racial or ethnic groups in the U.S. 70% of
Indian Americans aged 25 and older had college degrees in 2010, by far the highest rate among the six
Asian-American groups studied and 2.5 times the rate among the overall U.S. population. More recent
(2013) data from the American Community Survey provides more detail: 40.6% of Indian Americans 25
5 facts about Indian Americans | Pew Research Center http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/30/5-facts-about...
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2. 2 and older have graduate or professional
degrees, and 32.3% have bachelor’s degrees; an
additional 10.4% have some college education. One
likely factor: the large segment of Indian Americans
who entered the country under the H1-B visa
program, which allow highly skilled foreign workers
in designated “specialty occupations” to work in the
U.S. In 2011, for example, 72,438 Indians received
H1-B visas, 56% of all such visas granted that year.
Not all Indian Americans are Hindu. Only about
half (51%) of Indian Americans are Hindu, though
nearly all Asian-American Hindus (93%) trace their
heritage to India, according to our 2012 survey. 18%
of Indian Americans identified themselves as
Christians (as both Haley and Jindal do); 10% said
they were Muslim. The religious shares of Indian
Americans are markedly different from those of India
itself (where an estimated 79.5% of the population is
Hindu and only 2.5% is Christian, according to Pew
Research’s 2012 Global Religious Landscape
(http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/table-religious-
composition-by-country-in-numbers/) report), reflecting
differential migration patterns.
Indian Americans generally are well-off. Median annual household income for Indian Americans in
2010 was $88,000, much higher than for all Asian Americans ($66,000) and all U.S. households
($49,800) — perhaps not surprising, given their high education levels. Only 9% of adult Indian Americans
live in poverty, compared with 12% of Asian Americans overall and 13% of the U.S. population. In 2010, by
our analysis, 28% of Indian American worked in science and engineering fields; according to the 2013
American Community Survey, more than two-thirds (69.3%) of Indian Americans 16 and older were in
management, business, science and arts occupations.
Indian Americans lean left. 65% of Indian Americans were Democrats or leaned toward the Democrats,
making them the Asian-American subgroup most likely to identify with the Democratic Party. An identical
share of Indian Americans approved of Obama’s job performance in 2012.
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POSTS EMAIL @DREWDESILVER
Drew DeSilver (http://www.pewresearch.org/author/ddesilver/) is a senior writer at Pew
Research Center.
29 Comments
Sandeep Sharma • 3 weeks ago (#comment-652132)
Try once to claim any indian for lifetime experience.., you will acknowledge yourself that what are the
unearthing facts of this context that you are forging.. well brother.. we have strong faiths and belief in
our ancient epics, culture etc., we are culture loving, traditional people and religious.., mention us here
if you have such things like.. we have own values unlike you all.. it is accepted that you are very ahead
from us ..but what are your success stories behind this? we are ahead on with our stronger moralitty not
alone only… we love politeness we don’t use to criticised we allow to everybody, our language is not the
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6. language for the name only its one of component of our religious which teaches us that how you can support to
mankind in their hardship. If you are claiming then I ensure you that you can be wrong for many points and at the
end of this you have to be changed your prospective, ultimately you would have to change your mind.. and not
with Indians only….for all mankind here, they are also human being like you!! thanks for reading!! jai mata di..
paacha aaojo !!
Reply
Karan Johar • 2 months ago (#comment-651154)
americanindianinaction.blogspot.com (http://americanindianinaction.blogspot.com/) a new blog dedicated
to indian americans in the US.
Reply
Melvin • 2 months ago (#comment-650889)
I work with Indian engineers here in USA working for Aero space industry . Man! They are just brilliant !
Their work ethics are just awesome! They are mild tempered and always willing to help others. You can
never see an Indian American who is rude and treat others with dis respect. Their attitude is just
superb!
Welcome to America !
Reply
Gavin Grady • 2 months ago (#comment-650373)
have more facts
Reply
ankit • 3 months ago (#comment-649438)
Hello brother; we Indians are not uneducated we are very well aware of our culture and family relations..
our mother tounge is “Hindi” not English but we don’t igno it..
we respect you it doesn’t means we are not strong..It is my culture and our Earth we should respect
each other my friend..NAMASTE
Reply
John Abraham • 3 months ago (#comment-650000)
hindi ?! maybe up north, but india as a whole has hundreds of different languages, just because
our national language is hindi does not mean every INDIAN has to speak it. NAMASKARAM !
Reply
Kraem • 3 months ago (#comment-650011)
More Indians speak fluent English in India than in Britain. About 120 Million to be precise! Thats
10% of India’s total population altogether!
