In 2000, Telugu people in the U.S. numbered around 87,543. By 2014, the number surged to 222,977 and was 415,414 by 2017. The rise in Telugu population is attributed to the increasing representation of South Indian diaspora in technological field.[2]
Demographics
Telugu people now constitute of one of the largest groups of Indian Americans.[3] The majority of Telugu Americans live in New York City, Long Island, Northern Virginia, Central New Jersey, and Central and Southern California, with smaller but significant populations throughout the country in major metropolitan and micropolitan areas of almost every state.[4]
The Telugu community in the United States is largely bilingual.[citation needed] Recent study by the US-based Centre for Immigration Studies shows Telugu as the fastest growing language in US which has grown by 86% in the last seven years.[5] During the 2020 United States elections, the Telugu language was used on voter registration and ballot boxes in select locales.[6][7]
The U.S. states with the largest percentage of Telugu speakers are:
The vast majority of Telugu Americans are Hindu, with significant Christian and Muslim minorities.[citation needed]
Social issues
Due to the rapidly increasing number of students and workers from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in America, Telugu Americans have suffered from hate crimes in America. The most notable of these incidents was the 2017 Olathe, Kansas shooting, in which a white supremacist, Adam Purinton, harassed two Telugu immigrants, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, under the pretense that Kuchibhotla and Madasani were Iranians or illegal immigrants; later shooting them, killing Kuchibhotla and wounding Madasani as well as Ian Grillot, a white American who had come to the defense of Kuchibhotla and Madasani.
Notable people
Yellapragada Subbarao - Indian biochemist who discovered the function of adenosine triphosphate as an energy source in the cell
Dattatreyudu Nori - Vice Chairman of the Radiation Oncologist Department at The New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City
