Asian population surges in Austin [Texas]

Lena Chhom, 28, at MT Supermarket in Austin, is originally from Cambodia. She moved to Austin from Minnesota three years ago looking for better job opportunities

Growing numbers linked to jobs, community appeal

Friday, May 6, 2011
By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

When Channy Soeur came to Austin from Cambodia, there were maybe two or three Chinese restaurants in the city. Tops. And if you wanted Vietnamese, you could forget delivery the closest restaurant was in Houston.

That was 1977. Today there are 75 Vietnamese restaurants in Austin, nearly 200 Chinese eateries, 92 sushi joints and 63 Thai restaurants, according to a tally by Urbanspoon.com.

Pho may not yet be on par with Tex-Mex tacos or smoked brisket, but Asian food is "so normal (now), which means we have come a long way in terms of acceptance," says Soeur, the CEO of an Austin-based engineering firm and head of the statewide Network of Asian American Organizations, also based here.

Asians have come a long way in sheer numbers, too. New census data show that although Asians represent just 6.3 percent of Austin's nearly 800,000 residents, the Asian population has surged by 60 percent since 2000, making it the fastest-growing group in the city by percentage, at triple the rate of Austin's overall growth . At 49,560 people in 2010, Austin's diverse Asian population ranked second in the state, behind only Houston.

Asian growth in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro area was even more impressive, increasing 86 percent since 2000 to 82,040 people.

Among all major Texas cities, Austin has the largest Asian population share, said City of Austin demographer Ryan Robinson, who expects fast growth to continue — he predicts Asians will surpass African Americans by 2015 as the city's second-largest minority group after Hispanics. (Austin's African American population in 2010 was 60,760, a decrease of 3,499 since 2000.)

"Austin is very much on the map of up-and-coming Asian (destinations) in the U.S.," Robinson said. "Our Asian community is big enough where it becomes an attraction to other Asian households around the country."

Good reputation

Word of mouth is also selling Austin to Asians outside the U.S., said Esther Chung, an Asian neighborhood liaison for the Austin History Center. About 80 percent of metro Austin's Asians were born outside the U.S., Robinson said.

Jobs, notably in high tech; business opportunities; a relatively low cost of living; and the University of Texas are among factors driving the growth, Asian Americans say.

"I've known a lot of transplants from California who are moving here because the cost of living is lower," Chung said.

Like with other racial and ethnic groups, Asians here include a mix of professionals and the working class. The 2010 census didn't include income data, but the 2000 census found Asians had the second-highest median family income in the city, after non-Hispanic whites.

Austin counts Chinese, Koreans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Pakistanis and others among its Asians, with Indians and Vietnamese topping the list in 2000. The 2010 census did not ask about place of birth, but Robinson, the demographer, thinks Indian s and Vietnamese still are the largest Asian groups in Austin. People belonging to more than a dozen nationalities, races and ethnicities can self-identify as Asians on the census form.

"We have so many different cultures, languages and religions and political ideologies. We really need to pay attention to those differences instead of painting all Asians in the same corner," said Amy Wong Mok, founder and CEO of the Asian American Cultural Center in Austin.

Attractive to families

Jaya Shukla, 41, moved from San Francisco to Cedar Park in 2005 with her 46-year-old husband, Piyush .

Born in India, the couple have two children, ages 10 and 5. Moving from California was primarily Piyush's decision — he works for Dell and weighed Chicago and other cities before deciding on Austin.

But Austin has turned out to be a good fit for Shukla's haute couture clothing design business, Bridal Motif. She designs dresses for the surging South Asian market, but in Austin she found a growing demand among non-Asians, too. "You see every culture is being respected in Austin," Jaya said.

Opportunities to excel

In Austin, "there are less expectations on how you live, what you wear, how much you spend. It's what you want to do rather than what's expected of you," said Shivani Langer, who came from New Delhi in 2001 to get her master's degree at UT. Langer had been accepted to a number of U.S. schools, but chose UT for its relatively low tuition and because its architecture program was highly rated.

A 35-year-old architect intern, she met her future husband, Himanshu Save, at UT. He's an aerospace engineer and works at the university. Also from India, he came to Austin in 2000. They have a 5-year-old daughter and are expecting another.

"Austin is a good-size town where you can get quality time with family rather than spend a whole day traveling (to work) and working extra jobs to make ends meet," Langer said.

Economic optimism

Lena Chhom, a Cambodia-born 28-year-old, moved to Austin in 2008 from Minnesota, where she said the economy was in shambles.

"Companies were closing left and right. Austin was known as a tech town, and I figured it would be a great move for a job opportunity," Chhom said.

In Texas she landed a job as a marketing manager at a California-based tech company in Round Rock.

Chhom visited other Texas cities before deciding on Austin. "I think most people here are generally open-minded," she said. The climate is appealing for Asians who "are trying to make their mark here, trying to build a community and trying to introduce their culture," she said.

Friendly neighbors

On the first day of his IBM internship in Austin about five years ago, a confluence of events made a lasting impression on George Luc. First, while lunching at Guero's restaurant, he spotted film director Quentin Tarantino at the next table. "That was cool," Luc says. Walking out afterward, Luc was approached by a stranger who handed him something. His wallet. Luc had unknowingly dropped it.

"I felt there were a lot of kind people here. It was a great selling point," Luc recalls.

The sale was made in 2007 when the 28-year-old Chinese American moved here from Virginia. He is now a product manager for HomeAway Inc. and on the boards of two nonprofits.

Wider growth

The Austin area's Asian surge mirrors state and national trends. Nationally, the Asian population grew 43 percent since 2000, faster than any other major racial or ethnic group, according to the census. The Asian population grew by 71 percent in Texas.

What sets Austin apart from most cities, however, is the support system of professional, business and social organizations that's been carefully cultivated over many years, said Soeur, the president of the Asian organizations network. Groups like the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Society of Austin, the Cambodian Foundation and the umbrella Network of Asian American Organizations — which lists 15 member groups on its Web site — help ease transitions to life in Austin, particularly for the foreign-born.

"We who've lived here a long time have tried very hard to get the Asian community to assemble into the mainstream," Soeur said.

Together with churches and religious institutions, the organizations lead Asian newcomers to the places where they can pray, learn English, buy food and put their children in school.

Chhom, the Cambodian transplant from Minnesota, said the Asian social and professional groups bring together members of ethnic groups with histories of friction and war in their homelands.

"It's great to see all various types united together as a whole," Chhom said. "Sometimes to have a louder voice, you have to join hands."

Community's future

Asians here eagerly await the anticipated opening next year of the city's Asian American Resource Center, Soeur said, on a 15-acre site at Cameron Road and Clear Creek Drive in Northeast Austin.

Austin voters approved $5 million for the center in a 2006 bond election. Community leaders championed the center as a vehicle to stimulate commerce and to showcase the best of Asian culture, something all of Austin could enjoy. The project will include an assembly hall for community events, classrooms, conference and office spaces, and an Asian Information Center.

"Its impact will be huge. That center is going to be very busy," Soeur said.

The center grew out of efforts in the 1980s to remedy what some viewed as discrimination — the absence of Asians among the executive and managerial ranks of the City of Austin's workforce.

"We worked very hard so that the city could create a workforce that looked like the city itself. We made gains," Soeur said.

Asian s are making their mark in Austin, in board rooms and in adding to the city's vibrant diversity, Soeur said.

Now, he hopes to see Asians embark on a new, important chapter. "We have not done a lot of civic duty. Now we have to get out and start to get involved in the local community," Soeur said.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635