Statistics on Iranian Immigrants in the USA - January 9, 2003

In our latest program regarding the history of Iranian immigration to the USA, we present the final figures from the 2000 Census by the U.S. Census Bureau. The final figures indicate that by the beginning of 2000, 338,266 individuals identified themselves as Iranian or of Iranian descent. As mentioned in a previous report, this number seems unbelievable to many Iranians residing in the USA, who estimate their population in the millions, but officials from the Census Bureau express confidence in their figures. They state that if these numbers seem incorrect, it may be due to two reasons. First, many families received short forms rather than long forms. The short forms only asked whether respondents identified as Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or from another ethnicity. In the long forms, respondents could provide more detailed information. Census officials also mention that significant changes will be made in the next census, scheduled for 2010, but details of these changes will be announced later. Meanwhile, several Iranian groups in the USA say they intend to assist U.S. officials in publishing more accurate figures about Iranians and Iranian Americans before the 2010 census through various means, including establishing a computer system for collecting more precise data. The final figures from the 2000 census show that between 1990 and 2000, the number of Iranians in the USA nearly doubled, increasing from 220,000 to about 338,000. Many details from the 2000 census, including the percentage of Iranians with higher education degrees and their average annual income figures, will be published in the coming months. However, the 1990 census indicated that the annual income of Iranian families was $55,000, which is at least $12,000 more than the average income of other families. These figures also show that 26% of Iranians and Iranian Americans hold master's degrees or doctorates, and 56.2% have bachelor's degrees. This ratio places Iranians and Iranian Americans second among other ethnic groups, with only a slight difference. Nigerians and Egyptians were the other ethnic groups that ranked first in higher education in the 1990 census. The final 2000 census also indicates that of the 266,338 individuals who identified as Iranian descent, 317,970 named Iran as their first homeland, while 54,076 referred to Iran as their second homeland. 312,085 also stated that their first language at home is Persian. The final figures from the 2000 census also show that the majority of Iranians and Iranian Americans, specifically 159,016 individuals, live in California. The smallest number, just 61 individuals, reside in Puerto Rico.