How Major Demographic Changes of Asian and Latino Immigrants Are Transforming California

For nearly two decades, more Asians have immigrated to California than Latin Americans.

This trend, which takes into account documented and undocumented arrivals, has reshaped the immigrant experience in California in dramatic ways that are now coming into view.

In the workforce, California data are showing more high-skilled immigrants coming from Asia and fewer lower-skilled workers coming from Latin America.

The changing migration patterns are hitting regions in different ways: In Silicon Valley, 42% of Santa Clara County residents are now immigrants, with most coming from China and India. By contrast, Los Angeles County is about one-third immigrant with most still coming from Latin America.

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While Asian immigrants now outnumber Latino arrivals to California, that is not the case for the rest of the U.S., where Latinos from Mexico and South America still represent the largest immigrant group entering the country.

Demographic experts say Trump’s radical and controversial policies — if carried out — could accelerate the trend by further limiting immigration from the southern border while companies continue to use visas to get skilled workers from other countries.

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Johnson and others say the immigration trends have taken decades to fully play out but are becoming clearer in day-to-day life.

In 1990, 32% of California immigrants came from Asia and 56% came from Latin America, per census data reviewed by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The script flipped in 2007, Johnson said, but “it takes a while for the demographic changes to result in an overall impact on the population that is noticeable.” The majority of immigrants living in the state are still from Latin America, even though on an annual basis the flow of people coming across the border includes a greater percentage from Asia.

In 2022, 46% of California immigrants came from Asia, and 38% came from Latin America. European immigrants also made up a greater proportion of immigrants overall, going from 5.5% to 10% in the span.

Much of the influx was a result of the H-1B visa program, which brought nearly 79,000 skilled workers to California in 2024, per U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. The vast majority of these workers were sponsored by tech companies: Google, Meta and Apple were the top employers, accounting for more than 14,000 employees in total.

The vast majority of these visas went to Indian and Chinese citizens: In 2023, 73% of approved H-1B visas went to Indian people, and 12% went to Chinese residents, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.

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