ABSTRACT
With fewer than 50,000 persons, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, Bangladeshi Americans represent one of the smallest of Asian immigrant communities, making up roughly one-half of 1 percent of the total Asian American population. (Unless otherwise noted, all figures cited below are from the 2000 U.S. Census.) While a few persons from what is now the nation of Bangladesh came to the United States as early as the late nineteenth century, virtually the entire community arrived in America-or was born there-after about 1980. Bangladeshi Americans are relatively well educated but have incomes well below the median for Asian American communities, a dichotomy resulting from the fact that the community consists of a significant number of both middle-class (hence, the relatively high levels of college graduates) and impoverished families (the low median income). While they share a language and culture with many people of eastern India, they differ by religion; Indians are primarily Hindu, and Bangladeshis are largely Muslim.
