Chinese Americans: By the Numbers

AAPI Data Guide for a Fast-Growing Community

This resource guide is designed to provide key insights and perspectives pertaining to Chinese Americans. Drawing on disaggregated findings from AAPI Data’s surveys, data products, publications, and other sources, this resource is part of an ongoing series of resource guides that inspire data-informed insights of particular Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

Please check aapidata.com/resource-guides frequently for new resource guides like this one.

Last updated: August 6, 2025

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The Chinese American Electorate

Population Characteristics (National)

  • Chinese Americans are the second largest single-origin Asian group in the country (4,128,718), with about 1 million more residents than Filipino Americans, the next largest single-origin group who numbered about 3 million in 2020. (AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

  • The 2020 Census counted 1,076,743 Chinese Americans who identify with more than one race, bringing the total who identify as Chinese American to nearly 5,205,461. (AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

Population Characteristics (State)

  • Chinese Americans tend to be highly concentrated in a handful of states, with 34% living in California and another 4% in Hawaii and 5% in Texas. (Source: AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

Table 1. Top 5 states of residence for Chinese Americans

(Source: AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

StatePopulation
California1,789,648
New York827,667
Texas254,182
Hawaii214,493
Washington196,228

Population Growth

  • The Chinese American population grew by 37% nationally between 2010 and 2020. (See Ethnicity alone/combination growth data in AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

  • The Chinese American population grew by 60 percent or more in five U.S. states between 2010 and 2020.

Table 2. U.S. States, by Chinese American Pop. Growth (2010-2020)

(Source: AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

StatePop. Growth (2010-2020)
Washington73%
Utah62%
South Carolina62%
Idaho60%
North Carolina58%

Eligible Voters

Table 3. Top U.S. States for Eligible Chinese American Voters

(Source: AAPI Data’s analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year File)

StatePop. of Eligible Voters
California944,859
New York424,430
Texas126,892
Massachusetts90,787
New Jersey86,430
  • When considering presidential battleground states, Chinese Americans are one of the three largest groups of eligible AAPI voters (15%), with Indian Americans at 21% and Filipino Americans at 15%. (AAPI Data’s analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year File)

Voter Turnout

  • Chinese Americans had one of the lowest voter turnout among Asian Americans in 2020 at 55%. (AAPI Data analysis)
  • Chinese Americans had the lowest voter turnout among Asian Americans in 2024 at 48%. (AAPI Data analysis)

Chinese Americans in Elected Offices

Congressional Representatives

  • There are two Chinese American members of Congress: Vince Fong (R-CA) and Judy Chu (D-CA).

  • It is also worth noting that there are also two Taiwanese American members of Congress: Grace Meng (D-NY) and Ted Lieu (D-CA).

The 2024 Election

Voter Intent & Method

  • 95% of Chinese American voters are planning to vote this November, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released in September. This compares to the 88% of Chinese Americans who said they planned to vote in the 2020 election. (2020 Asian American Voter Survey)
    • This number is also a seven percentage point difference when compared to the 88% of Chinese Americans who said they were planning to vote when asked in April/May 2024. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • 48% of Chinese American voters prefer to vote in-person at a polling place, over 1 in 3 (37%) prefer to vote by mail, and 13% prefer to vote by dropping off their ballots at an election office, polling place or ballot box. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

Political Party Identification

  • Over half of Chinese American voters (56%) identify as Democrat or lean Democrat (vs. 45% in 2020). (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

  • Just over 1 in 5 Chinese American voters (21%) identify as Republican or lean Republican (vs. 20% in 2020). (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

  • 38% of Chinese American voters identify as an independent (the same as in 2020). When excluding those who lean toward either the Democratic or Republican Party, 22% are pure independents. (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

Presidential Candidate Favorability

  • If the election were being held today, nearly two-thirds of Chinese American voters (65%) indicated they would vote for Kamala Harris, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released in September.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 Chinese American voters (24%) indicated they would vote for Donald Trump, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released in September — which compares to the 1 in 5 (20%) who indicated the same in 2020. (2020 Asian American Voter Survey)
    • This also compares to the 27% of Chinese American voters who indicated they would vote for Trump when asked in April/May 2024. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

Table 4. Favorability of Kamala Harris Among Chinese American Voters

(Sources: 2024 AAPI Voter Survey and AAPI Data | AP-NORC Survey — October 2023)

OpinionAs of Oct. 2023As of Sep. 2024Percent Difference
Favorable (“somewhat” or “very”)36%61%25% (+)
Unfavorable (“somewhat” or “very”)46%37%9% (—)
Haven’t heard of / Don’t know enough about18%1%17% (—)

Policy Perspectives

Abortion & Reproductive Rights

  • A majority of Chinese American adults (84%) believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases and want Congress to pass a law guaranteeing access nationwide (80%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • More than 9 in 10 Chinese American adults (95%) support legal abortion in cases where a pregnant person’s health is at risk, for instances of rape or incest, or the presence of a fatal fetal abnormality — and majority (76%) support legal abortion for any reason. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Almost one third of Chinese American adults believe that abortion is too difficult to access for people in their community (32%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Six in 10 Chinese American voters (58%) rank abortion or reproductive rights as an issue that is extremely or very important in personally deciding how to vote in November. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Over half of Chinese American adults 65% say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on abortion. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Climate Change

  • Overall, Chinese American adults express greater concern about climate change’s impact on others than AAPI adults generally.
    • A majority of Chinese Americans are extremely concerned about climate change’s impact on low-income people (42%) and coastal communities (56%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • When compared to AAPI adults generally, Chinese American adults are more likely to have contacted their elected representatives regarding energy/climate policy (10% vs. 9%) but are less likely to have volunteered with or donated to environmental organizations (13% vs. 16%) in the last year. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • A large share of Chinese American voters (57%) rank the environment and climate change as an issue that is extremely or very important in personally deciding how to vote in November. A similar number agree that Congress and the president should pass stronger legislation to reduce the effects of climate change. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • A majority of Chinese American adults (55%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on climate change. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Gun Control

  • Seven in ten Chinese American voters (72%) rank gun control as an issue that is important in personally deciding how to vote in November, including 36% who ranked it as extremely important. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Over three quarters of Chinese American voters (76%) agree we should have stricter gun laws in the United States — with 48% agreeing very strongly. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Almost half of Chinese American adults (62%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on gun policy. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Immigration

  • Almost half of Chinese American adults (62%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on gun policy. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Nearly two-thirds of Chinese American adults (64%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on immigration. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Sources:

  • AAPI Data’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. (2023). American Community Survey (ACS), 2022 Five-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). https://data.census.gov/

  • AAPI Data’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. (2022). American Community Survey (ACS), 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year File. https://data.census.gov/