This profile offers an overview of the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape the health of the Asian American population in the United States. Considering the unique environments, cultures, histories, and circumstances of Asian American populations is fundamental to improving their health outcomes and reducing longstanding disparities. These factors, which are examples of non-medical drivers of health, affect various health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Non-medical factors like poverty, limited access to healthcare, and lack of education are all examples of individual drivers of health factors that contribute to health disparities.
Visit Healthy People 2030 to learn more about non-medical drivers of health.
Data Collection and Reporting for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Populations
Specific health data for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders is often limited, and federal data collection and reporting practices have often combined Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander data. When possible, data for the Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations are reported separately. Practices that support the collection and reporting of data by more granular groups, such as the standards in the Office of Management and Budget’s revised Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, can help reveal the unique health status and needs within the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, which include dozens of distinct ethnic groups that speak over 100 different languages and dialects.
Asian American Population Information
The U.S. Census Bureau defines “Asian” as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, India, China, the Philippine Islands, Japan, Korea, or Vietnam. The Census category also includes people who indicate their race as Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and ‘Other Asian’ or provide other detailed Asian responses such as Pakistani, Cambodian, Hmong, Thai, Bengali, Mien, etc.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) population estimates, in 2024, an estimated 21 million non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone resided within the United States, representing about 6.2% of the total U.S. population. In 2024, the ten U.S. states/territories with the largest percentage of Asian Americans were Hawaii (35.6%), California (15.8%), Washington (10.6%), New Jersey (10.5%), New York (9.4%), Nevada (9.3%), Massachusetts (7.6%), Virginia (7.1%), Maryland (6.9%), and Illinois (6.3%).
According to ACS estimates, Asian Americans were most represented in the United States in 2024 by the following subcategories and their respective estimated populations:
- East Asian alone – 7,619,517
- South Asian alone – 6,439,459
- Southeast Asian alone – 6,337,779
- Asian Indians alone – 5,094,694
- Chinese alone – 4,803,516
According to 2024 ACS estimates, 72.2% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone, age 5 years and older, speak a language other than English at home with 29.6% speaking English “less than very well.” The percentage of Asian Americans age 5 years or older who speak a language other than English at home and speak English “less than very well” varies among Asian American subgroups, ranging from 53.5% of Burmese to 22.2% of Japanese.
According to 2024 ACS estimates, 89.0% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone age 25 years and older had at least a high school diploma, compared to 89.9% of the total U.S. population. However, 59.3% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans, compared to 36.8% of the total U.S. population, had earned at least a bachelor's degree or higher. 27.6% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans held a graduate or professional degree, compared to 14.7% of the total U.S. population. Among Asian American subgroups, the Taiwanese population had the highest percentage of those with a bachelor's degree or higher (81.5%).
According to 2024 ACS estimates, non-Hispanic Asian American alone households had the highest median 12-month income ($117,894) compared to other racial and ethnic groups. 64.6% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone, age 16 or older, in the civilian labor force were employed compared to 60.6% of the total U.S. population. The unemployment rate for non-Hispanic Asian Americans was 4.0%, compared to 4.5% for the total U.S. population.
According to 2024 ACS estimates, health insurance coverage among Asian American subgroups varies, ranging from 10.3% of Burmese alone and 10.1% of Indonesians alone to 2.9% of Japanese alone and 3.1% of Taiwanese alone with no health insurance coverage.
Overall, 74.8% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone had private health insurance coverage compared to 67.2% of the total U.S. population. 27.8% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans alone were covered by public health insurance, compared to 36.8% of the total U.S. population. In 2024, 5.2% of Asian Americans alone did not have health insurance, compared to 8.2% of the U.S. population.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2023 the average estimated life expectancy at birth for non-Hispanic Asian Americans was 85.2 years (87.1 years for women and 83.2 years for men), compared to 78.4 years for all races, the highest among all racial and ethnic groups.
In 2023, the five leading causes of death among non-Hispanic Asian Americans in the United States were cancer, heart disease, stroke, COVID-19, and unintentional injuries.
Suggested Map Citation: "Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race." American Community Survey, ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B03002, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B03002?q=United+States&g=010XX00US,$0400000&y=2024. Accessed on 15 Sep 2025.
Date Last Reviewed: September 2025