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Several smaller US metro areas have seen rapid Asian growth in their populations, exceeding national averages, driven by factors like affordability and job opportunities.

Several metropolitan areas with under 2 million total residents have experienced rapid growth in their Asian American populations.

Greater Fort Wayne, Indiana saw a 118% spike in Asian growth this past decade, led by a trebling of the Vietnamese population.  As a result the city of Fort Wayne is now 7.6% Asian, higher than the national average.  Rated the most affordable city by US News, Fort Wayne residents spend only 19.6% of income on living expenses, the lowest percentage in the country.

Statewide, Indiana's Asian population surged 58%, with Indians and Filipinos topping the list at 57% and 67%, respectively.  This growth was concentrated most in Indianapolis, which saw a 79% jump in its Asian population. 

The Wilmington, North Carolina metro area logged the largest 5-year and 1-year Asian American increases, growing 69% and 55%, respectively.  The growth has been multi-ethnic with Indian, Chinese, Filipino, and Korean segments all doubling in the past year, more than offsetting declines in Japanese, Vietnamese and Pacific Islander populations. The state of North Carolina saw its Asian residents grow 23.6% over 5 years, the 5th highest of any state.   Still the Tar Heel state is now 4.3% Asian, only about 2/3 of the national average.

Moving inland the Raleigh-Cary metro area saw an 87.5% Asian American surge over a decade, now totaling over 127,000 Asian residents, or 8.4% of the metro population.  In the past year alone the Raleigh area’s Vietnamese population shot up 82%, making it the third-largest Asian American segment behind Indian and Chinese.

Cary is now 21% Asian American and has seen its Korean population double in the past decade.  Much of this growth has been driven by several major universities in the greater Raleigh area, creating jobs in research departments for companies like IBM and GlaxoSmithKline.  Raleigh metro area’s Asian median household income is $141,000, 52% higher than all households and 37% more than white households.

The recent decade’s 102% Asian surge in the Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg-Carlisle area has raised the metro’s Asian population to 7%.  The Quaker State’s Indian population increased by 54%, with 18% of that growth occurring in greater Harrisburg.  Pennsylvania’s overall population fell in the past year while its Asian residents increased by 1.5%. 

Most of the growth was driven by a 10.5% increase in the Filipino population.  An astounding 38% spike in Harrisburg reflecting the pull of 20% lower housing costs and the hope of escaping the urban crime and congestion of Philly and Baltimore.

Another surprising area of Asian population growth in the region is the Bhutanese refugee population which now numbers about 25,000 in south central Pennsylvania.

Greater Fayetteville, Arkansas, saw an 89% Asian surge over the past decade, bringing the total to over 25,000.  41% of the Asian American population comprises Pacific Islanders whose presence increased fivefold statewide.  The Indian population exploded from nearly nonexistent (207 residents) 10 years ago to nearly 9,000 residents.

Citadel Securities, led by Peng Zhao, leverages more than 100 PB of data to execute half a billion dollars’ worth of transactions daily, driving massive growth and making Zhao a billionaire.

Peng Zhao, 42, is CEO of Citadel Securities, a leading global market maker.  After assuming the role in 2017 Zhao expanded its presence across various asset classes and leveraged sophisticated technologies and quantitative strategies to provide liquidity and execution services to institutional clients.

On an average day Citadel Securities executes a half a billion dollars’ worth of transactions based on decisions made by a computer platform that considers more than 100 petabytes of data.

The impact Zhao has had on the firm’s technological sophistication since joining in 2006 has been a major driver of growth, resulting in 2024’s gross revenue of $9.7 billion.  This success has made Zhao a billionaire.

Zhao began his securities career as a summer associate at Lehman Brothers, then a quantitative researcher at Evnine & Associates.

Before immigrating to the United States Zhao earned a BA in applied mathematics from Peking University in 2001.  That was followed by a 2006 Ph.D. in statistics from UC Berkeley. Beijing-born Zhao is a director of the National Committee on U.S. China Relations.  He is a founding board member of the non-profit advocacy and anti-discrimination group The Asian American Foundation, established in 2021.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Jung-hoo Lee has become the primary hit-and-run driver of San Francisco Giants’ early season success.

