According to the 2000 U.S. Census there are 186,310 Hmong living in the U.S., a 97% increase since 1990.

States with the highest populations are:

• California (95,000)
• Minnesota (70,000)
• Wisconsin (50,000)
• North Carolina, (20,000)
• Michigan (15,000)

Leaders within the Hmong American community believe these statistics are a 50-60% under representation, primarily due to language barriers in completing the census report (Doyle, 2001; Pfeifer, 2001).

The 2000 census reports that of the total number of Hmong Americans:

• 55.6% were foreign born with 30% of these persons being naturalized citizens
• 45.3% had no formal education
• 34.8% were “linguistically isolated”
• 38.4% were at or below the poverty level
• 2.8% were 65 years or older