Telugu Americans () are citizens of the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

who belong to the Telugu ethnolinguistic group. The majority of Telugu Americans can trace their roots back to the Indian states of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

, but also from other neighboring states including

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, among others.

Immigration to United States

Historically, majority of the Telugu immigrants to the United States during the 20th century hailed from the Krishna and Godavari delta regions of Andhra Pradesh. Later, during the early 21st century, they primarily came from all major cities of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, and from 2014 onwards, they have been immigrating from all rural and urban areas of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The rise in the Telugu American population is attributed to the increasing representation of South Indian diaspora in the technological field, especially following the Y2K incident. In fact, the Brookings Institution Report revealed that the Telugu states sent over 26,000 students between 2008 and 2012, with most pursuing degrees in

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

fields.

Dispersion

Telugu people constitute one of the largest groups of

Indian Americans Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

. The majority of Telugu Americans live in metropolitan areas with significant economic importance in STEM fields. These areas include the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

, the Texas Triangle,

Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...

Chicagoland The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities ...

Central Jersey Central Jersey, or Central New Jersey, is the middle region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation Central Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. While New Jersey is often divided into North Jersey and South Jersey, many resi ...

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

, as well as the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

metropolitan areas. Smaller, but significant populations of Telugu Americans exist throughout the country in other metropolitan and micropolitan areas of almost every state. These include

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 census results, the six-county Cleveland, OH ...

, and

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...

Religion

The predominant faith among Telugu Americans is

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, with a significant number also identifying as

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, and a smaller portion as

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Language

A recent study by the American Center for Immigration Studies showed Telugu as the fastest growing language in United States, which has grown by 86% in the last seven years. During the

2020 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice presidents of the United States, vice president Joe Biden, defeated incu ...

, the

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022), Telugu is the most widely spoken member of ...

was first listed on voter registration and ballot boxes in select locales. The states with the highest percentages of Telugu speakers are:

Notable Telugu Americans

Government, politics, and philanthropy

* Upendra J. Chivukula, Democratic politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities after serving more than 12 years in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

, where he had been the

Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

* Narayana Kocherlakota, Economist, former president of

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States, covers the 9th District of the Federal Reserve, which is made up of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, North and South Dakota ...

* Kris Kolluri, Commissioner of Transportation,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

* Aruna Miller, Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, former member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

representing District 15 in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

* Sashi Reddy, Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist * Usha Vance,

Second Lady of the United States The second lady of the United States or second gentleman (SLOTUS or SGOTUS) is the informal title held by the spouse of the vice president of the United States, concurrent with the vice president's term of office. Coined in contrast to " first la ...

. * Vinai Thummalapally, Executive Chairman of Red Fort Strategies, U.S. ambassador to

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

(2009–2013)

Medicine, science, and technology

* C. R. Rao, A prominent statistician *

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-born American business executive who is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. B ...

, CEO of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

* Raj Reddy, Computer scientist, founder of the Robotics Institute at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, winner of

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...

* Vijaya Gadde, Business executive and former global lead of legal, policy, and trust at

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

* Yellapragada Subbarao, Indian biochemist who discovered the function of adenosine triphosphate as an energy source in the cell * Neeli Bendapudi, president of Penn State University, former president of

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

* Ravi V. Bellamkonda, Vinik Dean of Engineering at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

's Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School of Engineering * Dabeeru C. Rao, Director of the Division of Biostatistics at

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine shares a ca ...

* G. S. Maddala, Mathematician and economist best known for work in the field of

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

* J. N. Reddy, Professor and holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

* Satya N. Atluri, Professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

* Balamurali Ambati, American

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, educator, and researcher. On May 19, 1995, he entered the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

as the world's youngest

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

. * Vamsi K. Mootha, Physician-scientist, investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of Systems Biology and of Medicine at Harvard Medical School * Rao Remala, First Indian employee at Microsoft *

E. Premkumar Reddy E. Premkumar Reddy is a molecular biologist specialising in molecular oncology. He is the Director of Experimental Cancer Therapeutics program and Professor in the Departments of Oncological Sciences and Structural and Chemical Biology at the Mo ...

, Molecular biologist/

Molecular oncology Molecular oncology is an interdisciplinary medical specialty at the interface of medicinal chemistry and oncology that refers to the investigation of the chemistry of cancer and tumors at the molecule, molecular scale. Also the development and app ...

