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Bangladeshi Americans

Bangladeshi Americans (Bengali: বাংলাদেশী মার্কিনী, romanizedBangladeshī Markinī) are Americans of Bangladeshi descent. Most Bangladeshi Americans are also Bengali Americans. Bangladeshi Americans are usually Muslims with roots in Bangladesh in which Bengali is the majority language. (However, other Bengali speakers can be Hindus from India.) Since the early 1970s, Bangladeshi immigrants have arrived in significant numbers to become one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. New York City is home to two-thirds of the Bangladeshi American population. Meanwhile, Paterson, New Jersey and Atlantic City, New Jersey[8] are also home to notable Bangladeshi communities. Over 400,000 people leave Bangladesh with the sole goal of finding employment in other countries.[9]

History[edit]

Immigrants from present-day Bangladesh have been in the United States since at least the First World War, originating from East Bengal of British India.[10]


Since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, immigration to the United States grew slowly but steadily through the 1970s and 1980s. Over 10,000 Bangladeshis have immigrated to the United States annually.[4] Many of the migrants settled in urban areas. New York City is home to two-thirds of the Bangladeshi population in the United States. Other cities including Paterson, Atlantic City, New Jersey; Buffalo, New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Boston; Chicago; and Detroit.


In New York, it was estimated that 15,000 Bangladeshis resided in the city in the early 1980s. During the late 1970s, some Bangladeshis moved from New York City to Detroit, and Atlantic City for jobs. Homes to prominent communities of other Muslim Americans, in search of better work opportunities and an affordable cost of living,[11] but most have since returned from Detroit to New York and to New Jersey, in hope of starting a new community and a peaceful life. In Atlantic City, Bangladeshis established an association, and two smaller Melas are held in June/July and in August.


The Los Angeles Bangladesh Association was created in 1971, and there were 500 members of the Texas Bangladesh Association in 1997. The Bangladeshi population in Dallas was 5,000 people in 1997, which was large enough to hold the Baishakhi Mela event.


Baishakhi Mela events have been held in major American cities such as New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; Atlantic City; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles; as the Bangladeshi population continues to increase in these cities.[12] The third and largest wave of arrivals came in the 1990s and 2000s. Because of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, professional and educational criteria were not used. Most Bangladeshi immigrants took blue-collar work such as taxi driving and restaurant help.[13]

Major communities[edit]

New York City[edit]

New York City is home to the largest Bangladeshi community in the United States, receiving by far the highest legal permanent resident Bangladeshi immigrant population.[4] The Bangladeshi-born immigrant population has become one of the fastest growing in New York City, counting over 93,000 by 2011 alone.[18][19] The city's Bangladeshi community is prominent in Jackson Heights, Queens. 74th Street has most of the Bangladeshi grocery stores and clothing stores in Jackson Heights. The Bangladesh Plaza hosts numerous Bangladeshi businesses and cultural events. Recently, one part of Jackson Heights has become an open platform for all sorts of protests and activism. The adjacent neighborhoods of Woodside and Elmhurst in Queens have also drawn Bangladeshi Americans.


In the 1960s, Bangladeshi Americans developed the Manhattan restaurant area called Curry Row.[20] Since the 1970s, thousands of Bangladeshis were able to legally migrate to the U.S. through the Diversity Visa Program lottery. Centered on 169th Street and Hillside Avenue, Jamaica, Queens, has become a popular draw due to the large number of Bengladeshi restaurants and grocery stores. Sagar Restaurant, Gharoa, Deshi Shaad, Kabir's Bakery, and other stores in Queens are attractions for the Bangladeshi community from throughout New York City. The largest numbers of Bangladeshi Americans now live in the Queens neighborhoods of Jamaica, Jackson Heights, Hollis, and Briarwood. Bangladeshi enclaves have also emerged in Parkchester, Bronx; Ozone Park, Queens; City Line, Brooklyn.[21] More affluent Bangladeshis have relocated to Long Island, largely due to many Bengladeshi-owned pharmaceutical companies that also employ many Bengladeshis there. However, a relatively small number of Bangladeshis have moved from New York City to cities such as Buffalo, New York, and Hamtramck, Michigan, mainly due to low costs of living there.

Community and economic issues[edit]

Per capita income[edit]

In 2014, identified by factfinder census, when Americans per capita income was divided by ethnic groups Bangladeshi Americans were revealed to have a per capita income of only $18,027, below the American average of $25,825.[30]

Median household income[edit]

In 2015, Bangladeshi Americans had an estimated median household income of $49,800, lower than the overall American median of $53,600.[31]


In 2019, Bangladeshi Americans had a median household income of $59,500.[32]

Poverty[edit]

In a 2013, NPR discussion with a member of the Economic Policy Institute and co-author of the book The Myth of the Model Minority Rosalind Chou who is also a professor of sociology. One of them stated that "When you break it down by specific ethnic groups, the Hmong, the Bangladeshi, they have poverty rates that rival the African-American poverty rate."[33]

Education[edit]

In the 2000 U.S. Census, 57,412 people reporting having Bangladeshi origin.[34] In 2015, it was reported that 16% of the Bangladeshi population in the US had at least a Bachelor's degree.[35] Almost 22% of Bangladeshis over the age of 25 earned at least a Bachelor's degree, compared to less than 25% of the U.S. population.

Politics[edit]

Bangladeshi Americans strongly favor the Democratic Party. Republican President Richard Nixon's support of Pakistan during Bangladesh's struggle for independence partly swayed Bangladeshis to the Democratic Party.[36] In the 2012 U.S. presidential election, 96% of Bangladeshi Americans voted to reelect Barack Obama.[37] In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 90% of Bangladeshi Americans voted for Hillary Clinton.[38] In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 91% of Bangladeshi Americans voted for Joe Biden.[39]


In recent decades, the Bangladeshi-American community has become more active in local and national politics, with many Bangladeshi Americans seeking office or forming political organizations to better represent those within or outside the community who share similar goals.[40][41][42]

– George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Statistics, Ball State University

Mir Masoom Ali

– former Miss California; placed in the Top 10 of the 2011 Miss America pageant

Arianna Afsar

World Series of Poker winner

Saif Ahmad

(d. 2014) – scientist and professor at University of Hawaii

Maqsudul Alam

– shooting survivor and activist

Rais Bhuiyan

– member of U.S. House of Representatives (2011-2013) from Michigan's 13th District

Hansen Clarke

– academic, filmmaker, writer, visual artist

Naeem Mohaiemen

– interdisciplinary media artist

Hasan M. Elahi

– interdisciplinary media artist

Firoz Mahmud

– scientist and professor of quantum physics at Princeton University- known for seminal discoveries in quantum physics.[43] Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[44]

M. Zahid Hasan

– professor of mechanical engineering, and earth science at the University of Houston

Fazle Hussain

– chemist, inventor of the Sono arsenic filter

Abul Hussam

- business executive, chairman of Intel and Medtronic

Omar Ishrak

– chemist and jet fuels inventor

Abdus Suttar Khan

– founder of modern e-learning

Badrul Khan

– pioneer of modern structural engineering

Fazlur Rahman Khan

– founder of Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational organisation

Salman Khan

– co-founder of YouTube, designed key parts of PayPal

Jawed Karim

– tech investor and entrepreneur. Chief Strategy Officer of Snap Inc, Leading Alibaba Group IPO, leading Snap IPO

Imran Khan (businessman)

– co-inventor of artificial kidney, medical MEMS, scientist, and engineer.

Shuvo Roy

– electrical engineer[45]

Mohammad Ataul Karim

– founder of Sumazi, recognized by BusinessWeek as one of America's Best Young Entrepreneurs.

Sumaya Kazi

– award-winning novelist[46]

Sezan Mahmud

– designer and music video director

Shomi Patwary

– founder of Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest mobile phone company; headed the MIT Legatum Center

Iqbal Quadir

– entrepreneur; founded two of Bangladesh's key technology companies, CellBazaar and bKash

Kamal Quadir

– CEO of Ms. Foundation for Women

Anika Rahman

– tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist

Badal Roy

– conservative American political commentator; blogger at The American Scene; associate editor of The Atlantic Monthly

Reihan Salam

– singer, auteur of industrial band Android Lust

Shikhee

– YouTuber listed as MagicofRahat

Rahat Hossain

– musician, electronic music producer and DJ

Sanjoy

– electronic music producer

Jai Wolf

– space historian, assistant professor of history at Fordham University

Asif Azam Siddiqi

– former U.S. ambassador

M. Osman Siddique

– singer

Palbasha Siddique

– model, philanthropist and beauty queen Miss Bangladesh USA

Marjana Chowdhury

– Bangladeshi-Russian-American operatic soprano

Monica Yunus

– rapper

Anik Khan

Asian Americans in New York City

Chinese people in New York City

Demographics of New York City

Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area

Fuzhounese in New York City

Indians in the New York City metropolitan region

Japanese in New York City

Koreans in New York City

Russians in New York City

Taiwanese people in New York City

Bengali diaspora

Bengali Americans

Little Bangladesh, Los Angeles

Bangladesh–United States relations

Bald, Vivak. Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America (Harvard University Press, 2013).

Baluja, Kagri Glagstad. Gender Roles at Home and Abroad: The Adaptation of Bangladeshi Immigrants (LFB Scholarly Publications, 2003).

Harris, Michael S. "Bangladeshis," in American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation, edited by David Levinson and Melvin Ember. (Macmillan Reference, 1997).

Jones, J. Sydney. "Bangladeshi Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 221–235.

online

American Institute of Bangladesh Studies

Bangladesh American Center

US Census 2000 foreign born population by country

Asian American Federation Census information

Archived December 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

Books