Vince Cobalis, vice chairman of the city of Austin’s Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission, said Asians have historically settled in Northwest Austin, but he thinks that is changing as the population grows.
“When I look at the census data, I think the Asian-American population used to be more northwest, but now it’s really all over the city,” Cobalis said.
Marina Ong Bhargava, executive director of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce, agrees. Asian-American families are still drawn to Northwest Austin because of its high-quality schools and the frequency of Asian-owned businesses, she said.
But young Asian-American professionals, like any other demographic, want to live downtown, Bhargava said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey, the city’s Asian population continues to expand, making up 6.5 percent of Austin’s total population, up from 4.7 percent in 2000.
According to an October study from Central Health, Travis County’s health care district, the Asian population in Travis County is expected to grow by nearly 13 percent by 2019—an addition of more than 8,400 people, creating a total Asian population of more than 74,000.
Bhargava said Northwest Austin’s swelling technology industry—with companies such as Apple Inc., IBM Corp. and Applied Materials Inc. as well as The University of Texas J.J. Pickle Research Campus—also accounts for its higher density of Asian-Americans.
“We tend to be a little overrepresented in those fields,” Bhargava said.
UT has always had a substantial Asian student population, she said.
U.S. census data from 2010 show Asian-Americans in Travis County had a higher median income than the average resident, at $82,491 compared with $69,232. The data also show Asian-Americans were more likely to hold bachelor’s and graduate degrees and work in management and professional positions than the total population.
Cobalis said these statistics lead to the common perception that Asian-Americans are all part of the middle- and upper-middle classes. But he said many Vietnamese residents came to Austin after the Vietnam War, when they were refugees.
“Those populations were not well-off [economically],” he said. “I think people ignore the fact that there’s a lot of middle- and lower-income Asian-Americans in Austin.”
Bhargava said Austin is a refugee resettlement city for many Asians, including those from Nepal and Myanmar. These immigrants often have less formal education and a lack of knowledge of English, she said.
“Language barrier is a big thing,” she said.
