Khmer, Viet, Laos, Thai - Where has more, Houston or Dallas? or..

[skyao]

i think everyone is now splitting hairs. They both have a decent amount especially given that there are only 250K total Khmer in the entire US.

I doubt they are moving to Texas for the cambodian community only, so both are probably about equal.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Oh Moderator cut: no need to get personal, how could I have been so vauge!

I was just talking about things my wife and I encountered while deciding which city to move to in Texas.

She is Thai and wants to be able to have access to a stronger Thai community. We found that DFW had more to offer than Houston did. Thats all I was saying.

Thats not to say that there is no representation of the Thai community in Houston, there is. But just like DFW has a very large Vietnamese community, its just not as big as Houstons.

In Fact as of 2000, the largest Vietnamese communities were as follows:

Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County CA CMSA - 233,573 people
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA - 146,613
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX CMSA - 63,924
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX CMSA - 47,090
Washington D.C./VA/MD/WV PMSA - 43,709
Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton CMSA - 40,001

So as you can see although Houston definately has the larger Vietnamese community, DFW still has the 4th largest in the county. Just like it, there is representation in both Dallas and Houston for almost all Asian groups.

Sorry, didn't mean to come off as rude or anything. I'm just stating facts & figures. I have dated Cambodian women before too & have friends who are Cambodian here in Texas. Californians are moving here by the droves such as you & your wife. You honestly can't go wrong in D/FW or Houston for Asian amenities, but if its a large Thai/Laotian community you want to be around then Fort Worth offers more than Dallas, especially in Fort Worth suburbs of Saginaw, Keller, & Watauga which is where you'll find the majority of Thai-Laotions in D/FW.

As I stated before, Dallas has a much larger Korean population than Houston, but Houston has enough Koreans to support its "mini K-Town" on the west side of the city as well as numerous brand new Korean restaurants in Houston's Bellaire Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in the Southern United States where even street signs are written in Chinese Characters above the English name.

Houston's Vietnamese, Chinese, & Fillipino populations are a lot larger than D/FW's which makes up for having less Korean, Laos, & Thai IMO. The rather small Texas Japanese population is pretty much equally distributed in both cities at around 3,000 in each.

[LAnative10]

Originally Posted by usc619

My Wife and I looked at both, Houston seems to have more for Khmer, Just going on what we seen with our own eyes. JMHO

I think thats whats most important. Even if Dallas has a larger Cambodian population, but you feel more of a connection with the Cambodian community in Houston, then Houston is obviously the place to go.

Beyond the numbers, what is percieved is more important. We had friends who are Vietnamese move to Ft. Worth (Arlington) over Houston because they felt more of a connection with the Vietnamese community there than the one in Houston because its newer even though the Vietnamese Community is much larger in Houston.

By the same token weve had Korean friends Choose Houston over Dallas because they thought the Korean community in Dallas was too traditional even thought the Korean community in Dallas is much larger than it is in Houston.

[LAnative10]

[quote=Metro Matt;8436038]You honestly can't go wrong in D/FW or Houston for Asian amenities, but if its a large Thai/Laotian community you want to be around then Fort Worth offers more than Dallas, especially in Fort Worth suburbs of Saginaw, Keller, & Watauga which is where you'll find the majority of Thai-Laotions in D/FW.

quote]

Yeah, we noticed that. I thought it seemed a bit different because it seems that most Asian communities in DFW prefer Dallas to Fort Worth (or at least from Arlington East). Yet the Thai Community in DFW preferes the westside of Fort Worth. Im not sure why.

Also the Vietnamese community is growing much faster in Tarrant county than Dallas county. Not sure why that is either.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Yeah, we noticed that. I thought it seemed a bit different because it seems that most Asian communities in DFW prefer Dallas to Fort Worth (or at least from Arlington East). Yet the Thai Community in DFW preferes the westside of Fort Worth. Im not sure why.

Also the Vietnamese community is growing much faster in Tarrant county than Dallas county. Not sure why that is either.

Heres a break down of Asians in D/FW from my own personal observations.

Frisco - Chinese, Korean
Plano - Chinese, Taiwanese, East Indian, Korean
Richardson - Chinese, Taiwanese, East Indian
Old East Dallas - Cambodian
Carrollton - Vietnamese, Cambodian
Garland - Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Korean
Mesquite - Filipino
Irving/Las Colinas - East Indian, Korean, Vietnamese
Coppell - Korean
Grand Prairie - Vietnamese
Arlington - Vietnamese, Chinese, East Indian
Fort Worth - Vietnamese, Laos, Thai, Cambodian
Haltom City - Vietnamese, Laos, Thai
Saginaw - Laos, Thai
Keller - Laos, Thai
Watauga - Laos, Thai
Richland Hills - Laos, Thai

As you can see, most Laos & Thai reside closer to Fort Worth than Dallas probably because the temples are closer by which is where the community gatherings are.

[LAnative10]

Do you have any numbers for which metro areas in the USA have the largest Thai population?

[Dangerfield]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Do you have any numbers for which metro areas in the USA have the largest Thai population?

These numbers are from 2005.

http://gstudynet.org/gum/US.htm

[Metro Matt]

So going by the 2005 numbers it appears D/FW has about 860 more Thai people than Houston.