NEW YORK—The U.S. Asian population is diverse and growing, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis. A record 23 million Asian Americans trace their roots to more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, each with unique histories, cultures, languages and other characteristics.

Asians now make up about 7 percent of the nation’s overall population, and their numbers are projected to surpass 46 million by 2060, according to the Pew Research analysis.

Single-race, non-Hispanic Asians are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the country, surpassing Hispanics in 2055. By then, Asians are expected to make up 36 percent of all U.S. immigrants, while Hispanics will make up 34 percent, according to population projections from the Pew Research Center.

In the 1870 census, roughly 63,000 individuals were classified as Asian by U.S. Census Bureau enumerators. By 1960, the first time census respondents could choose their own race, 980,000 individuals self-identified as Asian. The nation’s Asian population rose to 11.9 million by 2000 and then nearly doubled to 23.2 million by 2019—a 95 percent increase within two decades.

The single-race, non-Hispanic segment of the U.S. Asian population makes up a large majority (83 percent) of all Asians in the country. This population is also the nation’s fastest-growing racial or ethnic group. Between 2000 and 2019, their numbers grew by 81 percent, outpacing a 70 percent increase among Hispanics. The Black population grew by 20 percent during this span, while there was virtually no change in the White population.

Nearly half of U.S. Asians (45 percent) live in the West, with nearly a third (30 percent) in California alone. California had an Asian population of roughly 6.7 million in 2019, by far the nation’s largest. New York (1.9 million) ranked second, followed by Texas (1.6 million), New Jersey (958,000) and Washington (852,000). A majority of U.S. Asians (55 percent) lived in these five states.

While a plurality of Asian Americans lived in the West in 2019, some 24 percent lived in the South, 19 percent in the Northeast and 12 percent in the Midwest.