Indian 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 Indian 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 Indian American Electorate

Population Characteristics (National)

  • Indian Americans are now the largest single-origin Asian group in the country, with about 270,000 more residents than Chinese Americans, the next largest single-origin group, who numbered about 4.1 million in 2020. (AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

  • The 2020 Census counted 371,000 Indian Americans who identify with more than one race, bringing the total who identify as Indian American to nearly 4.8 million. (AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

Population Characteristics (State)

  • ​Indian Americans tend to be more evenly distributed across various states when compared to other large Asian American groups, such as Filipino Americans and Chinese Americans, who tend to have a high proportion residing in California.

Table 1. Top 5 states of residence for Indian Americans

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

StatePopulation
California902,621
Texas507,479
New Jersey432,883
New York431,368
Illinois276,519

Population Growth

  • The Indian American population grew by 50% nationally between 2010 and 2020. (See Ethnicity alone/combination growth data in AAPI Data’s AANHPI Community Counts Dashboard)

  • The Indian American population grew by an average of 83% in the top nine U.S. states with the highest growth between 2010 and 2020.

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

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

StatePop. Growth (2010-2020)
Washington121%
North Carolina104%
Texas88%
Utah83%
Arizona74%
Arkansas71%
Indiana69%
Oregon68%
Georgia67%

Eligible Voters

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

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

StatePop. of Eligible Voters
California416,397
Texas227,718
New Jersey203,940
New York200,246
Illinois125,895
  • When considering presidential battleground states, Indian Americans are the largest group of eligible AAPI voters (21%), followed by Chinese Americans (15%) and Filipino Americans (15%). (AAPI Data’s analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year File)

Voter Turnout

  • Indian Americans had the highest voter turnout among Asian Americans in 2020 at 71%. (AAPI Data analysis)
  • Indian Americans had one of the highest voter turnout among Asian Americans in 2024 at 70%. (AAPI Data analysis)

Indian Americans in Elected Offices

Congressional Representatives

  • Five members of Congress are Indian American: Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA 6th District), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA 7th District), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA 17th District), Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL 8th District), and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI 13th District). (Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus)

  • While Indian Americans only constitute 0.6% of the adult citizen population in the U.S., about 4.4% of senior positions in government are filled by Indian Americans. (www.indiaspora.org)

The 2024 Election

Voter Intent & Method

  • 96% of Indian American voters are planning to vote this November, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released in September. This number is on par with the number of Indian Americans who said they planned to vote in 2020 (97%), an election year that had seen historic turnout for Indian American voters.
  • 60% of Indian American voters prefer to vote in-person at a polling place, 1 in 4 (25%) prefer to vote by mail, and 9% 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 Indian American voters (55%) identify as Democrat or lean Democrat (vs. 59% in 2020). (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

  • Just over 1 in 4 Indian American voters (26%) identify as Republican or lean Republican (vs. 21% in 2020). (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

  • 25% of Indian American voters identify as an independent (vs. 28% in 2020). When excluding those who lean toward either the Democratic or Republican Party, 15% are pure independents. (2024 and 2020 Asian American Voter Surveys)

Presidential Candidate Favorability

  • If the election were being held today, nearly 7 in 10 Indian American voters (69%) indicated they would vote for Kamala Harris, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released in September.

Table 4. Favorability of Kamala Harris Among Indian American Voters

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

OpinionAs of Oct. 2023As of Sep. 2024Percentage Difference
Favorable (“somewhat” or “very”)56%76%20% (+)
Unfavorable (“somewhat” or “very”)31%20%11% (—)
Haven’t heard of / Don’t know enough about13%4%9% (—)

Policy Perspectives

Abortion & Reproductive Rights

  • A majority of Indian American adults (76%) believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases and want Congress to pass a law guaranteeing access nationwide (74%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • About 8 in 10 Indian American adults 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 two-thirds (66%) support legal abortion for any reason. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Nearly half of Indian American adults believe that abortion is too difficult to access for people in their community (48%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Just over half of Indian American voters (57%) 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 Indian American adults (58%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on abortion. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Climate Change

  • Overall, Indian American adults express greater concern about climate change’s impact on others than AAPI adults generally.
    • A majority of Indian Americans are extremely concerned about climate change’s impact on low-income people (66%) and coastal communities (75%). (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • When compared to AAPI adults generally, Indian American adults are more likely to have contacted their elected representatives regarding energy/climate policy (15% vs. 9%) or volunteered with or donated to environmental organizations (31% vs. 16%) in the last year. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

  • Most Indian American voters (77%) 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)

  • Just over half of Indian American adults (54%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on climate change. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Gun Control

  • Most Indian American voters (81%) rank gun control as an issue that is important in personally deciding how to vote in November, including 50% who ranked it as extremely important. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Over 8 in 10 of Indian American voters (82%) agree we should have stricter gun laws in the United States — with 60% agreeing very strongly. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Nearly three in four Indian American adults (73%) say they could not vote for a candidate with opposing views on gun policy. (AAPI Data | AP-NORC poll)

Immigration

  • Most Indian American voters (73%) rank immigration as an issue that is extremely or very important in personally deciding how to vote in November. (2024 Asian American Voter Survey)

  • Just over half of Indian American adults (51%) 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/