Gujarati Americans are

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

who are ethnic Gujaratis.They are a subgroup of

Indian Americans Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

The highest concentration of the Gujarati American population by a significant margin, with over 100,000 Gujarati individuals, is in the

New York City Metropolitan Area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

, notably in the growing Gujarati diasporic center of

India Square India Square, home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere, and known as "Little India (location), Little India," is a South Asian-focused commercial and restaurant district in the Little India, Bombay, Journal S ...

, or ''Little Gujarat'', in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and Edison in Middlesex County in

Central New Jersey Central Jersey, or Central New Jersey, is the middle region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation Central Jersey is a distinct administrative division, administrative toponymy, toponym. While New Jersey is often divided into North Je ...

. Significant immigration from India to the United States started after the landmark

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, was a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The ...

, Early immigrants after 1965 were highly educated

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

s. Since US immigration laws allow sponsoring immigration of parents, children and particularly siblings on the basis of family reunion, the numbers rapidly swelled in a phenomenon known as "

chain migration Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country. John S. MacDon ...

". Faith plays a big role in the rapidly growing Gujarati community in North Texas, which has three large Hindu temples. Census numbers showed that from 2000 to 2010, the population more than doubled, going from 49,181 to 106,964 for Collin, Dallas, Denton, Rockwall and Tarrant counties. Richardson has a long-established Gujarati population, and it was there that a group of businessmen founded the India Association of North Texas (1962). Changes in recent years have been more drastic. Given the Gujarati propensity for

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

and business enterprise, a number of them opened shops and

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

s. Now in the 21st century over 40% of the

hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and beverage services, event planning, theme parks, travel agency, tourism, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Sector ...

in the United States is controlled by Gujaratis. The descendants of the Gujarati immigrant generation have also made high levels of advancement into

fields, including as

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

s and politicians. In August 2016,

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

commenced direct, one-seat flight service between

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

and

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

in New Jersey, via London Heathrow International Airport.

Notable people

* Bharat Desai (b. 1952), billionaire and chairman Syntel * Vyomesh Joshi (b. 1954), CEO of 3D Systems *

Ami Bera Amerish Babulal "Ami" Bera ( ; born March 2, 1965) is an American physician and politician who has been serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California since 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party and repr ...

(b. 1965), Representative for California *

Reshma Saujani Reshma Saujani (born November 18, 1975) is an American lawyer, politician, civil servant, and the founder of the nonprofit organization "Girls Who Code", which aims to increase the number of women in computer science and close the gender employm ...

(b. 1975), lawyer and politician * Sonal Shah (b. 1968), economist, corporate lobbyist, and public official *

Sheetal Sheth Sheetal Sheth () is an American actress, author, producer, and activist of Indian Americans, Indian descent. As an actress, she is known for starring opposite Albert Brooks in ''Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World''. She debuted in the film ...

(b. 1976), actress and producer *

Kal Penn Kalpen Suresh Modi ( born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor he is known for his portrayals of Kumar Patel in t ...

(b. 1977), actor and comedian * Raj Bhavsar (b. 1980), artistic gymnast *

Kash Patel Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel (born February 25, 1980) is an American lawyer and former federal prosecutor serving as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2025. He also served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, To ...

Government official under President Trump *

Noureen DeWulf Noureen DeWulf (née Ahmed) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in '' West Bank Story'' (2005), ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), and ''The Back-up Plan'' (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitcom ...

(b. 1984), actress * Halim Dhanidina, first Muslim judge in California *

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha (born August 28, 1978) is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian ( Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The S ...

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated songwriter * Mafat and Tulsi Patel, founders Patel Brothers supermarket chain * Rohit Vyas, journalist * Avani Gregg, social media personality * Kiran C Patel, philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, hotelier and cardiologist

References

{{Demographics of the United States Gujarati diaspora

Notable people

See also

References