For the purposes of this report, SACRED is counting anyone who identifies wholly or partly in a racial category with origins in South Asia as a South Asian. We opted for a broad an inclusive definition [See Methodology appendix for more detail].
By this definition there are an estimated 7,007,757 South Asians in the United States. There are an estimated 366,674 people who identify as South Asian in Illinois (2.89% of the state’s population, 36.4% of the state’s Asian population). Illinois has the fifth highest South Asian population of any US State.
There are an additional 64,391 Illinois residents who report a non-Asian primary race (Black, White, or American Indian/Alaska Native) but ancestry originating in one or more South Asian location. They are not included in this analysis but there is more information about them in the Methodology appendix.
There are six counties that have a higher percentage of South Asians than the state as a whole: DuPage, Lake, McLean, Will, Cook, Champaign. Twenty of Illinois 102 counties have more than 10,000 South Asian residents. A quarter of the state’s South Asian population lives in just six counties. Forty four counties are fewer than 1% South Asian.
Below is a table of the number and percentage of South Asians by Illinois County.
Below is a map of the number of South Asians by IL County. If you hover over a county you can see the estimated number of South Asian residents.If you click on a county you can see more metrics in a table. To read this map you might say “There are 5.18 million residents of Cook County and 163,054 identify as South Asian”
Below is a map of the density (% of each counties population) of South Asians by IL County. If you hover over a county you can see the estimated percentage of a county’s population that is South Asian. You can see more metrics if you click on a county. To read this map you might say To read this map you might say “There are 171,556 residents of McLean county and 3.7% identify as South Asian.”
Below is a map of the density (% of the state’s South Asian population) by IL County.If you hover over a county you can see the percentage of the total Illinois South Asian population that reisdes in that county. If you click on a county you can see more metrics. To read this map you might say “There are 30,139 Lake County residents that identify as South Asian. This is equivalent to 8.8% of the state’s total South Asian population.”