San Francisco has a large, vibrant Chinatown area. The city is generally very diverse and has a higher tolerance for many ethnicities and races.
Asian culture has a significant footprint in Honolulu. However, there’s more of an emphasis on Filipino and Japanese cultures. Plenty of Chinese there though
I realize that this doesn’t directly address your question, but Vancouver, Canada, has a significant Asian/Chinese population as well.
New York has several Chinatowns and Chinese neighborhoods, notably the original Manhattan Chinatown, Flushing and Elmhurst in Queens and Sunset Park here in Brooklyn. There are also scattered Chinese population living in other neighborhoods.
NYC in general I’d say is pretty up there but if you’re counting neighborhoods/regions: Flushing, NYC and it’s not even close. There’s very little from China (and east Asia in general) that you can’t get in Flushing. There are people from pretty much every region of China and Taiwan there (along with Chinese diaspora from other countries like Vietnam, Singapore, etc). Chinatown Manhattan is certainly one of the more famous ones (and if I recall the highest percentage of Chinese people in a neighborhood outside of China) but in terms of sheer size and culture, Flushing is very hard to beat.
I dont know how to gauge friendliness or opinion, but in terms of practicality, San Francisco has the most signage in Chinese scattered around town outside of Chinatown of any place I have been
Don’t be confused, the US is not happy with the Chinese state, that has little or nothing to do with Chinese people. We’ve understood how to separate the two since at least the Cold War. While we were very unhappy with the USSR, we held no animus for the Russian people and indeed, felt sorry for them having to deal with that kind of government.
The San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles, between Pasadena and East Los Angeles, is like one giant, suburban Chinatown. San Marino is one of the nicest suburbs in the entire country, and the majority of the residents are Chinese. But there are more than a dozen other surrounding cities with more or less the same demographics. They even have practically their own international airport with direct flights to Taipei out of Ontario. I once took my non-Chinese family to a well-known restaurant there, and there wasn’t a single word of English on the memu or spoken by the wait staff! When the most famous restaurants in your community cater so exclusively to Chinese-speaking customers that they don’t even see a need to print or speak English, you know you’re in a very Chinese-friendly area!
There’s another band that starts in the outer districts of San Francisco and continues down the Peninsula to the south. There are many Chinese people in many of these communities, with multiple business districts that cater to Chinese people. Many of the neighborhoods are extremely nice and upscale as well, with lots of people working for the tech firms that have long made the area the economic envy of the world.
I know there’s a big concentration in Queens, NY also, but I don’t really have any personal experience of it.
Los Angeles, specifically the San Gabriel Valley. It’s a huge Chinese community that’s very well respected in the region and we even have government representatives like Congressman Judy Chu who are first gen Chinese
Washington DC or nova (northern Virginia area) has a good population. Two of my best friends are from China as well as several coworkers. Good community here.
The San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California. Alhambra, Hacienda Heights, Rosemead, Monterey Park, for example, are cities with large Asian populations in general.
Huh? Are people forgetting “the Chinese virus” of 5 years ago? When Asian Americans of any ethnicity were targeted as Chinese and attacked?! Even before the pandemic came Chinese seniors were getting knocked down and robbed. And that’s only the overt racism. Chinese are a minority in the USA and continue to be discriminated against. I’ve witnessed racism toward Chinese Americans IN Chinatown by other races.
To answer your question, any city/state with a Chinatown will be more accommodating, but this is still the USA.
Toronto and Vancouver in Canada also have large Chinese populations if that’s of interest.
The Dallas/Fort Worth area is. There are communities scattered throughout the metro area. I have several Chinese friends who haven’t had any problems because the area is very diverse. I grew up in an inner ring suburb, Richardson, close to a small Chinatown.
Just to put things in perspective, there’s been a large Chinese diaspora in the US for the last 150 years. There’s people who identify as Chinese today whose ancestors came here before the large waves of Italians, Polish, Jews and even Irish arrived.
