Building AAPI Power: A Profile of Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities in Greater Boston

By Anne Calef and Luc Schuster, Boston Indicators, in partnership with the Asian Community Fund

November 3rd, 2021

To help inform efforts to support our region’s diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, this report aims to provide a more nuanced profile of AAPI communities than is often presented in the public discourse. Too often researchers report aggregate numbers for racial groups, rather than disaggregating by country of origin. For AAPI populations especially, using only aggregate data markedly skews analysis. Key themes from the report include:

• Asian Americans have the largest intragroup income inequality of any racial group.
• Asian Americans are the fastest growing individual racial group in Greater Boston.
• Recent anti-Asian discrimination and violence reflect existing trends and a history of scapegoating during crisis.
• AAPI workers and entrepreneurs have faced many COVID-related challenges.
• AAPI residents are substantially underrepresented in the municipal workforce and state legislature.
• Mobilizing resources within AAPI communities is key to addressing longstanding needs and closing intragroup disparities.