Why is there a huge Asian-American population in the Seattle area? (Bellevue: condo, home)

[SonicsFan93]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

The perception that Seattle is very white isn't far off the mark. Around 75% of the city is white. However, I think white people are generally less crazy here than the rest of the nation, and today are just more open to new ideas and people.

I know I'm splitting hairs here, but the most recent "American Community Survey" numbers say that the percentage of non-Hispanic whites in Seattle is 68.4%. That's about a 40,000 person difference. Seattle isn't quite as white as some may think.

[mrsincredible]

I currently live in Madison, WI and as a child, I lived in Bellevue for an academic year when I was five. So my opinion on the current state of the racial diversity is as a non-resident. That being said however, the racial and cultural diversity, particularly with regard to Pacific Rim culture, is one of the reasons why I want to move to Seattle.

I want my children to have the opportunity to be exposed to a place where it's normal to see other people that look like mom and themselves.

I want them to be able to participate in Asian cultural activities with anyone else who has the same interest no matter what color they are.

I want my sons to learn Lion Dancing and my daughter to take Hula.

I want them to be able to use the bits of different lauguage (Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese) that I've taught them and maybe have some other people understand that Pau means done or that the nori on sushi isn't gross. Yes, my son was made fun of in Kindergarten for identifying sushi as his favorite food. When we moved here I even picked the school district with the highest demographic of Asians so they would feel like they fit in.

Madison is a lovely city. It's gorgeous in the summers and it's safe and perfect for raising children. I just want a place with more Asian influence for MY children.

And as for the Seattle Freeze, I think that it only exists in the minds of the people who believe it exists. For me, I don't think I will be bothered or feel like I am being shut out, ostracized or treated rudely. I am that neighbor that stays indoors most of the time, does not venture out to ring doorbells just to introduce myself, and does not linger to chit chat beyond a polite Hi or even just a little hand wave. I'm not a personal fan of having strangers chat me up in the check out line. I'll smile and nod politely but that's about it.

To mrsincredible:

I liked your post so much! I love it when people say some things related to their life story on city-data.

Good luck on the move to Seattle!

I also agree that the Seattle freeze exists only in the minds of people who think it exists. I really dont feel like it exists. I just dont understand why some say it does.

One reason I moved to Seattle also was to be someplace that still had enough diversity and enough of a cosmopolitan vibe. I am from New York City and basically wanted to try out a place different from New York City but still had some things similar to what New York City has. I definitely needed a place that still had plenty of Asian influence. I really feel like Seattle was a good choice for me and Im sure it will be for you too.

This is why I get very defensive on city-data towards people who think Seattle isnt that diverse and cosmopolitan and think it attracts people who arent into those kind of things and this is because I disagree with them about that. We are both good examples that show them they are false with those assumptions. Gentoo is another good example for someone else on city-data that have similar views as us about some things related to Seattle.

[Gentoo]

Seattle has the same percentage of asians as Los Angeles and San Diego, actually.

Are you sure about that?

To Gentoo:

Yeah.
Based on what it says in this link.
America's most Asian cities@Everything2.com

Seattle: 13.1% 27th most asian place in North America

San Diego: 13.6% 26th most Asian place in North America

Los Angeles: 10% 37th most asian place in North America

Bellevue, Washington is even higher on the list: 17.4% 19th most Asian place in North America.

Places such as Oakland, Berkeley, and Sacramento are at 15-17%, so barely a difference from Seattle.


Even though Seattle is at 27th place, that is still very impressive considering that there are at least tens of thousands of cities/towns in North America

[Gentoo]

Cool NUB, thanks for that info.

Did you know that SF has the largest settlement of Chinese outside of Asia?

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by SonicsFan93

I know I'm splitting hairs here, but the most recent "American Community Survey" numbers say that the percentage of non-Hispanic whites in Seattle is 68.4%. That's about a 40,000 person difference. Seattle isn't quite as white as some may think.