I’m not going to pretend that there hasn’t been racism against Chinese, but today, they’re so integrated and widespread that it’s even difficult to view Chinese-Americans as a distinct group. They occupy all strata of society, and as another poster pointed out, Chinese restaurants in the US are as ubiquitous as fast food chains.
Often on the coasts in cities and neighboring suburban areas. San Francisco, NY, Chicago, Boston, LA, SD, Seattle, and associated areas nearby have pretty high concentrations of Chinese people and are pretty friendly. Not particularly cheap though
NYC for sure. But I’ve been all over the country and just about every MAJOR metro area has some sort of “Chinatown.” I know that during COVID there was a rise in anti-Chinese hate incidents but I would say generally Chinese people don’t face a huge amount of discrimination in day to day life. I don’t know anyone who hates Chinese people even though I could name several people in my friend circle who really dislike the Chinese government. Whereas I have met many people in my lifetime who showed prejudice against black people or Mexicans, I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone overtly hostile to Chinese folk.
I’ll agree that West Coast amd NYC are at the top but also important to note that during the pandemic, those were the places with by far the most hate crimes. I get because there’s more Chinese and Asians but that also makes them an easier and more visible target. I know a lot of people that avoided NYC for a while and same with LA and the Bay Area, specifically Oakland.
” A plurality of Republicans (42%) consider China an adversary—a country the United States is in conflict with—compared to just 17 percent of Democrats.
As a broad strategy, Republicans (67%) are far more likely than Democrats (39%) to view limiting China’s global influence as a very important goal for US foreign policy.
In terms of specific policies, majorities of Republicans favor restricting the exchange of scientific research between the United States and China (73%) and limiting the number of Chinese students studying in the United States (72%). Majorities of Democrats oppose limits on Chinese students (66%) and scientific exchange (59%).”
I think it’s probably a Democratic area, but in any area and any party you can have racism.
Rowland Heights, Alhambra, San Marino, San Gabriel, Arcadia, Temple City, etc.
San Gabriel Valley is probably not a part of the US most Americans have heard of unless you are Chinese or really into food, but it has a population of ~2 million people and is plurality Chinese. To put it into context, my wife is a white Norwegian. Last time we were in Rowland Heights, a lady whose native language was Cantonese just defaulted to trying to talk to her in Mandarin.
I live in San Marino, which is ~58% ethnic Chinese, and ~50% foreign born. Large amount from Taiwan but increasing amount from Mainland China too. All of my daughter’s friends, whether they are American, Korean, Indian, European, eat Chinese food. She has an Indian classmate who had her birthday dinner at 海底撈 just last week. She went with a few other Europeans to Chinatown for lion dance stuff back in March.
If you look up Pacific Plaza in Rowland Heights on Yelp, that’s what a typical strip mall looks like in the area, and there are others around that are more Chinese themed too. In most of the area you will see more Chinese than English.
There is also Flushing and nearby areas in NYC, but personally I find Flushing very 80s/90s-esque and culturally quite a bit different from modern China.
Anywhere you go in general you’re gonna be fine. I mean it makes sense going to a place with a large Asian population would have a good attitude, but that’s not to say places without a Chinatown have a bad attitude is all I’m saying.
On the mainland: San Francisco, California. Close to 40% of the city is Asian and 25% of the population is specifically ethnically Chinese.
Lunar New Year is a city-wide holiday celebration that all the politicians and businesses sponsor. All government communications are in both English and Mandarin. The politicians are required to take Chinese names for the Chinese language version of the ballots and will have campaign signs and slogans in Chinese. There are multiple Chinese language immersion schools throughout the city.
There are other places with Chinese communities, but in SF, Chinese-American culture is close to being the mainstream culture. The Chinese-American community here also wields significant political power, which is something you won’t find in many other places.
The drawbacks are that its extremely expensive and the K12 public schools are bad. You’d have to go to private school if you have kids.
Irvine, California is another good answer and has better K12 education. Bay Area suburbs like Fremont, California are 60%+ Asian.
