STAATUS Index
2024

Attitudes towards Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

Now in its fourth year, the 2024 STAATUS Index survey continues to serve as a benchmark for the AANHPI community’s progress by revealing both new insights and long-standing issues about how Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) are perceived and treated in the U.S.

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01

Key Takeaways

Understanding how people view Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) continues to be crucial to building a world where AANHPIs are safe, feel belonging and have pathways to prosperity. The STAATUS Index is the only nationally representative survey that reveals sources of influences on perceptions about the AANHPI community and how harmful stereotypes may persist and evolve over the years.

We surveyed 6,272 Americans across the country to uncover the most pressing issues AANHPIs are facing today. Key results include:

  1. Americans don’t think hate toward Asian Americans has increased, but Asian Americans disagree.

    • Only one-third of Americans think hate towards Asian Americans has increased. Perceptions that Asian Americans are treated fairly in the US have risen steadily since 2021.

    • Meanwhile, over the past 12 months: 32% of Asian Americans say they were called a slur, and 29% say they were verbally harassed or verbally abused.

      • The numbers are even higher for some subgroups. For example, Southeast Asian Americans report higher incidences of being called a racial slur (40%), verbal harassment or abuse (38%), and threats of physical assault (22%) over the last 12 months.

    • 41% of Asian Americans think they are likely to be the victim of a physical attack and 59% of Asians Americans think it is at least somewhat likely that they will be a victim of discrimination in the next 5 years because of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

  2. Because of discrimination, violence, and lack of representation, only 38% of Asian Americans completely agree they belong, and even fewer feel they are fully accepted.

    • Asian Americans are least likely to feel strongly that they belong, and also least likely to feel that they are accepted for their racial identity in the US.

    • 38% of Asian Americans completely agree that they belong, while only 18% completely agree that they are accepted in the U.S. for their racial identity.

    • For Asian Americans who feel they aren’t fully accepted or don’t fully belong in the U.S., social media (34%), and workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools/colleges/universities (all 31%) feel the least welcoming.

    • For Asian Americans who don’t feel they belong or are accepted, 60% pointed to previous experiences of discrimination and/or violence and 37% said they don’t see people like them in positions of power.

  3. We need to break the “STAATUS quo” and it is our responsibility to advocate for and celebrate AANHPI stories beyond Heritage Month.

    • A majority of Americans (55%) are unable to name a single event or policy related to Asian Americans.

      • Four years after this original finding made waves, more than half of all Americans (52%) still can’t name a famous Asian American. When people are named, Jackie Chan (9%) (who is not American), Bruce Lee (5%) (who died over 50 years ago), and Kamala Harris (2%) are the most common responses.

    • Half of Americans (50%) can’t name a favorite movie with an Asian American character, but Americans want to see more Asian Americans in dramas (59%) and comedies (60%).

The top 3 ideas for decreasing racism are to teach the history of Asian Americans in K-12 schools and colleges (41%), increase visibility of Asian Americans in American society (41%), and provide more opportunities to interact with Asian Americans (39%).

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02

Hate

Americans don’t think hate towards Asian Americans has increased, but Asian Americans disagree.

People believe hate has increased towards Black Americans (42%), but less towards Asian Americans (33%) or Hispanic Americans (25%).

In stark contrast, 73% of Black Americans, 61% of Asian Americans, and 41% of Hispanic Americans feel that hate towards them has increased.

Towards which groups do you think that hate has increased over the last 12 months?

25%

33%

42%

Hispanic Americans

Asian Americans

Black Americans

However, Asian Americans continue to experience hate and expect to experience discrimination.

Nearly 1 in 3 Asian Americans have been called a racial or ethnic slur in the past year.

Nearly 3 in 10 Asian Americans were verbally harassed or abused in the last 12 months because of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

Please indicate if you have experienced any of the following incidents in the last 12 months specifically because of your race, ethnicity, or religion.
Ethnicity
Asian Americans

Someone called me a racial or ethnic slur

32%

Someone verbally harassed me or verbally abused me

29%

Someone threatened to physically assault me

14%

I experienced cyberbullying

19%

For ease of use, charts show the weighted results for each question across all demographic subgroups. Unweighted statistics used for Asian American subgroup analyses may differ slightly, and can be viewed in the official report.
03

Belonging & Acceptance

Because of discrimination and lack of representation, only 38% of Asian Americans completely agree they belong, and even fewer feel they are fully accepted.

