Cities considered to have significant
Chinese-American populations are large U.S. cities or municipalities with a critical mass of at least 1% of the total urban population; medium-sized cities with a critical mass of at least 1% of their total population; and small cities with a critical mass of at least 10% of the total population.
New York City is home to by far the highest Chinese-American population of any city proper, with an estimated 573,388
Chinese-Americans in New York City,[1] significantly higher than the total of the next five cities combined; multiple large Chinatowns in
Manhattan,
Brooklyn (three), and
Queens (three) are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, as large-scale
Chinese immigration continues into New York,[8][9][10][11] with the
largest metropolitan Chinese population outside
Asia.[12] The Los Angeles County city of
Monterey Park has the highest percentage of Chinese-Americans of any municipality, at 43.7% of its population, or 24,758 people. The
San Gabriel Valley region of
Los Angeles County is the single largest concentration of combined Chinese and Taiwanese Americans in the country,[13] having a collections of U.S. suburbs with large foreign-born Chinese-speaking populations, ranging from working-class individuals residing in
Rosemead and
El Monte to wealthier immigrants living in
Arcadia,
San Marino, and
Diamond Bar. A similar demographic shift has also taken place in the southern half of the
San Francisco Bay Area. Conversely, the
suburbs of New York City within the state of
New Jersey are notable for their widespread and increasing prevalence of Chinese-Americans (see list below), reflecting their general affluence and propensity for
professional occupation.
Metropolitan areas with more than 20,000 Chinese-Americans
The list of metropolitan areas with a
Chinese-American population of 20,000 or more as of the 2011-2015 American Community Survey[update].
The list of large cities (population greater than 250,000) with a
Chinese-American population of at least 1% of the total population, as of the 2011-2016 American Community Survey[update].
As the city proper with the nation's largest Chinese-American population by a wide margin, with an estimated 562,205 in 2016 by the 2010-2016 American Community Survey, and as the primary destination for
new Chinese immigrants,[3] New York City is subdivided into official municipal
boroughs, which themselves are home to significant Chinese populations, with
Brooklyn and
Queens, adjacently located on
Long Island, leading the fastest growth.[15][16] After the City of New York itself, the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.
List of medium-sized cities (population between 100,000 and 250,000) with a Chinese-American population of at least one percent of the total population, according to the American Community Survey.
The following is a list of places in the United States with a population fewer than 100,000 in which at least three percent (five percent in Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay areas) of the total population is Chinese, according to the 2010-2015 American Community Survey, and the
2010 U.S. Census for the
U.S. territories.
The majority of the Chinese-American population of more than 400,000 in
Los Angeles County lives within the
San Gabriel Valley, which is particularly noted for cities that have a large Chinese-American ethnic plurality. The following cities have the highest percentage of Chinese-Americans in
Greater Los Angeles.
Traditionally centered in San Francisco and Chinatown Oakland, the suburbanization of the
Bay Area's Chinese-American population has resulted in significant concentrations in the southwestern
East Bay, eastern
Peninsula, and northern
Santa Clara County. Chinese enclaves have also formed in many of these cities, in a similar manner to that of Southern California's San Gabriel Valley.
Within Saipan, villages with significant Chinese populations include
Garapan (19.7% Chinese),
Chalan Piao (18.1% Chinese),
Chalan Kanoa IV (15.1% Chinese), and
San Antonio (19.8% Chinese).[19]
The overwhelming majority of these cities are in
King County, while three others (Edmonds, Lynnwood, and Mill Creek) are in
Snohomish County. Pullman is in
Whitman County.
^Officially, a County under County Manager Plan of government. (Essentially, a highly urbanized county with a population density of at least 500 people per square mile.)
^U.S. Census Bureau. American FactFinder - 2010 summary file [Geography set to "Atu'u village, American Samoa".] URL unavailable.
^U.S. Census Bureau. American FactFinder. 2010 summary file [Geography set to "Tamuning village, Guam" / "Hagatna village, Guam"]. URL unavailable.
^
abU.S. Census Bureau. American FactFinder. 2010 summary file [Geography set to "Tinian municipality, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands" / "Saipan municipality, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands"]. URL unavailable.
Wei Li. "Building Ethnoburbia: The Emergence and Manifestation of the Chinese
Ethnoburb in Los Angeles' San Gabriel Valley." Journal of Asian American Studies 2(1): 1-28 (1999).