Growing asian population in south central PA (Philadelphia, Lancaster: 2013, HOA)

[danwxman]

Mall construction reflects growth of local Asian community
by FORD TURNER, Of The Patriot-News
Saturday March 21, 2009, 12:00 AM
SEAN SIMMERS, The Patriot-News

Like many kids who grew up in central Pennsylvania, Hiep Bui and his friends plucked crayfish from a stream and put them in a bucket.

Then -- perhaps unlike many kids fascinated by the water-dwelling critters -- Bui and his buddies let one of their mothers turn the crayfish into soup.

The cuisine was part of their Asian cultural heritage, said Bui. Born in Vietnam, he grew up in Harrisburg and recently started working at a West Shore engineering firm after his graduation from Drexel University.

Bui is one of thousands of midstate residents who was born in or has familial ties to Asia, and in particular to Vietnam.

The growth and vitality of the Asian-American community will be demonstrated in coming weeks with the opening of an Asian mall in the 1000 block of South 13th Street in Harrisburg.

The 44,000-square-foot building will include a restaurant, video store, gift shop and coffee shop. It will cater mostly to Vietnamese and others of Asian descent.

"The Vietnamese community really, really wants to have one place where they can meet together," said Hong Van Le, who, along with her husband, Hoa Dam, will run K-H Supermarket in the mall.

The mall's location was attractive because of its proximity to Interstate 83 and the Sycamore Street route to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver's license center in Harrisburg. Owners hope to draw Vietnamese and others of Asian descent from all over the midstate.

An estimated 11,892 people of Asian descent were living in Dauphin and Cumberland counties in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure represented an increase of 126 percent from the 5,265 counted in the 1990 census.

Bureau data indicated that, in 2007, an estimated 15.2 million people in the U.S. -- about 5 percent of the population -- were Asian or a combination of Asian and other ethnicities.

[PacoMartin]

Wikipedia definition of South Central Pennsylvania includes the fourteen counties of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Northumberland (southwestern parts), Perry, Schuylkill (extreme western parts only), Snyder, and York.

Dauphin county (3.3% Asian population) and Cumberland county (3.1% Asian population) have the highest concentration of Asians in the region. Significantly below the 5.0% Asian population in the country as a whole, and only slightly above the 2.9% Asian population in Pennsylvania as a whole.


It's a story good for a news article, but it is a minor demographic trend.

Even the 6.6% Asian population in Philadelphia is pretty small compared to most East Coast cities.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Even the 6.6% Asian population in Philadelphia is pretty small compared to most East Coast cities.

Not true.


Asian proportion of major East Coast cities proper

12.7% - New York
8.9% - Boston
6.3% - Philadelphia
6.1% - Virginia Beach
6.0% - Providence
5.0% - Charlotte
4.3% - Jacksonville
4.3% - Raleigh
3.5% - Washington DC
3.3% - Norfolk
3.1% - Atlanta
2.8% - Hartford
2.4% - Richmond
2.3% - Baltimore
1.0% - Miami

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Not true.

Mea Culpa. I knew it was lower than New York, Northern Jersey and Boston.

New Jersey State is 8.7% Asian, and Hudson County is 14.7% .

I should check my facts before I generalize.


BTW, the difference in flight distance is less than 10%
6830 miles Beijing to Newark
6250 miles Beijing to LAX

[pman]

Asian Population In Philadelphia Growing Exponentially, Census Says « CBS Philly