AAPI DATA: ASIAN INDIANS LARGEST ETHNIC GROUP IN FL; ORANGE COUNTY TOPS

Compiled by Nitish S. Rele - [email protected]

Asian Indians (231,340) form the largest ethnic group in Florida, according to Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) and AAPI Data. The two organizations recently released the 2026 AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) State Fact Sheets, a comprehensive set of demographic and voter data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the Sunshine State, after Asian Indians, the next leading groups are Filipino (184,506), Chinese except Taiwanese (152,672), Vietnamese (108,330) and Korean (46,872).

Ranked sixth largest in the nation, Florida’s AAPI population is about 1.27 million with 485,883 native-born, 373,682 foreign-born citizens and 167,463 foreign-born noncitizens. The Sunshine State has seen a 48.4% AAPI population growth from 2014-2024. Top Asian languages spoken in the state are Chinese (73,461), Tagalog (71,236), Vietnamese (71,175) followed by Hindi (30,446) and Gujarati (24,433). Among Asian Americans, 51.4% speak a language outside of English at home and 20.5% are limited English proficient.

Orange County tops with the highest AAPI population at 82,339, followed by Broward (76,007), Hillsborough (70,981), Duval (51,101) and Palm Beach (44,641). About 9.8 percent Asian Americans live in poverty, 8.45% lack health insurance and 13.05% lack broadband access. As for 2024 data, Florida is ranked sixth in the nation with 637,081 eligible AAPI voters, making up 3.81% share of the electorate after seeing a 70.2% voter eligibility growth from 2014-2024. AAPI youth vote share is 20.48% while the seniors have 43.82 percent share.

Updated every two years, the fact sheets provide policymakers, advocates, researchers, journalists, campaigns, and community organizations with essential data on AAPI – the nation’s fastest-growing racial demographic and voter bloc. With over 27 million residents (including mixed-race individuals) spread across the nation and 16,172,190 eligible voters, they have emerged as the nation’s fastest-growing voter bloc.

“AAPI voters are shaping elections nationwide, yet our communities are still too often overlooked or misunderstood,” said Christine Chen, Executive Director of APIAVote. “These fact sheets give organizers, policymakers, media, and advocates the context they need to build more informed, effective, and inclusive engagement strategies and to better understand AAPI communities’ growing impact on American democracy.”

“Our communities are growing rapidly in places well beyond the Northeast and the Pacific West,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and Executive Director of AAPI Data. “It is critical for news media, funders, and civic engagement organizations to use these updated findings to ensure accuracy and efficacy in their work.”

The fact sheets are based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and include both monoracial and multiracial AAPI populations.

About AAPI Data
AAPI Data is a national research and policy organization producing accurate data to support community narratives that drive action toward enduring solutions for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. Learn more at aapidata.com
About APIAVote

Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) is the nation’s leading nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to strengthen and sustain a culture of civic engagement. See our website for more information at https://www.apiavote.org/

KHAAS BAAT LAUNCHES ANNUAL SPONSOR DRIVE

Story provided by NITISH S. RELE and SHEPHALI J. RELE

After completing our 22-year anniversary last month, we launched an annual sponsor drive to secure funds to cover production costs. Since its inception, Khaas Baat has been mailed free of cost to subscribers around the state with only a handful of paid subscribers in the past few years. In fact, we haven’t missed an issue since we began in August 2004. In addition, the entire newspaper can be found online. Since ad revenues alone do not cover our monthly production costs (printing, design, mailing), we are in great need of corporate or private sponsors. Your support will allow us to continue publishing Khaas Baat as a high-quality newspaper you depend on.

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