Asian American-owned businesses in the state grew by more than 70 percent,

September 29, 2025 admin 0 Comments

Asian American-owned businesses in the state grew by more than 70 percent, according to recently released census data. But the numbers documenting the boom are for years before the economic downturn.

In 2002 there were about 25,000 Asian-American owned businesses in the state. In 2007, that number jumped to around 45,000. Helen Ho, the executive director of the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, isn’t surprised by the growth.

“You drive down the Buford highway corridor, and it’s right in your face the level of growth.”

Ho says the state’s immigrant population grew exponentially in recent years. But Ho says one thing that’s unique about the Asian American community is the number of small businesses.

“Even though our population is significantly smaller than the Hispanic population in our state for instance, we own 40 percent more businesses than Hispanics. We generate twice as much revenue.”

But the census data looked at the years before the great recession. Parthiv Parekh is an editor at the Indian-American magazine, Khabar. Parekh says he hasn’t seen many places closing, but he has heard of certain businesses hurting.

“I know that Indian jewelers have been particularly complaining about their businesses doing bad. Indian hoteliers talk about how bad things are.”

Real Estate broker Tim Hur points out one sign that Asian American retailers aren’t doing as well as hoped.

“A lot of the Asian American buildings, if you see them, they’re going to be two stories. And unfortunately now, you see a lot of them especially [with] the second floor vacant.”

According to the census survey, Vietnamese-Americans owned the most businesses. But it was Indian Chinese and Korean-owned businesses that generated the most revenue.