The 2005 American Community Survey estimates the Lao-American population at 193,247 compared to 168,707 in 2000. The vast majority were estimated to live in the West(95,574), followed by the South(44,471), Midwest(37,820), and Northeast(15,382).
The top states in terms of Lao-American populations according to the 2005 ACS estimates were: California (63,318), Texas (12,643), Minnesota (11,636), Washington (10,638), Iowa (6,129), North Carolina (5,854), Goergia (5,546), Tennessee (4,781), Michigan (4,735), and Florida (4,035). States that appear to have had significant increases in Lao population when comparing the 2005 ACS estimates to the 2000 Census figures include California, Washington, Iowa and Michigan with lesser increases in many other states including Minnesota (up from an enumerated 9,940 in the 2000 census). Notable decreases in Lao-American population show up in the 2005 ACS data in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin.
The total 2005 Hmong population in the U.S. was estimated at 183,265 compared to 169,428 in the 2000 census. The figures show that the Hmong population in the Midwest(95,902) has now far outpaced the West(73,526), continues to grow in the South(12,621), but remains very small in the Northeast(1,216).
The 2005 ACS estimtaes the top 10 states in terms of Hmong-American populations as follpws: California (65,345), Minnesota (46,352), Wisconsin (38,814), Michigan (7,769), Cplorado (4,285), NorthCarolina (4,172), Georgia (3,324), Missouri (1,553), Florida (1,423), and Washington (1,380).
The latest U.S census report also shows estimates for other Southeast Asian American ethnic groups
The 2005 American Community Survey estimates the Vietnamese-American population across the U.S. at 1,418,334 compared to 1,122,528 enumerated in the 2000 census (Vietnamese alone ethnic identification). The 2005 ACS estimates provide Vietnamese-American population regional distributions as follows West (694,859), South (425,248), Northeast (162,707), and Midwest (135,520).
The total 2005 Cambodian population in the U.S. was estimated at 217,438 compared to 171,937 (Cambodian alone ethnic identification) enumerated in 2000. More than 100,000 Cambodians were estimeted to live in the Western states, just under 50,000 in the Northeast, around 40,000 in the South and just under 20,000 in the Midwest. The top 10 rank-order states in terms of Cambodian-American populations were California (83,562), Massachusetts (24,172), Washington (16,082), Texas (12,112), Florida (7,889), Pennsylvania (6,194), Ohio (6,160), Minnesota (6,101), North Carolina(5,128), and Georgia (4,562).
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