Irvine, CA. I made friends with many Chinese international students. One of them decided to study here to improve her English only to realize that she rarely used it outside of class because there’s a lot of businesses here that use Chinese and her landlord was also Chinese.
If you’re concern is finding a larger community of Chinese people to ease your transition, then sometime posted some areas with particularly large populations. Although , almost any sizeable metro are will have Chinese immigrants. On the other hand, If your concern is in avoiding a place that’s unfriendly (ie unwelcoming), then you don’t need to worry about that.
New York City has a huge Chinese community and many Chinese neighborhoods. They’re one of the largest immigrant groups in the city, and by far the largest Asian community in NYC. Queens leans more Mandarin speaking while Brooklyn leans more Cantonese and Fujianese speaking.
The big 3 Chinatowns are the original Chinatown in lower Manhattan, 8th Ave in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, and Flushing in Queens.
I’m old enough to remember when there were far fewer Chinese in the US. In the 1950s there was one Chinese restaurant each in the sizable cities of Ft. Worth and Lubbock, TX. And no Indian restaurants. That was because US immigration policies at the time made it almost impossible for them to immigrate here.
From my experience (wife is ABC): Seattle, pretty much all of California, Chicago, NYC, northern Virginia/DC, and parts north of Dallas. I’m sure there are more, and there certainly are smaller pockets of the country that have more Chinese/Chinese Americans. Also, college towns tend to have a lot of Chinese students and Chinese educators.
My wife and I always joke, no matter where you go in the country or in the world, you can always find Chinese people somewhere.
When it comes to attitudes toward China, it’s generally negative throughout the country. But that’s not to say that a Chinese person will be treated with negativity. Most people in this country with a basic education understand that Chinese people don’t exactly get to pick their leaders and what their country does.
Unpopular answer: A major city in a super conservative state.
Progressive states are crazy racist to your face in the name of uber tolerance.
Conservative towns will be racist behind your back esp if you don’t assymilate (learn the language and mannerisms).
But generally the capital city of a red state is the right combination of probably having racist thoughts about you but don’t care enough to bother you about it.
There is a large enough Chinese population that some schools get off for Chinese Lunar New Year in South Jersey/Philly area.
As for general views I think there is a wide range of views. Young people tend to view Chinese population more positively. And I’ve heard some god awful things from old folks. 😬
As a general rule, the larger the city, and the further west it is, the more friendly it is to Asians in general (and Chinese tend to be the largest section of the larger Asian community). So, states like Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii (I can’t speak to Alaska, but I’d assume its the same) and their biggest metro areas are going to be Chinese friendly with greater assimilation into the community and the community will be more affected by Chinese culture than many other places.
Comments
Any city with a Chinatown district
List of U.S. cities with significant Chinese-American populations – Wikipedia
California, I suppose San Francisco, but the smaller cities just south of it are far better.
Probably San Fransisco and New York.
Atlanta is up there on the list, especially northeast Atlanta.
Boston has a great Chinatown
San Francisco has a large, vibrant Chinatown area. The city is generally very diverse and has a higher tolerance for many ethnicities and races.
Asian culture has a significant footprint in Honolulu. However, there’s more of an emphasis on Filipino and Japanese cultures. Plenty of Chinese there though
I realize that this doesn’t directly address your question, but Vancouver, Canada, has a significant Asian/Chinese population as well.
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I don’t think most people think anything about Chinese people. How people view the government and the people are two different conversations.
Calexico, California.
New York has several Chinatowns and Chinese neighborhoods, notably the original Manhattan Chinatown, Flushing and Elmhurst in Queens and Sunset Park here in Brooklyn. There are also scattered Chinese population living in other neighborhoods.
The West Coast big cities, SF/Seattle/Portland/LA/San Diego all have large Chinese populations.
Irvine California is a big and nice area with about half the demographic
NY (Queens) and much of northern NJ near Edison.
NYC in general I’d say is pretty up there but if you’re counting neighborhoods/regions: Flushing, NYC and it’s not even close. There’s very little from China (and east Asia in general) that you can’t get in Flushing. There are people from pretty much every region of China and Taiwan there (along with Chinese diaspora from other countries like Vietnam, Singapore, etc). Chinatown Manhattan is certainly one of the more famous ones (and if I recall the highest percentage of Chinese people in a neighborhood outside of China) but in terms of sheer size and culture, Flushing is very hard to beat.
I dont know how to gauge friendliness or opinion, but in terms of practicality, San Francisco has the most signage in Chinese scattered around town outside of Chinatown of any place I have been
Don’t be confused, the US is not happy with the Chinese state, that has little or nothing to do with Chinese people. We’ve understood how to separate the two since at least the Cold War. While we were very unhappy with the USSR, we held no animus for the Russian people and indeed, felt sorry for them having to deal with that kind of government.
Definitely NYC.
The San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles, between Pasadena and East Los Angeles, is like one giant, suburban Chinatown. San Marino is one of the nicest suburbs in the entire country, and the majority of the residents are Chinese. But there are more than a dozen other surrounding cities with more or less the same demographics. They even have practically their own international airport with direct flights to Taipei out of Ontario. I once took my non-Chinese family to a well-known restaurant there, and there wasn’t a single word of English on the memu or spoken by the wait staff! When the most famous restaurants in your community cater so exclusively to Chinese-speaking customers that they don’t even see a need to print or speak English, you know you’re in a very Chinese-friendly area!
There’s another band that starts in the outer districts of San Francisco and continues down the Peninsula to the south. There are many Chinese people in many of these communities, with multiple business districts that cater to Chinese people. Many of the neighborhoods are extremely nice and upscale as well, with lots of people working for the tech firms that have long made the area the economic envy of the world.
I know there’s a big concentration in Queens, NY also, but I don’t really have any personal experience of it.
A lot of coastal cities have large Asian immigrant populations, so probably any of those. LA, Seattle, DC, New York, etc.
West coast, Seattle or San Francisco
Attitude towards the Chinese government: probably none.
Attitude towards Chinese people: I’d start looking in places with large and historic Chinese-American populations
Los Angeles, specifically the San Gabriel Valley. It’s a huge Chinese community that’s very well respected in the region and we even have government representatives like Congressman Judy Chu who are first gen Chinese
Washington DC or nova (northern Virginia area) has a good population. Two of my best friends are from China as well as several coworkers. Good community here.
I would assume China Town in SF Vallejo CA as well and probably new York
Irvine
Hoboken, NJ
China Town in Chicago is growing.
The San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California. Alhambra, Hacienda Heights, Rosemead, Monterey Park, for example, are cities with large Asian populations in general.
Huh? Are people forgetting “the Chinese virus” of 5 years ago? When Asian Americans of any ethnicity were targeted as Chinese and attacked?! Even before the pandemic came Chinese seniors were getting knocked down and robbed. And that’s only the overt racism. Chinese are a minority in the USA and continue to be discriminated against. I’ve witnessed racism toward Chinese Americans IN Chinatown by other races.
To answer your question, any city/state with a Chinatown will be more accommodating, but this is still the USA.
Toronto and Vancouver in Canada also have large Chinese populations if that’s of interest.
We like all Asians here in San Antonio.
Many West Coast cities – San Francisco, San Jose, LA
NYC
If you want Asian heaven it’s California, specifically either the Bay Area or LA
NYC, San Francisco, and Seattle, I’d say.
The Dallas/Fort Worth area is. There are communities scattered throughout the metro area. I have several Chinese friends who haven’t had any problems because the area is very diverse. I grew up in an inner ring suburb, Richardson, close to a small Chinatown.
Irvine, CA
Just to put things in perspective, there’s been a large Chinese diaspora in the US for the last 150 years. There’s people who identify as Chinese today whose ancestors came here before the large waves of Italians, Polish, Jews and even Irish arrived.
I’m not going to pretend that there hasn’t been racism against Chinese, but today, they’re so integrated and widespread that it’s even difficult to view Chinese-Americans as a distinct group. They occupy all strata of society, and as another poster pointed out, Chinese restaurants in the US are as ubiquitous as fast food chains.
My city has a huge Chinese population. The culture is pretty influential here.
Often on the coasts in cities and neighboring suburban areas. San Francisco, NY, Chicago, Boston, LA, SD, Seattle, and associated areas nearby have pretty high concentrations of Chinese people and are pretty friendly. Not particularly cheap though
Flushing, NYC is #1. Chinatown in Manhattan as well but not quite as much as Flushing
NYC for sure. But I’ve been all over the country and just about every MAJOR metro area has some sort of “Chinatown.” I know that during COVID there was a rise in anti-Chinese hate incidents but I would say generally Chinese people don’t face a huge amount of discrimination in day to day life. I don’t know anyone who hates Chinese people even though I could name several people in my friend circle who really dislike the Chinese government. Whereas I have met many people in my lifetime who showed prejudice against black people or Mexicans, I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone overtly hostile to Chinese folk.
My home town Chicago has become more so over the last twenty years or so. 👍👍
I’ll agree that West Coast amd NYC are at the top but also important to note that during the pandemic, those were the places with by far the most hate crimes. I get because there’s more Chinese and Asians but that also makes them an easier and more visible target. I know a lot of people that avoided NYC for a while and same with LA and the Bay Area, specifically Oakland.
” A plurality of Republicans (42%) consider China an adversary—a country the United States is in conflict with—compared to just 17 percent of Democrats.
I think it’s probably a Democratic area, but in any area and any party you can have racism.
Washington and Seattle in particular.
Rowland Heights, Alhambra, San Marino, San Gabriel, Arcadia, Temple City, etc.
San Gabriel Valley is probably not a part of the US most Americans have heard of unless you are Chinese or really into food, but it has a population of ~2 million people and is plurality Chinese. To put it into context, my wife is a white Norwegian. Last time we were in Rowland Heights, a lady whose native language was Cantonese just defaulted to trying to talk to her in Mandarin.
I live in San Marino, which is ~58% ethnic Chinese, and ~50% foreign born. Large amount from Taiwan but increasing amount from Mainland China too. All of my daughter’s friends, whether they are American, Korean, Indian, European, eat Chinese food. She has an Indian classmate who had her birthday dinner at 海底撈 just last week. She went with a few other Europeans to Chinatown for lion dance stuff back in March.
If you look up Pacific Plaza in Rowland Heights on Yelp, that’s what a typical strip mall looks like in the area, and there are others around that are more Chinese themed too. In most of the area you will see more Chinese than English.
There is also Flushing and nearby areas in NYC, but personally I find Flushing very 80s/90s-esque and culturally quite a bit different from modern China.
Chicago has a large Chinatown and many Chinese also in suburbs.
San Francisco Bay Area for sure. Monterey Park or just Los Angeles in general. And New York
Anywhere you go in general you’re gonna be fine. I mean it makes sense going to a place with a large Asian population would have a good attitude, but that’s not to say places without a Chinatown have a bad attitude is all I’m saying.
The state of Hawaii in general.
On the mainland: San Francisco, California. Close to 40% of the city is Asian and 25% of the population is specifically ethnically Chinese.
Lunar New Year is a city-wide holiday celebration that all the politicians and businesses sponsor. All government communications are in both English and Mandarin. The politicians are required to take Chinese names for the Chinese language version of the ballots and will have campaign signs and slogans in Chinese. There are multiple Chinese language immersion schools throughout the city.
There are other places with Chinese communities, but in SF, Chinese-American culture is close to being the mainstream culture. The Chinese-American community here also wields significant political power, which is something you won’t find in many other places.
The drawbacks are that its extremely expensive and the K12 public schools are bad. You’d have to go to private school if you have kids.
Irvine, California is another good answer and has better K12 education. Bay Area suburbs like Fremont, California are 60%+ Asian.
