Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States

Author: 
Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova
Date of Publication: 
September, 2018
Source Organization: 
Migration Policy Institute

Unlike most of the foreign-born from Asia, those from Vietnam came to the United States mainly as refugees and asylum seekers from the mid-1970s onward. Today, the U.S. is home to about 1.1 million Vietnamese immigrants, making them the fifth-largest immigrant group.  

More than half of Vietnamese immigrants reside in California and Texas. Compared to the foreign-born overall, the Vietnamese foreign born were less likely to hold a bachelor's degree but had much higher naturalization and homeownership rates. 

This Spotlight focuses on Vietnamese immigrants using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) and 2000 Decennial Census, and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) for 2008 and 2009.  

A 2004 report is available for comparison.

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Citation: 

Alperin , E. and Batalova, J. (2010). Vietnamese immigrants in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/vietnamese-immigrants-united-states-5