In just his second year in the MLB, San Francisco Giants’ center fielder Jung-hoo Lee is making a name for himself — even garnering a fan club, the “Hoo Lee Gans.”

Through April the 26-year-old batted .319, 13th best in the league. The lefty hitter had an NL-best 11 doubles to go along with 2 triples. He’s also top ten league-wide in runs scored with 23.

Much attention has been drawn to his unusual batting stance, starting with his lead leg positioned wide, à la Rafael Devers, before squaring up during the pitcher’s delivery.

The unorthodox style has been working, with Lee’s low whiff rate placing him in the 97th percentile.  In addition to high contact, he’s displayed a good eye at the plate with a low 13% strikeout rate, 90th percentile.

Being a “tough out” has positioned him in the heart of the order and earned him early NL MVP consideration. With the reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani in the same division, that may be a lofty goal.  But even making a first All-Star selection would be an impressive feat.

Lee’s stellar performance has helped get the Giants off to a good start — winning 61% of their games.

Lee made his MLB debut on Opening Day last year leading off for the Giants in San Diego. He batted .262 in 37 games before dislocating his left shoulder and ending his season.

Lee signed a 6-year deal with the San Francisco Giants, in December 2023, averaging close to $19 million per year.

His lucrative MLB contract came after playing 7 seasons in South Korea’s KBO League, where he was a career .340 hitter. His professional debut was on April 1, 2017 for the Nexen Heroes in a season where he was named Rookie of the Year.

Lee has represented his home country of South Korea in international tournaments despite being born in Nagoya, Japan where his father, Lee Jong-beom, played baseball for the Chunichi Dragons of the NPB.  In his 19-year career, the senior Lee averaged .291 and hit 221 home runs.  He even had an MVP season in 1994 for the Haitai Tigers, batting .393. Nicknamed "Son of the Wind" for his speed, Jong-beom was an All-Star in 13 of his 16 seasons in the KBO. The Lees are the first father-son duo to have won MVP awards in the KBO, with the senior Lee winning Korean Series MVP in 1993 and 1997, and Jung-hoo winning in 2019.

Shanghai PhD student Aleksandra Antonenko finds celebrity on Chinese social media vlogging about her life with husband Zhao Yiwei.

Under Joseph Bae's leadership, KKR's valuation has more than doubled, a testament to his successful private equity and real estate strategies.

Joseph Bae serves as the Co-Chief Executive Officer of KKR & Co. Incorporated, a publicly traded global investment firm with a diverse portfolio spanning private equity, credit, and real assets, managing $638 billion in assets.

Since Bae became Co-CEO in 2021 KKR’s valuation has more than doubled, thanks in part to Bae’s success with private equity and real estate strategies.  Bae joined KKR in 1996 and is credited with being the architect of the firm's expansion in Asia, which included a highly profitable investment in South Korea’s Oriental Brewery and carve-out deals for Japanese conglomerates Panasonic Healthcare and Hitachi. The 52-year-old’s net worth is an estimated $2.4 billion. Bae graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1994 with a degree in social studies.  He has donated tens of millions of dollars to his alma mater.  Additionally, he lends his expertise to Harvard University's Global Advisory Council.  Bae is co-founder and serves on the board of The Asian American Foundation.

Irvin Lin reveals how a career pivot from design to baking became a creative breakthrough.

Kelli Luu (00:00)

Irvin (00:17)

Kelli Luu (00:18)

Irvin (00:26)

Kelli Luu (00:28)

Irvin (00:37)

Kelli Luu (00:40)

Baker.

Irvin (00:55)

Kelli Luu (01:08)

Irvin (01:09)

I found myself, I used to call it procrastid baking, where whenever I had like a paper or a project due or whatever, instead of actually studying or writing it, I would be in the kitchen, like baking stuff. my roommates would come home and be like, everyone's baking cookies, I guess you a test tomorrow or whatever. that kind of happened. ⁓ Yeah,

Kelli Luu (01:38)

That's so cool.

