Desis wealthier with average income of $1,23,700

Washington: Indians in the US, with an average household earning of USD 123,700 and 79 per cent of college graduates, have surpassed the overall American population in terms of wealth and college education, according to a media report which cited the latest census data.

The number of people who identify as Asian in the United States nearly tripled in the past three decades, and Asians are now the fastest-growing of the nation's four largest racial and ethnic groups, according to a New York Times analysis of the census data.

About 4 million Indians currently reside in the US, including 1.6 million visa holders, 1.4 million naturalised residents and a million are US-born residents. The median family earnings of Indians in the US is USD 123,700, nearly double the nationwide average of USD 63,922. About 79 per cent of Indians are college graduates, in comparison with the nationwide average of 34 per cent, according to the report.

In fact, Indians are ahead of other Asian groups in the US in median family earnings ranges. Taiwanese and Filipinos with USD 97,129 and USD 95,000 of median family incomes respectively are in second and third place. Only 14 per cent of Indians reported median household earnings under USD 40,000 in comparison to 33 per cent nationally.

"People of Indian descent hold a significant share of jobs in several high-paying fields, including computer science, financial management and medicine. Nine per cent of doctors in the United States are of Indian descent, and more than half of them are immigrants," the report said.

Dr Nihit Gupta, a child psychiatrist, and his wife, Dr Shikha Jaiswal, a nephrologist, who are Indian, have been practising in West Virginia since 2016. "This place really embraces us. The whole state is underserved, and they value our work," said 38-year-old Gupta.

Asian Americans born in the United States tend to be younger - half of them are children. They are the children of older, naturalized citizens who immigrated to the country a generation before. As a growing group in American demographics, Asian Americans are also playing an increasing role in electoral politics.