SEATTLE, May 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of
Asian-headed households grew by 83% in the past two decades, far
exceeding Latinx, Black, and white household growth. But that broad
success masks major challenges to homeownership in the highly
diverse community. New Zillow research reveals the reality the
Asian-American population -- the smallest but fastest growing
racial or ethnic group in the U.S. -- faces regarding homeownership
and income inequality. Asian-Americans continue to grapple with a
difficult immigration environment, unequal access to opportunity
and disparate educational backgrounds, the same barriers to housing
that many other racial and ethnic groups face in the country.
Asian-American homeownership rate rose six percentage points
from 2000 to 2019 to 59%, outperforming the near-flat or falling
rates of other racial and ethnic groups and narrowing the gap with
the 71% white homeownership rate. At the same time, median
household income of Asian-Americans is the highest across all
racial or ethnic groups in the U.S., and Asian-owned home values
are 3.7% higher than typical home values.
"Asian households are often upheld as an economic success story
— high incomes, homeownership rates, and other positive metrics
point to a relatively prosperous demographic. But this highly
diverse group also has the highest level of income inequality, and
housing characteristics across Asian ethnicities differ greatly,"
says Zillow economist Alexandra Lee.
"As this population continues to grow — faster than any other
racial or ethnic group — it will be crucial to recognize the
disparities within the AAPI community to understand the
opportunities and missed opportunities they are experiencing in the
housing market."
The concentration of Asian households in more expensive coastal
metros, such as New York,
San Francisco, San Jose and Los
Angeles, skew the median incomes and Asian-owned home values
higher than the national average. However, Asian households are
starting to shift away from these high-cost urban centers to more
affordable metros, which may in turn boost homeownership rates and
lower cost burdens, a trend likely to accelerate with the Great
Reshuffling.
While most signs point toward prosperity, income inequality is
rising most rapidly among Asian-Americans, and the income
distribution among Asian households is currently the most unequal
in the country. For example, in nearly half of the top 50 metro
areas in the U.S., the typical Asian household income and
Asian household poverty rates are higher than the metro median -- a
juxtaposing truth illustrating the reality of the diverse economic
standing.
Incomes and homeownership rates among Asian households vary
greatly by ethnic regions. East and Southeast Asians have the
highest homeownership rates of more than 60%, and median household
incomes approaching $80,000, compared
to the national median of $62,187.
However, Pacific Islander homeownership rates are more in line with
Black and Latinx rates, sitting at around 43% with a median
household income of $65,000.
South Asians (including Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis,
Nepalese and Sri Lankans) have by far the highest incomes of any
other regional group of over $110,000. However, despite high-income levels,
South Asians have relatively low homeownership rates of 55%.
When ethnic regions are broken down even further, sharper
disparities exist. Taiwanese have the highest homeownership rate at
69%, followed closely by Vietnamese (66%) and Japanese (65%). Most
of those are East Asian groups, but other East Asian groups have
the lowest homeownership rates -- just 30% of Mongolian-Americans
own their homes.
The diverse motivations for immigration among the Asian
community may help explain the wide-ranging economic situations. A
vast majority of Asian-headed households are foreign-born (81%),
and many Asian ethnicities are more likely to be moving to the U.S.
for employment opportunities, about 21% compared to 14% of
immigrants overall. On the other hand, a smaller share of Asian
immigrants are refugees, potentially translating to relatively
higher levels of poverty and lower incomes once in the U.S.
Asian
Identity
|
Ethnic
Region
|
Homeownership
Rate
|
Median
Income
|
Taiwanese
|
East Asian
|
69.2%
|
$100,149
|
Vietnamese
|
Southeast
Asian
|
66.9%
|
$68,290
|
Japanese
|
East Asian
|
65.9%
|
$81,406
|
Chinese
|
East Asian
|
63.0%
|
$80,000
|
Filipino
|
Southeast
Asian
|
62.2%
|
$94,961
|
Laotian
|
Southeast
Asian
|
61.0%
|
$61,268
|
Thai
|
Southeast
Asian
|
58.7%
|
$65,000
|
Fijian
|
Pacific
Islander
|
56.4%
|
$82,511
|
Indonesian
|
Southeast
Asian
|
55.2%
|
$78,180
|
Cambodian
|
Southeast
Asian
|
55.0%
|
$65,288
|
Pakistani
|
South
Asian
|
53.3%
|
$78,000
|
Hawaiian
|
Pacific
Islander
|
51.7%
|
$66,153
|
Sri Lankan
|
South
Asian
|
51.6%
|
$85,000
|
Hmong
|
Southeast
Asian
|
51.1%
|
$66,003
|
Korean
|
East Asian
|
50.7%
|
$71,220
|
Guamanian/Chamorro
|
South
Asian
|
44.2%
|
$75,537
|
Bangladeshi
|
Pacific
Islander
|
44.2%
|
$58,018
|
Malaysian
|
Southeast
Asian
|
44.1%
|
$76,077
|
Tongan
|
Pacific
Islander
|
43.2%
|
$63,188
|
Burmese
|
Southeast
Asian
|
42.3%
|
$43,160
|
Bhutanese
|
South
Asian
|
36.5%
|
$51,945
|
Samoan
|
Pacific
Islander
|
31.4%
|
$63,922
|
Nepalese
|
South
Asian
|
31.1%
|
$54,638
|
Mongolian
|
East Asian
|
30.9%
|
$46,639
|
Methodology
This analysis relies on 2019 5-year sample
American Community Survey data and the 2000 Census 5-percent
sample, sourced from IPUMS. Data for whites, Blacks and Asians
include single-race, non-Latinx respondents. Asians include Asian
and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander respondents. Household
race/ethnicity is defined by race/ethnicity of the householder.
Breakdowns by AAPI region include the following detailed race
categories:
- East Asian: Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian,
Chinese and Japanese, Chinese and Korean
- Southeast Asian: Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong,
Laotian, Thai, Burmese, Indonesian, Malaysian
- South Asian: Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Pakistani,
Sri Lankan, Nepalese
- Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: Hawaiian, Native Hawaiian
or PI other race(s), Samoan, Tongan, Guamanian/Chamorro, Fijian,
Pacific Islander, n.s.
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