Kelli Luu (01:44)

Irvin (01:47)

I'd done a series of design jobs. I was working a design job and this particular job I thought was very ideal for me. It had a lot of food related clients. So when I what you know, I love food. So I was like, I'm a designer. So I went and started working for them. But it turns out the majority of people who can pay designers, especially at that level, were not like the small, cool, hip, independent, small food, slow food.

Kelli Luu (01:58)

Okay.

Irvin (02:19)

Kelli Luu (02:23)

Irvin (02:42)

was like this kind of heartbreaking epiphany that I had where I was like, I'm literally designing garbage. So I remember coming home one day being super depressed and talking to a friend of mine. And they're like, you know what, instead of like being like depressed about the project that you're working on and your job,

Just do more work, but do something that's fun, like start a passion project. And so that's when I started blogging. So I started my blog in 2010. I kind of like did it for a year or two and realized that I was at my day job actually thinking about my blog. So I kind of decided to make a

switch and I left my day job, started freelancing as a graphic designer and kind of started doing food stuff on the side as a side gig. And then that slowly, it went from like 90 % freelance design work and 10 % food work and switching over slowly to like now it's about 100 % food work. And I very rarely do the design project.

Kelli Luu (03:33)

Irvin (03:44)

child where he went to med school and like he's like a forensic psychiatrist. He like has like a family. And he's really like the picture perfect child. I mean, he has his own issues, obviously, but he's he definitely like went the more traditional route. I went into art. I went into graphic design. have a degree in painting, a degree in English literature. there's

Kelli Luu (04:01)

Irvin (04:18)

always been kind of a challenge for my parents my mom…

You know, she grew up in Taiwan, but then she moved to the United States as a woman, a young woman, went to a top tiered school, she was from a small town. So she was very much pioneering. so I think there's this level of understanding that you have to make your, forge your own path. So it was challenging. think my parents have always thought, like always been worried that I…

Kelli Luu (04:36)

Irvin (04:42)

Kelli Luu (04:52)

Irvin (04:57)

Kelli Luu (05:04)

Irvin (05:13)

Kelli Luu (05:35)

and you're succeeding at something. That's all they want. So what did your childhood kitchen smell like? And would you say your childhood can influence your recipes today?

Irvin (05:41)

So my mom almost always had a home cooked meal for us. Like she was very like old school that way. we grew up in the Midwest. So we grew up in St. Louis and, it was challenging because my parents were both immigrants. They're both from Taiwan, and growing up in St. Louis,

Kelli Luu (06:00)

Irvin (06:06)

sometimes you couldn't necessarily find bok choy, so she'd be like stir frying this or that. She couldn't find Taiwanese lettuce, so she'd use romaine lettuce, which is fairly similar. there was lot of influencing in terms of what we could get, also one foot in the United States, but one foot also in Taiwan. So growing up, there was always a lot of Taiwanese food. There was always a lot of Chinese and Asian food.

Kelli Luu (06:36)

Irvin (06:41)

I tend to skew a little bit less sweet, for instance. That's like the classic Asian compliment, like, ooh, not too sweet. Yeah, yeah, that's like the classic Asian, like the best compliment you can ever get from an Asian, ooh, not too sweet. So my desserts tend to skew a little bit less sweet.

Kelli Luu (06:51)

Irvin (07:04)

Kelli Luu (07:12)

I love

Okay, so your first cookbook got a ton of love from the New York Times and even Oprah. So what kind of doors did that open up for you?

Irvin (07:26)

Kelli Luu (07:33)

Irvin (07:45)

I started doing a lot of freelance writing for different websites. So currently, for instance, I'm an ongoing contributor to Serious Eats. I've written for Food and Wine, for Simply Recipes, for The Spruce Eats, for Fine Cooking, like a bunch of different publications and magazines.

I don't want to say a lot of that probably came about because I had written this cookbook. I think that was kind of an opening door.

Kelli Luu (08:20)

Irvin (08:22)

Kelli Luu (08:29)

Yeah, something to add to your portfolio Okay, I see. ⁓ That's cool. Was that your first cookbook that you ever wrote? ⁓ awesome. Wow, I love that. what was the inspiration for that? How did your inspiration come about?

Irvin (08:39)

It was, yes. ⁓

up.

So the cook was called marble swirled and layered, and it kind of came about by the fact that I just really love combining flavors. one of the things that I do, I used to do a lot more on my blog and I still do, was I was always finding like super fun flavor combinations. instead of like throwing everything together at one, if you actually have different components and you

swirl them or you marble them, you actually your mouth can taste those different flavors a lot more there is a more interesting combination that happens when you take a bite of it versus throwing it all together where it can potentially become kind of muddy. plus it's also pretty like I'm a graphic designer I'm a you former art director painter so there is so it has to be beautiful so there was that level of that as well.

Kelli Luu (09:25)

You're so creative and I love how it's just a whole different medium. You can take it from graphic design to food. That's awesome. Can you walk me through your thinking process when it comes to a new recipe? it taste, texture, then presentation? Or what do you think about first?

Irvin (09:48)

I can usually tweak a recipe to make it look pretty. So that's not a conservative mind. I know people, think nowadays, especially with Instagram and TikTok, think in terms of visual first. But for me, I'm much more interested in food that tastes good versus looking good.

a lot of times it'll happen when I'm at a farm or a circuit or at the grocery store or even when I'm at a restaurant and I'm like, even if I don't order dessert or even I'll look at what they offer for desserts or I also, I don't just recipe develop.

Kelli Luu (10:18)

Irvin (10:26)

Kelli Luu (10:28)

Irvin (10:42)

Kelli Luu (10:43)

Irvin (10:46)

Kelli Luu (10:46)

Irvin (10:47)

I'm usually able to nail it by the third time or the fourth time. it's not that the first time is bad. It's just that I know I can get it better.

Kelli Luu (11:06)

Okay, so how do you know when it's complete?

Irvin (11:13)

Kelli Luu (11:13)

Irvin (11:38)

have these goalposts in my mind when I'm making a recipe Where I'm developing it where I want to be able to hit that goalpost So usually at that point there's a level of like if I've gotten to the point where I'm happy with it That's what I'm like. Okay, I'm done with this.

I have recipes that I've been working on and tweaking for years that I've never released, quote unquote. I'm working on this recipe and I like it. It's great, but it's not like I think I can make it just a little bit better. But I've also been working, you know, I've made like four iterations of it and I can't eat another blueberry muffin. So I'll just stop it and I'll go back to it in like six months or whatever. So there's a lot of steps that go into developing a recipe. And for my blog, I have the luxury of not

Kelli Luu (11:59)

Mm-hmm.

Irvin (12:24)

Kelli Luu (12:30)

Mmm.

Okay, All right. So with so many tricks up your hat, know, graphic design, photography, food, I'm asking this question for those considering a similar path and they might want to be interested in knowing the economic side. So can I ask you what activities produce the most income?

Irvin (12:58)

I do occasionally get sponsored work for my Instagram stuff. you know, starting out, you can be getting anywhere from just a free product all the way up to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. I've gotten five figures for sponsored work with a very small, you know, like 10 to 11 to 12,000 followers, which isn't much, I do have high engagement. but it really varies on your engagement and the company and

Kelli Luu (13:17)

Irvin (13:28)

So if I'm working for an outlet and I'm recipe developing for a magazine, I'm lucky if I'm getting maybe like $400 for it or $500. Usually it's like 350, 250, depending on what the project is. So they're very small. So it can vary a lot per outlet.

And then there's like this in-between thing where I'll, I do a lot of stuff for like kitchen equipment reviews stuff, which is not recipe development stuff. And that could vary between a thousand to $2,000 per project, depending on what the project is, ⁓

Kelli Luu (14:03)

Okay.

Irvin (14:10)

Kelli Luu (14:15)

okay, got it. coming again from a financial standpoint, which part of your career would you recommend to somebody who's just getting out of college and searching for a viable profession to earn a living?

Irvin (14:28)

I think it can be really challenging because things are always shifting. Like the influencer world, there was a peak of the influencer work where everything was like doing, people were doing great and there tons of like projects. And then, every time the algorithm shifts and every time the engagement shifts, all of a sudden, you hear people complaining or it's my reach is gone or I have to pay for it if you're like blogging and you're doing your own like sub stack or your own like website, all of a sudden Google changes.

Kelli Luu (14:40)

Right.

Irvin (15:00)

advice would be to just kind of like diversify.

you kind of have to have your foot in like everything, but if you've got a great personality, then you should be on TikTok. You should be doing Instagram reels. You should be doing these things, you YouTube, do it all. But like, it's a lot of work, right? you do need to like focus and try to figure out, like don't do everything, but you also can't just focus and do one thing. I know that's kind of a vague answer,

Kelli Luu (15:12)

Right.

Okay, so since you've been in the food space for so long and we were just talking about how it's just changing all the time, how do you keep up with that as far as trends go?

Irvin (15:36)

Kelli Luu (15:38)

Mm.

Irvin (15:47)

Kelli Luu (15:51)

Irvin (16:04)

Kelli Luu (16:10)

Irvin (16:15)

Kelli Luu (16:26)

Yeah, totally.

Irvin (16:39)

Kelli Luu (16:50)

it's like a whole community and you guys, you you have to stick together because you guys are all going through like the same struggles.

All right. Okay. So I have just a few more questions and then we wrap this up. Do you feel pressure to choose between honoring your heritage and fitting into the American food culture?

Irvin (16:58)

Hmm, well, I'm a little spoiled because I live in San Francisco, which has a very large Asian population. I think growing up in St. Louis in Missouri, where there was less of a…

Kelli Luu (17:18)

Irvin (17:24)

Kelli Luu (17:26)

Irvin (17:41)

like the 80s, people aren't, it's not as multicultural and people aren't aware of things. And there are, there's representation on TV and movies. And I think now I feel less pressure for that. And I feel like there's the community, like social media has been a blessing and a curse to a certain extent, but there is still a level of it's much easier to find people in your community. It's much easier to reach out even no matter where you live, you can always find people that are part of your community. And I am very lucky to

Kelli Luu (17:51)

Mm-hmm.

Irvin (18:18)

Kelli Luu (18:23)

Okay, so you've been in this world way before Asian food, Asian culture was considered trendy now. How do you feel about the way it's being represented?

Irvin (18:32)

Kelli Luu (18:36)

Irvin (18:48)

Kelli Luu (19:01)

Irvin (19:10)

Kelli Luu (19:14)

Irvin (19:38)

Kelli Luu (19:43)

Irvin (20:07)

Kelli Luu (20:10)

I totally agree.

Awesome, I love it. But that's all the questions that I have for you today, Irvin. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us at Gold Sea. I really appreciate your time.

Home to the largest Asian American population in the U.S., California is witnessing a surge and clustering of its diverse Asian communities, with staggering incomes to boot.

California, the most populous U.S. state, also boasts the highest Asian American share on the mainland at 18.4%, for a total exceeding 7 million. This trend has continued recently, with California gaining the most Asians nationally in absolute numbers over 1-, 5-, and 10-year periods.  Asians now surpass 50% in 11 California cities.

The San Francisco Bay area’s Milpitas is the city with the nation’s highest Asian concentration at 76.4%. Asian growth has outpaced the city’s total growth by nearly 4,000 residents over the past decade.

Fremont, home to a Tesla plant and Western Digital offices, boasts a $206,000 median Asian household income, 91% above whites.  Its Indian percentage is 31.6% of the total population, the highest among U.S. cities.

Meanwhile, Daly City has the nation's highest Filipino population share at 30%.  Many are healthcare workers employed by Seton Medical Center, the city’s largest employer.

The quiet Bay Area bedroom community of Dublin boasts a median household income of over $241,000 among the Asian residents making up 54% of its population.  

Over the past decade Union City’s total and Asian populations shrank 10% and 4%, respectively, while its Chinese population grew 32%.  Its median Asian household income is $180,319, 58% above whites.

Another center of affluence is leafy San Ramon whose Asian households enjoy a median household income of over $233,000.   The town’s total population shrank by a thousand over the past year but Chinese and Viet residents increased by 5,500, producing Asian growth of 9.3% to comprise 56% of the total population.

Santa Clara, home to Intel and AMD, has an Asian median household income of $206,889, 47% above whites. Over the past decade Santa Clara added over 14,000 Asian residents.

Sunnyvale, home to tech giants Google and Apple, has a median Asian household income of $204,891.  Over ten years its Asian makeup has grown from 45% to 53%.  

San Jose, Silicon Valley’s biggest city and California’s 3rd biggest, has the nation’s largest Vietnamese population at 103,284, comprising 10.7% of total residents.

In SoCal Westminster’s Little Saigon is home to 40,000 Vietnamese who comprise 81% of the city’s Asian residents who make up 56% of the population.

Irvine is 53% Asian, up 11% from 42% a decade ago.  Its Chinese population doubled while it saw a recent surge in Korean and Filipino residents.  On the other hand, the Indian population decreased.  After UC Irvine the biggest employer is game developer Blizzard Entertainment, known for World of Warcraft.

Fullerton and Buena Park, both around 1/3rd Asian, have the highest percentage of Koreans in the U.S at roughly 12% each.

The vibrant Chinese restaurant scene in Alhambra is supported by its 51% Asian population, with Chinese making up 63% of Asians and 32% of the city’s total.  That makes it the city with the nation’s highest Chinese percentage. The city of Los Angeles is home to the biggest Korean (95,390) and Filipino (133,466) populations nationally.  The total number of Asian residents in LA has increased over 65,000, with a 26,000 jump in just the past year.

VC titan Vinod Khosla ($7.7B net worth) is #2 among Asian Americans. His early bets on OpenAI & DoorDash powered Khosla Ventures' $15B AUM. Still funding future at 70.

Vinod Khosla is widely considered the second most successful Asian American venture capitalist, with a $7.7 billion net worth acquired mainly through successful investments by his Khosla Ventures.

He founded his Menlo Park-based namesake firm in 2004 to focus on early-stage companies.  Khosla’s success owes partly to his willingness to consider promising startups in a wide range of sectors including artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and robotics.  His most prominent early investments include OpenAI, DoorDash, Instacart, Affirm, and Impossible Foods.

A keen eye for spotting entrepreneurs with transformative visions helped grow Khosla Ventures’ Assets Under Management to $15 Billion.   At age 70 Khosla still retains a healthy appetite for betting on the future.  In February 2025 the firm sought capital for three new venture funds totaling $3.5 billion.  Half of that will be invested in Khosla’s ninth core venture fund, while $1.1 billion is slated for late-stage startups and $650 million for seed-stage projects.

The foundation for Khosla’s venture capital career was laid by his big early success as an entrepreneur.  In 1982 he co-founded Sun Microsystems to pioneer open systems and commercial RISC processors.  The company was acquired in 2010 by Oracle for $7.4 billion. Khosla earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1976, followed by a master’s in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1978, and a 1980 MBA from Stanford.

Unexpected Asian demographic growth has occurred in less predictable areas of the US, driven by factors like affordability and job markets.

From the Great Plains to the Deep South, unexpected pockets of Asian growth suggest some shifts in where Asian Americans are choosing to settle.

In sheer percentage terms Montana and the Dakotas are the states that have experienced the most significant Asian populations growth over the past decade.  In absolute numbers, however, their Asian populations remain small.  The 79% increase in Montana's Asian population brings the total to just under 22,000, only 1.9% of the state's population.  

Both South and North Dakota saw their Asian populations increase by 67% though numbers remain small in absolute terms, bringing their totals to 20,244 and 18,834, respectively.

Over the past year, Mississippi had the largest increase in its Asian American population, +14.6%, bringing the Magnolia state’s total to about 47,000. This growth is largely due to increases in the Vietnamese and Chinese populations, which added a combined 5,700 residents.  Mississippi also doubled its Pacific Islander population.  This growth surge appears linked to Amazon’s $2.3 billion investment in the state since 2010, creating 7,500 full- and part-time jobs created in Mississippi as of January 2023.  Another $10 billion and 1,000 jobs are planned for a new data center for Amazon Web Service.

Memphis had the greatest 1-year percentage increase amongst deep South cities with populations over 300,000, at 48%.  But the total of nearly 18,000 Asians make up just under 3% of the city's population.  This growth is primarily due to large increases in the Indian and Filipino populations which more than offset declines in the Korean and Vietnamese populations.  Asian American households have a median income of $92,000, 82% higher than all households.  The attraction of Memphis may be its affordability, with a median home value around $190,000.

When including smaller cities, Loveland, Colorado, saw a 213% explosion in its Asian American population over the past year.  But that brings the Asian percentage of the city's population to only 3.9%, only about 60% of the national average.

In absolute terms the biggest proportionate increase during the past year took place in Skokie, Illinois, with a 36.4% surge that brought the city Asian percentage to 32.8%. This growth was primarily driven by an influx of Indians and Filipinos.

Over the past decade Pawtucket, Rhode Island saw its Asian population more than quintuple to 4.0% of the city's population.

Miami, Florida’s Asian American population has trebled over 10-years.  The 235% surge is the greatest percentage increase for cities with populations over 300,000. The growth is largely drawn by an influx of Asian Indians, particularly those involved in the hotel industry. In nearby Hialeah, Florida, household incomes of Asians are 3.5 times higher than those of white residents, the nation’s largest income disparity.

Just up the Atlantic Coast the Port St. Lucie metro area moved up 32 spots in its Asian population share ranking over the past decade, the largest increase of any metro over 500,000 people.  But that brings the Asian share to only 2.4%, only about 38% of the national average. The Asian American population growth map suggests a clear migration toward areas where Asians have been scarce.  The bulk of the migration appears to be driven by tech industry shifts and skyrocketing housing prices in traditionally Asian population centers in California and the DC-New York corridor.

Sequoia Capital partner Alfred Lin racked up a $12.6 billion net worth by leveraging his early Zappos bet into a leadership role at the world's top Venture Capital firm.

Taiwanese-American Alfred Lin is recognized as the most successful American venture capitalist.  Much of that distinction is based on a net worth of $12.6 billion.  It’s aided by Lin’s status as a top partner at Sequoia Capital, the world’s leading venture capital firm, with $56 billion in assets under management.

Since joining Sequoia in 2010 the 52-year-old has focused on the consumer internet and technology sector.  He was responsible for Sequoia’s early investment in Airbnb and DoorDash.  In 2021 Lin led an investment in OpenAI at a $14 billion valuation.   The company’s valuation has since shot up as high as $300 billion amid a recent AI mania, producing a dramatic appreciation in Sequoia’s stake.

Lin’s insights into the consumer internet sector was gained from 5 years spent as Chairman, COO and CFO of Zappos.   During that time he positioned the company for its eventual $1.2 billion acquisition by Amazon in 2009.

Lin’s first experience as a venture capitalist came from co-founding with Tony Hsieh an early-stage venture firm called Venture Frogs, an unlikely name taken on a bet with a friend.   The firm was persuaded to invest in Zappos by an entrepreneur seeking seed money to realize the concept of selling shoes online.  Zappos proved a big winner, with sales ballooning from $1.6 mil. In 2000 to $1 bil. in 2009.

Lin’s first venture was another partnership with Tony Hsieh in an online ad business called LinkExchange which was sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million.  Lin earned a BS in applied mathematics from Harvard in 1994 and an MS in statistics from Stanford.