One-quarter of Asian Americans have Chinese heritage

To mark the start of Asia-Pacific American Heritage Month, on Tuesday the U.S. Census Bureau released figures that show there are now 21.4 million people of Asian descent living in America, according to a World Journal report. The report says that Chinese Americans form the largest Asian community in the United States.

A dragon makes its way through the streets at the annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown in New York on Sunday, February 14, 2016. [File photo: IC]

California is home to the largest number of Asian Americans in the United States, with over 6.61 million living in the Golden State. At 1.91 million, New York State had the second largest community of Asian Americans, while Texas came in third at 1.53 million.

More than half of the Asian American community is made up of Chinese Americans (5.08 million), Indian American (4.12 million), and Filipino Americans at (3.91 million). Asian American families have a higher median income compared to the American average (79,653 versus 61,349 U.S. dollars). And Asian Americans are also more highly educated: more than half (53.2 percent) of Asian Americans over the age of over 25 have a Bachelor or higher degree, compared to one-third (31.2 percent) for the general population.