UC Irvine

Vietnamese American communities and their commercial and cultural enclaves have developed all over the United States since the early 1980s. Vietnamese Americans are now the fourth-largest Asian American group in the country (after immigrants from China, India, and the Philippines in order of size). According to the 2007 Survey of Business Owners report, the percentage of Vietnamese Americans who own businesses has increased by 56 percent since 2002, compared to the 40 percent increase of other Asian groups. The oldest and largest of these enclaves is Little Saigon in suburban Orange County, California. Situated in a historically white community lined with orange groves in Southern California, Little Saigon has helped bolster the region’s economy with tourism and business. According to 2010 Census figures, the Vietnamese American population in Southern California is 271,000, by far the largest concentration outside of Vietnam. Little Saigon sprawls out from the city of Westminster to adjacent cities of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana.