UT Dallas Study: North Texas Indian Americans Significantly More Educated, Wealthier

DALLAS, TEXAS – To commemorate India’s 75th year of independence the IACEO Council, in partnership with the Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas, released a new report called “A Profile of the Indian American Population in North Texas.”

The study used both quantitative and qualitative analyses to examine the economic, political, and social characteristics of the Indian American community in the North Texas region, a press release said.  

Using data collected and provided by various government agencies, the report analyzes the demographic, market, education, and workforce characteristics of the Indian American population in the North Texas region. The study, the press release said, also highlights individual and group examples of successful engagement within the Indian American community and the opportunities those successes highlight for other racial groups. The study found that Indian Americans in North Texas (Dallas, Collin, Tarrant, and Denton Counties):

The average wage for Indian Americans in the DFW region in 2019 was $58,879 compared to $36,301 for other Asians and $39,895 for Caucasians. The average wage for all other racial groups was reported at $27,986. In other words, Indian Americans earn about 48 percent more than their white counterparts and 62 percent more than other Asians.

Indian Americans also have the highest proportion of the population with a 4-year college degree or a graduate degree. Specifically, more than one-in-four Indian Americans have a 4-year college degree, compared to about one-in-five whites. More than 60 percent of Indian Americans in North Texas have a four-year or graduate degree. One-in-three Indian Americans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have a graduate degree, compared to about one-in-ten whites and one-in-five other Asians. Overall, about 60 percent of Indian Americas have a college degree of some sort.

Compared to their overall number in the workforce, Indian Americans are over-represented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations in North Texas. More than one-half of Indian American employees work in only three industries: computer and mathematical, management, and healthcare practitioners. No other group shows such a prevalent clustering.

According to data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in 2020, immigrants from India comprised 6 percent of new arrivals in the United States, behind Mexico, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and China. Dallas-Fort Worth received the 4th-highest number of individuals of Indian descent, behind New York City (8,221), Chicago (3,344), and San Francisco (2,972).

According to the US Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons in 2012 (the latest version), Indian Americans owned 5.3 percent of all businesses in Collin, Denton, Dallas, and Tarrant counties, representing more than one-third of all Asian American businesses. The combined sales receipts of all Indian American businesses were just over $10 billion, or 2.27 percent of all business receipts (and 43 percent of all Asian-owned business receipts). Indian American businesses were most prevalent in Collin County, representing 7.5 percent of all businesses and 4.4 percent of all sales receipts.