Demography
According to estimates from the American Community Survey for 2015–2019, the total population of Indonesian immigrants in the U.S. was 96,200. Of that number, the top 15 counties of residence were (total estimated for 2019–2023 from the same source was 98,600, updates for that period are in parentheses): [17]
1) Los Angeles County, California – 13,800 (11,800)
2) San Bernardino County, California – 4,800 (4,700)
3) Orange County, California – 4,600 (4,300)
4) Queens County, New York – 2,700 (3,700)
5) Alameda County, California – 2,700 (2,300 - now #8)
6) Santa Clara County, California – 2,500 (2,600 - now #5)
7) Harris County, Texas – 2,500 (1,900 - now #9)
8) Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania – 2,000 (1,800 - now #10)
9) King County, Washington – 1,900 (2,400 - now #7)
10) San Diego County, California – 1,800 (2,500 - now #6)
11)* Riverside County, California – 1,600 (1,300 - now #14)
12) Contra Costa County, California – 1,400 (1,300 - now #15)
13) Snohomish County, Washington – 1,300 (1,300)
14) San Francisco County, California – 1,300 (1,100 - now #18)
15) Maricopa County, Arizona – 1,300 (1,400 - now #12)
(Clark County, Nevada is now #16 with 1,300; #17 - #19, all with 1,100 are San Mateo County, California, the previously covered San Francisco County, California and Sacramento County, California; Fairfax County, Virginia is now #20 with 1,000)
Ethnicity
Indonesian Americans are members of various ethnic subcategories such as Malays, Minangkabau, [18] Minahasans, Javanese, Batak, or Tionghoa. [8] The first Indonesians to move to Southern California were Indos (Indonesians of mixed Native Indonesian and European, mainly Dutch, descent). [19] However, the majority of Indonesians who came in the 1960s were of Chinese descent. [20] Unofficial estimates suggest that as many as 60% of the Indonesians in Southern California are of Chinese descent. [21] Interracial marriage is not uncommon, especially among the young, though the elderly often prefer that their children marry other Indonesian or Chinese. [22]
Many second-generation Indonesian Americans still feel a connection to their Indonesian identity through their ancestry despite often not having a complete grasp on the Indonesian language. [23]
Religion
Indonesian Americans belong to many faiths including Protestantism, Catholicism, Sunni Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, although the first three are the most common. [8]
While Islam gains its popularity among Indonesian Americans due to Indonesia being one of the largest Islamic countries in the world, Christianity is the mostly rapidly growing religious tradition among these communities. [24] The first Indonesian church in the U.S. was a Seventh-day Adventist Church established in Glendale, California in 1972 with a predominantly Indo congregation (now located in Azusa, CA); however, as more pribumi migrants joined the church, racial tensions arose, and the Indos withdrew to other churches. The second Indonesian church to be founded in the U.S. was a Baptist church, started by an ethnic Chinese pastor and with a predominantly ethnic Chinese congregation. [25] By 1988, there were 14 Indonesian Protestant congregations; ten years later, that number had grown to 41, with two Indonesian Catholic congregations as well. [26] Catholicism is most present within Indonesian American communities in states like California, Georgia, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania where mass is offered weekly or monthly in the Indonesian language. [8] Many of the Chinese-Indonesian immigrants of the late 1990s were Christian, and chose to flee their mainland due to fear of persecution. [24]
Indonesian Muslims constituted around 15% of the Indonesian American population in the 1990s. [27] The first Indonesian Mosque in the U.S. was the Al-Hikmah Mosque founded in Astoria, New York, which is currently headed by Shamsi Ali. [28] [29] In 2017, the Indonesian Muslim community in Los Angeles purchased a former church at 1200 Kenmore Avenue and converted it into At-Thohir Mosque. [30] [31] There is also an Indonesian mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland named the IMAAM Center. [32] This mosque is very active today through its regular services and community outreach, as it is an important hub for Indonesian Muslim life in America. [27] Many upper class Indonesians have chosen to assimilate more into American culture due to economic and cultural comforts. From the perspective of those within this community, this can be seen as a divergence from the Indonesian Muslim identity. [27]
Workforce
Roughly one of every eight Indonesian Americans worked as a cook, waiter, or waitress. [33] Restaurants owned by Indonesian Americans are sites for cultural unity over shared meals and traditions. [8]
According to Pew Research in 2019, households headed by an Indonesian immigrant had a median income of $80,000, compared to $64,000 and $66,000 for all immigrant and U.S.-born households, respectively. [34]