Reply
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7. Thomas Smith • 4 months ago (#comment-648798)
I generally like Indian people in the US a lot, they’re seriously awesome people…but I do have one
question — why do they vote Democrat? Most conservatives are generally much more pro-India than
liberals, look how much Obama funds Pakistan…
Reply
LT Spiceman • 3 months ago (#comment-649493)
The Republicans under Nixon even sent in USS Enterprise to bomb India in the 1971 war with
Pakistan. More to the point, Republicans are tied to christian evangelicals who convert Hindus in
India . Bobby Jindal or Nikki Haley would not have been elected on the Republican ticket, if they
had not converted to Xtianity. Republicans like Indians, and dislike Hindus
Reply
Krishna • 3 months ago (#comment-649636)
Most Indians who arrived here believe in a fair chance for everyone regardless of the situation
they were born in, that is the reason they are here – instead of stagnating where they came from.
Republican ideology believes in keeping rich people rich and poor people poor – kind of a
caste/class system that the Indian immigrants here have moved here to escape from. So
naturally, they identify as democrats. The Indians who still have a mindset of class system
(thankfully, the minority), vote Republican.
Reply
Mitra • 2 months ago (#comment-650434)
I have noticed that most of the older Indians who immigrated back in the 70s generally tend to
be Republican and are more likely to give funding to the Republican party. That’s the only reason
why Republicans tolerate Indians. Money. I think the newer generation has caught on to that,
somewhat. I personally believe neither party really cares about Indian Americans. Indian
Americans may be rich, but they don’t have the numbers to make a difference during the
elections, which is why both parties treat Indians fairly indifferently. They both want our money
but don’t care about our votes.
Reply
Janet • 7 months ago (#comment-553401)
Let’s stop calling Native Indians, “Indians”, they are not “Indians” and aboriginal American would be
more appropriate way to go.
Reply
Jerry Donel • 7 months ago (#comment-549204)
This article is TOTALLY misleading! There are BIG differences between Native American Indians (which
5 facts about Indian Americans | Pew Research Center http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/30/5-facts-about...
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8. you seem to have ignored) and East Indians and other foreigners (who you clearly favor). So when are you going to
get the facts straight and publish a revised and corrected article?
Reply
Sammy • 7 months ago (#comment-561178)
This article is all about Asian Indian Americans, as one can tell with mentions of PM Narendra
Modi. This article does not talk about Native Americans, and so therefore, you don’t need to
include them in the presented statistics. There is nothing misleading about this article.
Reply
Sharad Jogal • 6 months ago (#comment-591262)
There is absolutely no confusion about using the term “Indian Americans”. I understand that this
is the precise nomenclature used when “Indian Americans” were given recognition as a minority
community, perhaps in the EEOC directive around 1988.
Reply
D. Maclean • 7 months ago (#comment-546027)
When you refer to “Indians”….shouldn’t there be a distinction between East Indians and Native
Americans? Or is the word “Indian”, when referring to America’s indigenous population, a racial slur?
Reply
sree • 7 months ago (#comment-562126)
Columbus / Americus Vespucci took western route to reach India & hit land of present America,
but thought they hit India. So they called natives who tried to run seeing them as Indians…Since
then native Americans were called Indians..India is 5000 yrs old ..and 7000 yrs old
civilization…haha
Reply
Howard Reston • 7 months ago (#comment-545756)
Indians generally do not come to the US unless they are somewhat well off. And that usually means they
have a comparable education to go with it. There aren’t really a lot” of refugees” coming from India like
there are from countries like Vietnam or Central America.
Reply
Krishna • 3 months ago (#comment-649635)
Many of the people who came here were not “well off”, but had engineering degrees before they
arrived. You could say they were well off academically. Not many were ‘well off’ even by Indian
standards.
Reply
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9. Muthyavan. • 7 months ago (#comment-545718)
Indian civilization is the oldest and is the richest with many spoken languages with oldest literatures .
Reply
seetharaman • 7 months ago (#comment-545491)
No surprise here. Less skilled or less educated Indians are always denied visas to US.
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denbaumgartner • 7 months ago (#comment-545648)
Good! We don’t need anymore uneducated people here…we have too many as it is!
Reply
BeautifulGorgeous • 7 months ago (#comment-549235)
I was thinking along the same lines. It would be very difficult for someone living in poverty to
obtain the appropriate paperwork and funds necessary to emigrate from India. I believe statistics
re: this disparity should have been included in study.
Reply
Pedro • 8 months ago (#comment-544601)
The Democratic Party is not a left-wing party, just more inclined towards the centre than the Republican
Party.
Reply
Paul Dulaney • 7 months ago (#comment-545612)
The Republican Party is not a right-wing party, just more inclined toward the center than the
Democratic Party.
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john smith • 7 months ago (#comment-549333)
The Republican party is a party of the rich for the rich and by the rich. That means about
1% of the citizens. The rest are fooled into believing that (a) they are the rich or (b) the
Republican party is for average American.
Reply
Judy • 7 months ago (#comment-557302)
You got it!
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10. Reply
axt113 • 7 months ago (#comment-550144)
Anyone who thinks the GOP is centrist in any way is deluded.
The GOP abandoned the Center decades ago
Reply
Connie • 7 months ago (#comment-552182)
Today’s democrat party borders on communism!!!!!! The democrats policies have contributed to
poverty. You should read more about Republicans. They truly are the party of the middle class!
Reply
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