Vietnamese Americans:
A Survey Data Snapshot
These data snapshots are drawn from Pew Research Center’s in-depth research portfolio on Asian Americans. To learn more, visit our Asian Americans topic page. For our latest demographic data on Vietnamese Americans, visit “Facts about Vietnamese in the U.S.”
More than 2 million Vietnamese Americans lived in the United States as of 2022, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. They make up 8% of the country’s Asian American population.
A majority of Vietnamese Americans are immigrants (60%) and 40% are U.S. born. California is home to the largest share of Vietnamese Americans (35%), with 16% living in the Los Angeles metropolitan area alone.
The median income among Vietnamese American households was $81,000 in 2022, meaning that half of households headed by a Vietnamese American person earned more than that and half earned less. This is less than the median household income among Asian Americans overall ($100,000).
Here’s a look at how Vietnamese Americans view their identity, the U.S. and Vietnam, their thoughts on achieving the American dream, and more. These findings are based on a nationally representative Pew Research Center survey of 7,006 Asian adults in the U.S. – including 935 Vietnamese American adults – conducted in 2022 and 2023.
Identity
Most Vietnamese Americans say they most often describe themselves as “Vietnamese” or “Vietnamese American.” About two-thirds (64%) identify themselves this way, while smaller shares describe themselves as “Asian American” (18%) or “Asian” (7%). Just 5% identify most often as “American.” About two-in-ten Vietnamese Americans (18%) say they’ve hidden a part of their heritage from people who aren’t Asian.
Views of the U.S. and Vietnam
Majorities of Vietnamese Americans have positive views of the U.S. and Vietnam. Some 84% hold a very or somewhat favorable view of the U.S., and 59% have a favorable opinion of Vietnam.
When asked if they would ever move to Vietnam, 20% of Vietnamese Americans say they would. Among those who say they would move, the most common reasons include lower cost of living and proximity to family and friends.
Achieving the American dream
About four-in-ten Vietnamese Americans (42%) say they are on their way to achieving the American dream, while 27% say they have already achieved it. Three-in-ten Vietnamese Americans say the American dream is out of reach for them.
Politics
Vietnamese Americans who are registered to vote are somewhat more likely to identify with or lean toward the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. About half (51%) are Republicans or lean Republican, while 42% are Democrats or lean Democratic. Among the six largest Asian origin groups, Vietnamese Americans stand out for leaning Republican. Overall, 34% of Asian American registered voters identify as or lean Republican, and 62% identify as or lean Democratic.
In 2022, nearly 1.4 million Vietnamese Americans (68%) were eligible to vote, according to data from the Census Bureau. That means they were at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen through birth or naturalization.
Religion
Vietnamese Americans are religiously diverse. Nearly identical shares identify as Buddhist (37%) and Christian (36%), while 23% aren’t affiliated with any religion. Vietnamese Americans are more than three times as likely as Asian Americans overall to identify as Buddhist (37% vs. 11%).
Photo by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images
This analysis is one in a seven-part series that explores the identities, views, attitudes and experiences of Asian Americans, including the six largest Asian origin groups in the U.S. In these analyses, Asian Americans include those who identify as Asian, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic ethnicity.
The six Asian origin groups highlighted in this series – Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Americans – include those who identify with one Asian origin only, either alone or in combination with a non-Asian race or ethnicity. In this series, Chinese adults do not include those who self-identify as Taiwanese. Other Pew Research Center analyses exploring the attitudes and characteristics of Asian origin groups may use different definitions and therefore may not be directly comparable.
This analysis is based on two data sources. The first is Pew Research Center’s 2022-23 survey of Asian American adults, conducted from July 2022 to January 2023 in six languages among 7,006 respondents. The Center recruited a large sample to examine the diversity of the U.S. Asian population, with oversamples of the Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese populations. These are the five largest origin groups among Asian Americans. The survey also includes a large enough sample of self-identified Japanese adults to make certain findings about them reportable. For more details, read the methodology.
The second data source is the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) provided through Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) from the University of Minnesota.
Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. The Center’s Asian American portfolio was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from The Asian American Foundation; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Henry Luce Foundation; the Doris Duke Foundation; The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Long Family Foundation; Lu-Hebert Fund; Gee Family Foundation; Joseph Cotchett; the Julian Abdey and Sabrina Moyle Charitable Fund; and Nanci Nishimura.
We would also like to thank the Leaders Forum for its thoughtful leadership and valuable assistance in helping make this survey possible.
The strategic communications campaign used to promote the research was made possible with generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation.