Planning Today for a Better Tomorrow

A Community Survey Profile of Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Americans in Sacramento County

Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Americans represented almost a quarter of the people living in Sacramento. From 2011 to 2015, this population included more than 102,000 Asian Americans (alone or in combination), making up approximately one in five Sacramento city residents (21.3%). Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (alone or in combination) made up 2.6 percent of the population in Sacramento in 2015 (consisting of approximately 12,000 individuals who self-identified with this group).

The Asian American population rate of growth was nearly double that of Sacramento city as a whole. During the same period, the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) populations grew at almost five times the rate of Sacramento’s total population. The number and percentage of multiracial people in Sacramento continue to increase. In 2000, there were 26,078 people in Sacramento who counted as “two or more races,” comprising 6.4 percent of the total population.

In 2011- 2015, there were 33,335 people in Sacramento who counted as “two or more races,” reaching 6.9 percent of the total population. This represents a growth rate of 27.8 percent, compared to the overall population growth rate of 18.1 percent. The multiracial population of Asian Americans grew by 33.2 percent, while the multiracial population of Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders grew by 81 percent.

There continues to be great educational disparity among various Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups in Sacramento. The percentage of Asian Americans holding a bachelor’s degree was 22.3 percent in 2011-2015. This was higher than the total population (19.0%), but lower compared to Whites (25.2%). The rate of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander individuals holding a bachelor’s degree was 7.6 percent, or less than half the rate of the overall population. The average rate among Sacramento residents for attaining a graduate or professional degree was more than five times that of the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander population. 

From “Planning Today for a Better tomorrow, A Community Survey Profile of Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders in Sacramento”, California State University Sacramento