Asian Americans in Wisconsin

All external hyperlinks are provided for your information and for the benefit of the general public. The Department of Health Services does not testify to, sponsor, or endorse the accuracy of the information provided on externally linked pages.

Overview

"Asian" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam¹. The Asian population is heterogeneous, rich with various cultures, values, languages, religions, and traditions.

As of 2008, the Asian population constituted 15.5 million, or 5 percent, of America's population of 307 million². The percentage of individuals, ages 5 and up, who do not speak English in their home varies by sub-group: 62 percent of Vietnamese, 50 percent of Chinese, 24 percent of Filipinos and 23 percent of Asian Indians are not fluent in English³.

According to the 2007 Census data, about 86 percent of Asians, as well as of the overall United States population 25 and older, had at least a high school diploma⁴. Additionally, 50 percent of Asian Americans held a bachelor's degree, while only about 28 percent of the U.S. population had achieved this⁵. About 64 percent of Asian Indians have attained a bachelor's degree, the highest population among Asian subgroups⁶. Asian households had the highest median income of all races in 2007, $66,103, about 120 percent of the median for non-Hispanic White households⁷.

Wisconsin Population

Wisconsin's Asian population totaled 121,549 in 2008, which was 4.4% of the State total of 5,672,297. The Asian population has increased 26.1% since the 2000 Census⁸.

The largest Asian groups in Wisconsin, based on the 2000 U.S. Census, were Hmong, Asian Indian, and Chinese⁹. In 2000, 67 percent of Asians in Wisconsin were foreign-born. Two-thirds of Wisconsin's Asian population lives in Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha, Marathon, Brown, and Sheboygan counties¹⁰. Milwaukee County is home to 31,171 Asians, comprising 25.6% of Wisconsin's Asian population¹¹.

Wisconsin's Asian population is relatively young, with a median age of 26.8 years in 2008, compared to 38.2 years for the total state population¹². Thirty-four percent of Asians were under age 18, compared to 23 percent of the state population¹³. Also, while 13% of Wisconsin's population was age 65+, only 5% of the Asian population was 65 or older¹⁴. Males constitute 49.9% of this population, compared to 49.7% of the state population in 2008¹⁵.

History

Health Facts

Additional Information

Back to Minority Populations in Wisconsin

Citations:

http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/health/minorityhealth/report20012005.htm
http://raceandhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=53
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf
Minority Health Profile, created by the Minority Health Program
Wisconsin Minority Health Report: 2001-2005
Ibid.
Ibid.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey
Minority Health Profile, created by the Minority Health Program
Ibid.
Ibid.

Additional Information About Asian Americans in Wisconsin:

More information on Asian American population estimates is available from an interactive data query system, Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health (WISH), on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services site.
A synopsis of health-related findings about Asian Americans in Wisconsin is provided by this excerpt from the Department's Wisconsin Minority Health Report, 2001-2005 (PDF, 23 KB). The full report is also available.
The State of Public School Integration project provides information on the racial and ethnic composition of Wisconsin public schools.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Main Navigation