A Cambodian American is an American who is of ethnic Cambodian descent. They make up the bulk of overseas Cambodians. Prior to 1975, most of the few Cambodians in the US were children of upper class families sent abroad to attend school. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975, large waves of Cambodians began immigrating to the US as refugees. In order to encourage rapid assimilation into American culture, the US government settled the refugees in various towns and cities throughout the country. However, once established enough to be able to communicate and travel, many Cambodians began converging on certain localities where the climate was more like home, where they knew friends and relatives had been sent, or where there were rumored to be familiar jobs or higher government benefits. Consequently, large communities of Cambodians took root in cities such as Long Beach, Fresno and Stockton in California and Lowell, Massachusetts.

Today's Cambodian Americans are these refugees and their children and grandchildren. While many Cambodian Americans have finished school, obtained degrees and integrated into American society, large, culturally isolated enclaves still exist in many cities across the United States, including Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Oakland, and Boston. The largest population in the United States is in California, with Long Beach having the highest density of Cambodian Americans in the U.S. There is also a large population in Massachusetts, concentrated in Lowell, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cambodian Americans are quickly growing in numbers in the entire Northeast, but more so in the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Michigan and Illinois have also seen growth in the Cambodian American population.

Notable Cambodian Americans

See also

• Demographics of Cambodia
• Asian American
• Refugee

External Links

• Asian Genes This website discusses the genetic distance of different Asian groups.
• US Census 2000 foreign born population by country
• Cambodian Americans

Ethnic groups in the United States