The Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF), a leading authority on Asian-American marketing and advertising, in conjunction with LA 18 KSCI-TV (LA 18), has announced some astonishing statistics about the growth of the Asian population in the United States. The information is based on the 2010 U.S. Census.

With data reported from 27 states, the Asian population is already seeing significant growth that far outpaces the growth rate for the overall U.S. population. All 27 states showed double or even triple-digit growth in their Asian populations. The top five states with the highest increases in the Asian population compared to ten years ago are: Nevada, up 116 percent; North Carolina, up 85 percent; Delaware, up 78 percent; Arkansas, up 77 percent; and Indiana, up 74 percent.

Among the 27 states with their local-level data released so far, the top 10 states with the largest number of Asians (i from highest to lowest) are California; Texas; New Jersey; Hawaii; Illinois; Washington; Virginia; Maryland; North Carolina, and Nevada.
Other surprising statistics:

• In some of the larger states like California, Texas, New Jersey and Illinois, the Asian population growth is outpacing the much celebrated Hispanic growth.

• The same trend is observed in most of the key counties in the Los Angeles and San Francisco DMAs (Designated Market Area).

• Asians accounted for 72 percent of the growth in New Jersey’s population and 47 percent of the growth in Illinois’ population.

• California saw a staggering increase of more than 1.4 million Asians, and Texas saw an increase of nearly half-a-million Asians.

Nita Song, 3AF President, said, “We are excited to see the Census data confirm what the 3AF has known all along—that the Asian segment is an increasingly important consumer group that is tough to ignore. It is a segment that has the potential to drive incremental sales and deliver strong results, and we have seen a growing number of new marketers focus on this segment in the past year.”