As Boston welcomes its first AAPI mayor, Boston Indicators releases new data on Asians in the city

Boston – On the day after the historic election of Michelle Wu as the city’s first elected woman mayor and first Asian mayor, Boston Indicators examines the state of Greater Boston’s AAPI community with a new data report out today. The report, entitled Building AAPI Power, was produced in collaboration with the Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation.

Read the report from Boston Indicators

In the report, authors Luc Schuster and Anne Calef of Boston Indicators explore the growth and changing demographics of the Asian American population in Boston and the region, as well as the state of the region’s Asian immigrant population. In addition, it highlights many of the challenges facing the Asian community in Greater Boston, from concerns over rising hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans to the pandemic’s toll on Asian-owned businesses and industries in which large numbers of Asians and Asian Americans work.

The report also notes that counting Asians as a singular racial community within the region does a disservice to the remarkable complexity and diverse traditions and cultures of Asian peoples. It also obscures significant differences between AAPI communities in income, education, and English proficiency.

“This report reflects the breadth of diversity across different AAPI communities, and the rich heritage, culture, and growing economic power each group brings to the Greater Boston region,” notes Paul Lee, a Boston Foundation Director and co-chair of the Asian Community Fund. “With this appreciation is an acknowledgment and call to address disparities that exist between some AAPI communities. Our challenges and the solutions they call for are shared by all: addressing income inequality, increasing language access, and empowering civic voice and political representation.”

The report is available for download now from Boston Indicators at bostonindicators.org. 

To learn more about the Asian Community Fund, its work in partnership with the region’s AAPI communities, and how donors can support the Fund, visit tbf.org/acf.