. Director of Experimental Cancer Therapeutics program and Professor in the Departments of Oncological Sciences and Structural and Chemical Biology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. * V. Mohan Reddy, Pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

* Seshagiri Mallampati, Anesthesiologist who invented the Mallampati score for measuring the ease of

endotracheal intubation Tracheal intubation, usually simply referred to as intubation, is the placement of a flexible plastic tube into the trachea (windpipe) to maintain an open airway or to serve as a conduit through which to administer certain drugs. It is frequently ...

* Mathukumalli Vidyasagar, Control theorist * Dattatreyudu Nori, Vice Chairman of the Radiation Oncologist Department at The New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City *

Sirisha Bandla Sirisha Bandla (born 1988) is a Telugu American aeronautical engineer and commercial astronaut. She is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations for Virgin Galactic. She flew on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission which ...

, Second India-born woman to go to space through

Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which launched on 11 July 2021. The crew consisted of pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla, Colin Benne ...

mission * Ramani Durvasula, Clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...

. Her practice and research deals with narcissism and its impact on relationships and society as a whole.

Activism, arts, literature, and media

Samina Ali Samina Ali is an American author and activist born in India. Her debut novel, '' Madras on Rainy Days'', won the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger award from France and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in Fiction. Career She has served ...

, Author, feminist, and activist * Jeff Bhasker, Record producer * Vijaya Lakshmi Emani, Social activist, posthumously awarded

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the president of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on N ...

* Saagar Enjeti, Co-host of Breaking Points and The Hill * Uma Pemmaraju, Anchor and host on the

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

cable network *

Aneesh Chaganty Aneesh Chaganty (; born January 30, 1991) is an American film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2018 thriller ''Searching (film), Searching'', for which he won the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Alfred P. ...

, Film director * Siddharth Katragadda, Screenwriter, film director, poet, writer, and painter * Mehdi Hasan, Journalist * Ashok Kondabolu, DJ, rapper, former member of hip-hop group Das Racist * Hari Kondabolu, Stand-up comedian * Aparna Nancherla, Comedian, actress, and voice actor of Hollyhock on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

show

BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...

* Rushi Kota, Actor * Sarayu Rao, Actress * Aryan Simhadri, Actor * Ajay Naidu, Actor *

Varun Sandesh Jeedigunta Varun Sandesh (born 21 July 1989) is an Indian actor known primarily for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his debut with Sekhar Kammula's coming-of-age blockbuster drama ''Happy Days (2007 film), Happy Days'' (2007), and went on t ...

, Actor *

Adivi Sesh Adivi Sesh Sunny Chandra (born 17 December 1984) is an Indian actor, director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. Known for his work in action and suspense thrillers, he's received various awards including an IIFA Utsavam, IIFA Award T ...

, Actor, director, and writer * Akash Vukoti, TV personality * Raja Kumari, Singer * Vivek Maddala, Emmy-winning composer, recording artist and engineer * 6ix (record producer), Grammy award winning music producer for rapper

Logic (rapper) Sir Robert Bryson Hall II (born January 22, 1990), known professionally as Logic, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Gaithersburg, Maryland. He released his debut mixtape, ''Psychological: The Mixtape'' in Decem ...

* Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014 * Pratima Yarlagadda, Miss Indiana and finalist in Miss USA (1999) * Shobu Yarlagadda, Environmental engineer and film producer * Sreeleela, Actress * Avantika Vandanapu, Actress *

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...

, Comedian and actor *

Bhaskar Sunkara Bhaskar Sunkara (born June 1989) is an American political writer. He is the founding editor of ''Jacobin,'' the president of ''The Nation,'' and publisher of ''Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy''. He is a former vice-chair of the Democr ...

, Founder and editor of

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

, an American socialist magazine

Sports

* Laxmi Poruri, Tennis player * Kumar Rocker, Baseball player * Arjun Nimmala, Baseball player * James Blackmon Jr., Basketball player * Sahith Theegala, Professional golfer

Social issues

Telugu Americans have suffered from hate crimes in America. The most notable of these incidents was the 2017 Olathe, Kansas shooting, in which a white supremacist, Adam Purinton, harassed two Telugu immigrants, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, under the pretense that they were Iranians and or illegal immigrants. Purinton proceeded to shoot them, killing Kuchibhotla and wounding Madasani, as well as Ian Grillot, a White American who had come to their defense. Aishwarya Thatikonda, a Telugu immigrant from Hyderabad, and Dallas resident, was a victim of the 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting.