Fact Brief: Does San Jose have the largest Vietnamese population of any city outside of Vietnam?

Yes.

With close to 150,000 Vietnamese residents, San Jose has the largest Vietnamese population of any city worldwide outside of Vietnam.

The Pew Research Center estimates San Jose has 145,000 Vietnamese residents based on an analysis of 2023 U.S. Census data. Other smaller California cities like Garden Grove and Westminster have higher concentrations of Vietnamese per capita, but San Jose has the largest number. 

While San Jose has the largest Vietnamese population of any one city outside of Vietnam, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has the largest population of any region outside of Vietnam, with approximately 350,000 residents according to Pew.

Large-scale Vietnamese migration to the U.S., particularly to Texas and California, began after the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Job opportunities in Silicon Valley, which was beginning to develop into the major tech hub it is today, attracted many refugees to San Jose. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau Selected Population Profile in the United States
• NBC Bay Area Voices After the Fall of Saigon': A San Jose refugee developer wants Vietnamese to have a piece of the ‘American Pie'
• Immigration Policy Center From Refugees to Americans: Thirty Years of Vietnamese Immigration to the United States
• KTVU Fox 2 South Bay Vietnamese community reflects on 50th Anniversary of fall of Saigon
• Pew Research Center Facts about Vietnamese in the U.S.