Hawai’i will do you good
Irvine, CA. I made friends with many Chinese international students. One of them decided to study here to improve her English only to realize that she rarely used it outside of class because there’s a lot of businesses here that use Chinese and her landlord was also Chinese.
You can live most anywhere in the US and it won’t be an issue at all. You may get some casual racism or unintended racism from time to time.
Almost no one will equate you with the Chinese government and color their feelings toward you with their feelings for China.
If you are looking to have some actual Chinese culture and compatriots, then you would want to go to NYC or San Francisco as others have mentioned.
If you’re concern is finding a larger community of Chinese people to ease your transition, then sometime posted some areas with particularly large populations. Although , almost any sizeable metro are will have Chinese immigrants. On the other hand, If your concern is in avoiding a place that’s unfriendly (ie unwelcoming), then you don’t need to worry about that.
New York City has a huge Chinese community and many Chinese neighborhoods. They’re one of the largest immigrant groups in the city, and by far the largest Asian community in NYC. Queens leans more Mandarin speaking while Brooklyn leans more Cantonese and Fujianese speaking.
The big 3 Chinatowns are the original Chinatown in lower Manhattan, 8th Ave in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, and Flushing in Queens.
California has an extensive history of Chinese immigration. Even a little city like Marysville has an active Chinese temple. https://chineseamericanmuseum.com/marysvillechinatown/
I’m old enough to remember when there were far fewer Chinese in the US. In the 1950s there was one Chinese restaurant each in the sizable cities of Ft. Worth and Lubbock, TX. And no Indian restaurants. That was because US immigration policies at the time made it almost impossible for them to immigrate here.
Someone from any country on the planet could walk around basically anywhere and most people would probably just think you are a citizen
Honolulu is great imo. I live next to Chinatown and I love it.
Anyone of the ones large enough to have a Chinatown. Basically sort by size and pick the top ones.
West coast
Irvine, CA. Chinese population is at almost half.
boston is good.
seems that san francisco is too.
suburbs of seatle def are
All of the China towns.
SF
Houston!!!!
California and Hawaii
Seattle
Bay Area
Seattle
NYC/Boston
Los Angeles
Vancouver Canada
Washington DC
Honolulu
If someone was Chinese and wanted a large Chinese community they could find them in those areas
In suburbs of Philly. Tons of Asians and Chinese here. No issues, my neighbors are from China, we are close. Good people. Have dated a few in college.
From my experience (wife is ABC): Seattle, pretty much all of California, Chicago, NYC, northern Virginia/DC, and parts north of Dallas. I’m sure there are more, and there certainly are smaller pockets of the country that have more Chinese/Chinese Americans. Also, college towns tend to have a lot of Chinese students and Chinese educators.
My wife and I always joke, no matter where you go in the country or in the world, you can always find Chinese people somewhere.
When it comes to attitudes toward China, it’s generally negative throughout the country. But that’s not to say that a Chinese person will be treated with negativity. Most people in this country with a basic education understand that Chinese people don’t exactly get to pick their leaders and what their country does.
The DFW area in North Texas as well as Houston
Unpopular answer: A major city in a super conservative state.
Progressive states are crazy racist to your face in the name of uber tolerance.
Conservative towns will be racist behind your back esp if you don’t assymilate (learn the language and mannerisms).
But generally the capital city of a red state is the right combination of probably having racist thoughts about you but don’t care enough to bother you about it.
There is a large enough Chinese population that some schools get off for Chinese Lunar New Year in South Jersey/Philly area.
As for general views I think there is a wide range of views. Young people tend to view Chinese population more positively. And I’ve heard some god awful things from old folks. 😬
West Coast and parts of the North East.
As a general rule, the larger the city, and the further west it is, the more friendly it is to Asians in general (and Chinese tend to be the largest section of the larger Asian community). So, states like Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii (I can’t speak to Alaska, but I’d assume its the same) and their biggest metro areas are going to be Chinese friendly with greater assimilation into the community and the community will be more affected by Chinese culture than many other places.