But it may be the whitest city for it's size in the US.
Looking at the largest cities in the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the US, only Phoenix and Miami have a larger percentage of whites, and Miami is 69.4% Hispanic, which includes a lot of Hispanic whites, and Phoenix, which is 77.2% white, but is 42.1% Hispanic.
Seattle is 71.3% white, 5.6% Hispanic.

On top of that, there are large sections of Seattle that are largely ignored or dismissed as either ghetto, unhip, or dangerous. These neighborhoods are truly diverse, but when you get into Seattle's " desirable" hipster areas, the numbers change.
The Capitol Hill 98102 zip code is 80.5% white, the capitol Hill 98112 zip is 82.9% white, the Fremont/Wallingford/Greenwood/Phinney 98103 is 85.5 white, and Queen Anne 98109 is 86.5% white...
So while some people here praise Seattle's diversity, they don't actually want to step foot in a neighborhood that's less than 75% white.

[415_s2k]

The thing with those percentages is that while they may line up with other cities that are generally thought to be "more Asian," Seattle is also a smaller city.

To cut and paste some statistics I pulled and crunched from a PM debate NUB and myself are having,

Originally Posted by Me

According to the stats on Wikipedia, Seattle is 13.2% Asian (2009), and LA is 10.4% (2008), so it actually has a higher percentage.

Now, when you take into account the city populations (Seattle, 617,334; LA, 3,833,995), you end up with about 86,400 Asians in Seattle, and LA has about 383,400. San Francisco has about 250,000 Asians, and it only has about 240k more people than Seattle! And in neither situation are we taking into account the greater areas: while Seattle has the Kent/Auburn/Federal Way areas and a small pocket in Edmonds, SF has numerous suburbs that are predominantly Asian like Fremont and Daly City, and LA has suburbs like South Pasadena, Westminster, Torrance, etc. that drive the raw number higher.

CA wins hands-down for diversity, especially with Asians!

That about sums it up.

The fact that Seattle has a very substantive white majority is pretty much impossible to finagle into a different meaning.

I'm three-quarters white and one-quarter Asian (my dad is hapa), but identify as white due to my pretty much entirely Scandanavian appearance, and the fact that this means that I've gone through life being treated and experiencing it as a white male.

That said, thanks to grandma, I grew up with enough exposure to various facets of Asian culture. I'm a philosophical Buddhist and though spiritually tumultuous, that's the way I lean. I pretty much only date Asian or hapa women because that's all I'm really attracted to (as a caveat: no, I don't watch anime or read manga). As a white person who has lived in cities with substantially larger Asian populaces and a healthy appreciation and penchant for Asian culture, I found Seattle to be extremely white.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

The thing with those percentages is that while they may line up with other cities that are generally thought to be "more Asian," Seattle is also a smaller city.

To cut and paste some statistics I pulled and crunched from a PM debate NUB and myself are having,


That about sums it up.

The fact that Seattle has a very substantive white majority is pretty much impossible to finagle into a different meaning.

I'm three-quarters white and one-quarter Asian (my dad is hapa), but identify as white due to my pretty much entirely Scandanavian appearance, and the fact that this means that I've gone through life being treated and experiencing it as a white male.

That said, thanks to grandma, I grew up with enough exposure to various facets of Asian culture. I'm a philosophical Buddhist and though spiritually tumultuous, that's the way I lean. I pretty much only date Asian or hapa women because that's all I'm really attracted to (as a caveat: no, I don't watch anime or read manga). As a white person who has lived in cities with substantially larger Asian populaces and a healthy appreciation and penchant for Asian culture, I found Seattle to be extremely white.

I don't understand what you are you trying to say, really. In raw numbers the asian population in Seattle is much smaller than either LA or SF, but that also means that in raw numbers, the white population in Seattle is also much, much smaller. Percentages and per capita measurements are the only meaningful data when comparing two metro areas with such a huge population discrepancy.

[415_s2k]

It's still mostly white.