Asian Americans are the least likely group to feel strongly that they belong in the U.S. Asian Americans are also least likely to feel strongly that they are accepted in the U.S.

38% of Asian Americans completely agree that they belong, while only 18% completely agree that they are accepted in the U.S. for their racial identity.

Share of Americans who completely agree they belong vs those who feel they are accepted in the U.S.

Ethnicity
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%Share who completely agree that they are accepted in the U.S. 0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%Share who completely agree that they belong in the U.S. White AmericansNative Hawaiian or Pacific IslanderMiddle Eastern, Southwest Asian, or North AfricanHispanic AmericansBlack AmericansAmerican Indian, Alaska Native, or Native AmericanAsian AmericansAll Americans
For ease of use, charts show the weighted results for each question across all demographic subgroups. Unweighted statistics used for Asian American subgroup analyses may differ slightly, and can be viewed in the official report.

Asian Americans cite several reasons why they don’t feel they belong or are accepted.

Six out of 10 (60%) Asian Americans pointed to previous experiences of discrimination and/or violence, and 37% said they don’t see people like them in positions of power.

Why do you feel like you do not belong/are not accepted?

Asian Americans

White Americans

Hispanic Americans

Black Americans

I have experienced discrimination and/or violence because of my race/ethnicity or religion.
60%
28%
58%
72%
I don’t see people like me in positions of power
37%
16%
29%
28%
Others have a value system different from mine
32%
33%
28%
26%
My religion and/or traditions are not respected here
18%
17%
15%
16%
I don’t see peers who look like me
16%
6%
15%
10%
04

Visibility

We need to break the “STAATUS quo” and advocate for and celebrate AANHPI stories beyond Heritage Month.

Four years after this original finding made waves, more than half of all Americans still can’t name a famous Asian American. A majority of Americans are unable to name a single event or policy related to Asian Americans.

Most people couldn’t think of or didn’t know (52%) a famous Asian American. When people were named, Jackie Chan (9% — who is not American), Bruce Lee (5% — who died over 50 years ago), and Kamala Harris (2%) were the most common responses.

More than half (55%) of Americans say nothing comes to mind or they don’t know an event or policy related to the history or lives of Asian Americans.

Please name a famous or prominent Asian American
Word cloud visualization that shows the results for the survey question: Please name a famous or prominent Asian AmericanWord cloud visualization that shows the results for the survey question: Please name a famous or prominent Asian American

Americans say racism towards Asian Americans will decrease by improving education, boosting visibility, and increasing opportunities to interact.

The top 3 ideas for decreasing racism are to teach the history of Asian Americans in K-12 schools and colleges (41%), increase visibility of Asian Americans in American society (41%), and provide more opportunities to interact with Asian Americans (39%).

What do you think is the best way to decrease racism towards Asian Americans?

Top 3 Responses

Bubble visualization that shows the survey results for ways people think is the best way to decrease racism
05

Data Playground

Utilize our data to educate, inform, and advocate for change

Explore the full results from the 2024 STAATUS Index survey below. Compare the responses by race, age, gender, education, region and other measures. Screenshot and share widely.

In the last 5 years, do you think the relationships between racial groups in the U.S. are…
All Americans
Select a group

Getting worse

43%

Staying the same

27%

Improving

24%

Not sure, Don’t know

6%

For ease of use, charts show the weighted results for each question across all demographic subgroups. Unweighted statistics used for Asian American subgroup analyses may differ slightly, and can be viewed in the official report.
STAATUS Index
2024

Read the full 2024 report

About the Report

Academic Advisory Committee

The STAATUS Index is advised by our esteemed Academic Advisory Committee (AAC).

