page_title: Burmese Americans
section_title: Communities
hierarchical_section_title: Burmese Americans / Communities
caption_attribution_description: Rakhine drummers at Thingyan (Burmese New Year Festival), in New York City
context_page_description: Burmese Americans are Americans of full or partial Burmese ancestry. The term encompasses people of all ethnic backgrounds with ancestry in present-day Myanmar, regardless of specific ethnicity. They are a subgroup of Asian Americans. The majority of Burmese Americans are of Burmese Chinese descent, particularly Teochew, Hokkien, and Yunnanese, rather than Bamar, the dominant ethnic group in Myanmar; they may alternatively identify as simply Chinese Americans. However, other types of Burmese ethnic groups immigrating to the U.S. have been on the rise in recent years.
  As a small group, Burmese Americans have largely integrated into the larger Southeast Asian and South Asian American communities.
context_section_description: Most Burmese Americans live in metropolitan areas with large immigrant populations. As of 2015, the metropolitan areas with the largest Burmese populations are Minneapolis-Saint Paul (with 10,000), Dallas-Fort Worth (with 7,000), Greater New York (with 7,000), the Bay Area (with 6,000), Atlanta (with 6,000), Los Angeles (with 5,000), Indianapolis (with 4,000), Buffalo (with 4,000), Washington (with 4,000), and Des Moines (with 3,000). Other areas of significance include Tulsa, Oklahoma; Fort Wayne, Indiana, the residence of many Burmese refugees; Chicago; San Diego; and Florida.
  Minneapolis, Minnesota — Most of Minnesota's 2,500+ Karen live in the Twin Cities.
  Fort Wayne, Indiana — Home to 6,000 Burmese, some sources claim this to be the largest Burmese community in U.S.
  Tulsa, Oklahoma — Home to 5,000 Chin, considered the largest concentration of Chin people in the U.S.
  Battle Creek, Michigan — Approximately 1,800 Burmese, primarily Chin.
  Dallas — A community of Chin refugees is concentrated in Lewisville.
  New York City — Queens, Brooklyn, and Northern New Jersey
  Bay Area — Daly City, Fremont, San Francisco, and San Jose
  Atlanta — DeKalb County, Georgia is home to 2,180 Burmese, primarily in Clarkston.
  Indianapolis, Indiana – specifically Perry Township
  Buffalo, New York — Upper West Side
  Washington, D.C. — Northern Virginia and Maryland
  Des Moines, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Dubuque, Iowa — Iowa is home to at least 8,000 Burmese residents.
  Salt Lake City, Utah — About 900 Burmese residents live in Salt lake County.
  Bowling Green, Kentucky — 694 residents of Burmese descent (1.2% of the city's population).
  Syracuse, New York — Northside
  Albany, New York
  Utica, New York
  Ithaca, New York
  Hartford, Connecticut
  Chicago and Aurora, Illinois
  Omaha, Nebraska
  Cleveland, Ohio
  Houston, Texas
  Raleigh, North Carolina
  Lowell, Massachusetts
  Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
  Spokane, Washington
  Tri-Cities, Washington
  Portland, Oregon
  Phoenix, Arizona – There are 2,500 people of Burmese descent that reside in the metro area.
caption: Drummers of the Rakhine minority performing on the Burmese New Year, Thingyan, in New York City
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