Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander College Students: Facts and Statistics

When people think of Asian Americans, they may think of the model minority myth — calling to mind stereotypes of straight-A students and high-earning graduates. As a single demographic, Asian Americans appear to be doing well in terms of educational attainment and median household income. However, Asian Americans are not a monolithic group. They represent dozens of origin groups with an array of educational outcomes.

According to Pew Research Center, the largest Asian origin groups in the U.S. in 2019 were:

Many other groups made up 2% or less of the U.S. population: Pakistani, Thai, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Taiwanese, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Burmese, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Malaysian, Mongolian, Bhutanese, and Okinawan.

When specific data is available, this report includes data by origin group. Other times, this report includes education data for Asian American, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), or Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students and college graduates. In general, this article does not report on international student enrollment.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC), Asian American and Pacific Islander students represent 6.3% of all college students in Fall 2024 —including 8% of the graduate student population and 6% of undergraduates.

According to the most recently available data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), roughly 61% of Asian Americans ages 18-24 were enrolled in a two- or four-year college. About 27% of Pacific Islanders ages 18-24 were enrolled in college. However, with less data on this origin group, this figure should be interpreted with caution.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Asian Americans have higher levels of educational attainment than the general population. About 60% of Asian Americans over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, versus 38% of the entire U.S. population over 25.

However, Asian Americans make up dozens of distinct ethnic/origin groups, and educational attainment levels vary widely among these groups.

Pew Research Center reports that in 2019, 15% of Bhutanese, 18% of Laotian, and 21% of Cambodian Americans over the age of 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Three-quarters of Indian (75%) and 65% of Malaysian Americans over 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

According to Pew, disparities in educational attainment corresponded with disparities in median household income. While the median household income was $85,800 among all Asian Americans, only two Asian origin groups made above that amount (Indians and Filipinos). Burmese ($44,400) and Nepalese ($55,000) were the Asian origin groups with the lowest median incomes.

According to 2023 data downloaded from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Rutgers University in New Jersey has the largest AANHPI student population in the United States, followed by several University of California campuses.

The colleges with the most Asian American students are generally large public universities where 20-30% of the student body is Asian American or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Two very large private universities make the list: New York University and the University of Southern California.