Paul Watanabe

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston
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Paul Watanabe

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Paul is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is the author of Ethnic Groups, Congress, and American Foreign Policy and principal author of A Dream Deferred: Changing Demographics, New Opportunities, and Challenges for Boston. His scholarly articles on ethnic studies, Asian Americans, public policy, political behavior, foreign policy, and health disparities have appeared in major academic journals and edited volumes. He currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund; Board of Directors of the South Shore Health System; Board of Directors of North Hill Communities; Board of Trustees of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund; Board of Trustees of the town of Weymouth Libraries Foundation; Redistricting Data Hub’s Advisory Data Council, and the City of Boston’s COVID-19 Health Disparities Task Force. He was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and served as the first Chair of the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. The Emperor and Government of Japan have awarded Paul the Order of the Rising Sun. Paul received his B.S. in Political Science from the University of Utah and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.

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Russell Jeung

Professor of Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University
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Russell Jeung

Professor of Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University

Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, Dr. Russell Jeung is an author of books and articles on race and religion. He's written Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans (2019); Mountain Movers: Student Activism and the Emergence of Asian American Studies (2019); and At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors (2016).

In March 2020, Dr. Jeung co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that was awarded the 2021 Webby Award for "Social Movement of the Year." Dr. Jeung was named as one of the TIME 100 Most Influential Persons in 2021 and received the Game Changer Award from the Asia Society in 2022.

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Erika Lee

Regents Professor of History and Asian American Studies, University of Minnesota
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Erika Lee

Regents Professor of History and Asian American Studies, University of Minnesota

Professor Erika Lee is an award-winning historian and author, Regents Professor of History and Asian American Studies, Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, and President-Elect of the Organization of American Historians.

The granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Lee was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and testified before Congress in its historic hearings on anti-Asian discrimination and violence.

Lee is the author of four award-winning books including The Making of Asian America and America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in America, which won the American Book Award and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and more. Identified as an essential book illuminating the Trump era and the 2020 elections, it will be published with a new epilogue on xenophobia and racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Making of Asian America will also soon be republished with a new postscript about the latest campaigns against Asian Americans. Lee has been featured in PBS’s film series “Asian Americans” and has been interviewed for many news shows, podcasts, and publications.

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Jennifer Lee

Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Social Sciences, Columbia University
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Jennifer Lee

Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Social Sciences, Columbia University

Jennifer Lee is the Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Social Sciences at Columbia University and the 2022-23 Robbert Dijkgraaf Member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. An award-winning author and experienced public commentator, she has been uniquely successful in placing the study of Asian Americans centrally in the discipline. She is author or co-author of four-award winning books, including Asian American Achievement Paradox which garnered five national book awards. In it, she and her co-author dispel the cultural fallacy that Asian Americans excel in education because they value education more than other groups. Her work has also focused on immigrant entrepreneurship, ethnic conflict, intermarriage, multiracial identification, affirmative action, and the surge in anti-Asian violence since the onset of COVID-19.

Lee has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation and the Obama Presidency Oral History. Her essays and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, The WashingtonPost, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, Science, and The Brookings Institutions, among other venues.

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Taeku Lee

Bae Family Professor of Government, Harvard University, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
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Taeku Lee

Bae Family Professor of Government, Harvard University, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Taeku Lee is Bae Family Professor of Government at Harvard University and also Professor Emeritus at UC-Berkeley, where he taught for twenty years. Lee’s teaching and research interests are in racial and ethnic politics, public opinion and voting behavior, identity and inequality, and deliberative and participatory democracy. He serves or has served on the the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau, the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American National Election Studies, and the General Social Survey, as well as Executive Council of the American Political Science Association. At Berkeley he was Chair of the Department of Political Science and Associate Dean at the School of Law. Lee has been a co-PI of the National Asian American Survey, Managing Director of Asian American Decisions, and Senior Fellow at the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. Born in South Korea, Lee grew up in rural Malaysia, lower Manhattan, and suburban Michigan. He is a proud graduate of K-12 public schools, the University of Michigan (A.B.), Harvard University (M.P.P.), and the University of Chicago (Ph.D.).

