Nepalese Americans are

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

of Nepalese ancestry. Immigration from

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

to the United States began in the 20th century, and many have been able to establish themselves as American nationals. The history of immigration from Nepal to America is more recent in comparison to other

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

ethnic groups. Major community groups of Nepali Americans consists of

Khas Khas peoples or Khas Tribes, (; ) popularly known as Khashiya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, in what is now the South Asian country of Nepal, as well as the Indian stat ...

and Madhesi Nepalis, followed by minority Newars, Tharus, Tamangs,

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung language, Gurung: ) are a Tibetan people, Tibetan ethnic group living in the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurungs speak Tamu kyi which is a Sino-Tibetan language derived from the ...

Limbus Limbus (Lat. "edge, boundary") may refer to: * Corneal limbus, the border of the cornea and the sclera (the white of the eye) * Limbus of fossa ovalis, in the heart * Limbus 3 and Limbus 4, two line-ups of a German avant-garde musical group * ...

, Rais, Magar, Lhotshampas, Sherpas, and others, as of American Nepalese Convention Survey of 2018. The Nepali American population is the fastest growing Asian American population in the United States; in 2020, 219,503 Americans identified themselves as being of Nepali descent, an increase of 269% from the previous census of 2010, where 59,490 Americans identified themselves as Nepali.

History

Nepali Americans began migrating to the United States in the early 20th century. The first Nepalese immigrants to enter the United States were classified as "other Asian". Nepalese Americans were first classified as a separate ethnic group in 1974 when 56 Nepalese people had immigrated to the United States. The number of immigrants from Nepal remained below 100 per year until 1992. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, there were 2,616 Americans with Nepalese ancestry. Fewer than 100 Nepalese immigrants became U.S. citizens each year, but the number of Nepalese who become legal residents had grown steadily from 78 in 1987 to 431 in 1996. The Nepalese community experienced significant growth in population during the 2000s. The poor political and economic conditions caused by the Nepalese Civil War marked increased emigration from Nepal. Now, significant communities of Nepali-Americans exist in large metropolitan areas such as

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Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, and

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. Sizable numbers also live in various cities of

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, such as Artesia (1.2% Nepalese American) and Sonoma (0.6%). Gradually, this community has been integrating into mainstream politics. Harry Bhandari became the first Nepalese American to be elected to public office when he won a State Delegate race in Maryland in 2018. Bhandari beat an incumbent and has become the first minority to win any election in the history of the majority White American district.

Communities in the United States

As of 2010, the largest communities of Nepalese were in the following cities: *

New York, NY New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

- 60,000 (0.07% of total populace) * Columbus, OH - 20,000 (0.96% of total populace) * Sonoma, CA - 2,352 (0.06% of total populace) * Irving, TX - 1,507 (0.6% of total populace) *

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- 833 (0.03% of total populace) * Somerville, MA - 752 (1.0% of total populace) *

- 534 (0.02% of total populace) * Fort Worth, TX - 502 (0.07% of total populace) * Arlington, VA - 473 (0.2% of total populace) * Denver, CO - 413 (0.04% of total populace) * Aurora, CO - 362 (0.1% of total populace) According to estimates from the American Community Survey for 2015-2019, there were 140,900 Nepalese immigrants in the U.S. of that number, the top counties of settlement were as follows: 1) Queens County, NY -------------------------- 8,100 2) Tarrant County, TX ----------------------------- 6,300 3) Dallas County, TX ------------------------------- 4,900 4) Middlesex County, Mass ------------------- 3,500 5) Fairfax County, VA ----------------------------- 3,400 6) Harris County, TX ------------------------------ 2,900 7) Los Angeles County, CA -------------------- 2,600 8) Contra Costa County, CA ------------------ 2,500 9) Baltimore County, MD ----------------------- 2,400 10) Franklin County, OH ------------------------ 2,300 11) Alameda County, CA ----------------------- 2,100 12) Summit County, OH ------------------------ 2,000 13) Santa Clara County, CA ------------------ 2,000 14) Orange County, CA ------------------------- 1,800 15) Montgomery County, MD --------------- 1,800 16) Prince William County, VA -------------- 1,700 17) King County, WA ---------------------------- 1,600 18) Wake County, N.C. ------------------------- 1,500 19) DeKalb County, GA ------------------------ 1,500 20)

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

---------------------- 1,500 21) Mecklenburg County, N.C. ------------- 1,400 22) Douglas County, NEB ---------------------- 1,400 23) Salt Lake County, UT ----------------------- 1,300 24) Hillsborough County, NH ----------------- 1,300 25) Dauphin County, PA ------------------------- 1,300

Ethnic Nepali Bhutanese American

Bhutanese refugees are the group of people of Nepali origin who were expelled from Bhutan and temporarily settled in various refugee camps in the eastern parts of Nepal. Since 2008, many Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in different parts of the world and the U.S. There are 96,581 Bhutanese refugees in the U.S. alone. As many Bhutanese came to the U.S. from Nepal as political refugees from that country and are registered as Nepalese Americans; often leading to the actual numbers of Bhutanese Americans being underreported

Cultural celebrations

From the mid-1980s, the Nepalese community in the United States began to develop a series of social, cultural and charitable networks, which include the celebration of certain religious and cultural moments as

Chhath Chhath is an ancient Hindu festival, native to eastern India and southern Nepal. It is celebrated especially in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh; and Koshi, Gandaki, Bagmati, Lumbini and Madhesh province ...

, Dasain, Losar, Sakela, Tihar and the Nepali New Year. They also participated in local cultural events such as Pacific Rogers and Park Fest interfaith community festivals.

Economic Demographics

Economics and Education

File:Income by race and ethnicity 2023 (Household and Per Capita).png, Income by race and ethnicity 2023 (Household and Per Capita) Shows Asian American groups and Nepalese Americans According to data collected by the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...

, Nepali Americans used to have a lower median household income in 2019 of $55,000 a year. However, in 2023, Nepalese Americans had a median household income of $101,641 which was higher than the total population of $77,719. However they also had a per capita income of $39,993 which was slightly lower than the total population's. The Nepalese poverty rate had also significantly decreased to 9.4% which was lower than the total population's of 12.5% This correlates with the high work force participation rate of 76.5% which was significantly higher than 63.8% for the total population. They also had a high rate of people who had attained a bachelors degree of 51.3% which was significantly higher than the total population of 36.2%. However they showed a high rate of people without a high school diploma (19.5%), which was higher than for the whole country (10.2%). Generally this shows significant upwards mobility over time for Nepalese Americans.

Notable people

References

External links

Nepal Study Center, University of New Mexico

Embassy of Nepal in U.S.A.
{{Authority control Asian diaspora in the United States American people of Nepalese descent Nepalese diaspora in the United States American South Asian diaspora in the United States