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Pei-Te Lien

Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
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Pei-Te Lien

Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara

Born and raised in Taiwan, Pei-te Lien received a BA in English from the National Taiwan University and an MA in Journalism & Mass Communication and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Florida. She is currently a professor of Political Science affiliated with Asian American Studies, Feminist Studies, and Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lien’s primary research interest is the political participation and representation of Asian and other nonwhite Americans. Most of her recent work examines the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and nativity in political behavior, both of the elites and the mass. In addition to writing journal articles and book chapters, Lien has (co)authored and co-edited eight books, including the award-winning The Making of Asian America Through Political Participation (Temple, 2001), Contested Transformation: Race, Gender, and Political Leadership in 21st Century America (Cambridge, 2016), and Contending the Last Frontier: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and Political Representation of Asian Americans (2022, Oxford). She is the 2023 recipient of the Don T. Nakanishi Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Service in Asian Pacific American Politics, the Western Political Science Association.

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Mike Hoa Nguyen

Assistant Professor of Education, New York University
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Mike Hoa Nguyen

Assistant Professor of Education, New York University

Mike Hoa Nguyen, PhD is assistant professor of education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. His research and teaching critically examines the benefits and consequences of racialized public policy instruments in expanding and/or constraining educational systems, with a specific focus on how these dynamics shape access, learning, opportunity, and success within and beyond schools for students of color. In addition to his academic work, Mike has extensive professional experience in federal government, having served as a senior staff member in the Office of US Congressman Mike Honda. He was also a program associate at De Anza College, where he mentored students, developed new curriculum, and lectured. Mike is deeply committed to applying his research to inform and advance public policy. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) and Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE). Prior to NYU, he was an assistant professor at the University of Denver and was appointed by the Governor of Colorado to the History, Culture, Social Contributions, and Civil Government in Education Commission and by the Mayor of Denver to the Denver Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission.

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Karen Umemoto

Helen and Morgan Chu Chair and Director, Asian American Studies Center, Professor of Urban Planning and Asian American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
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Karen Umemoto

Helen and Morgan Chu Chair and Director, Asian American Studies Center, Professor of Urban Planning and Asian American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Karen Umemoto, Ph.D. is the Helen and Morgan Chu Endowed Chair and Director of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. She received her Master's degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA and her Ph.D. in Urban Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked as a professor at the University of Hawaii for 22 years before returning to her alma mater with a joint position in Asian American Studies and Urban Planning at UCLA. Her research centers on issues of democracy and race relations in multicultural societies with a focus on youth and community planning and development. She has authored 2 scholarly books on youth violence and juvenile justice and policing policies (The Truce: Lessons from an LA Gang War, Cornell University Press; Jacked Up and Unjust: Pacific Islander Teens Confront Violent Legacies, University of California Press) and over 50 refereed articles, book chapters, and reports on issues of community development, race relations, violence prevention, participatory planning, and deliberative planning theory and practice. She is founder and co-editor of Foundations and Futures: Multimedia Textbook on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, an innovative and interactive e-textbook on AA/PI histories and experiences for high school and college students to be released in 2025.

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Acknowledgements

Development of the STAATUS Index 2024 was led by Sruthi Chandrasekaran (Director of Data and Research) and Matt Kamibayashi (Senior Research Associate) at TAAF.

Norman Chen (Chief Executive Officer) and Georgette Bhathena (Chief Programs Officer) provided key guidance and support, along with other members of TAAF’s Programs team. Lena Pham (Database and Research Specialist) and Min Wong (Anti-Hate Analyst) supported the process of coding open-ended responses.

Report design was managed by TAAF’s Communications team, including Joy Moh (Head of Communications and Marketing), Polly Fong (Creative Manager), and Beverly Liang (Project Manager).

We are also grateful to the following persons and groups for the critical roles they played in the implementation of this year’s study:

Kavitha Thimmaiah

(copywriting)

Savanta Research

(data collection)

The DataFace

(data visualization and report design)

Deborah Fessenden, PhD

(open-ended response coding)

Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis

(PR support)

Our Partners

We are also delighted to collaborate with the following initiatives: