Short answer
Southern California's Indian American population is spread across Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties rather than concentrated in one hub. The Los Angeles metro area had 160,299 Asian Indian residents in 2024, with a median household income of $175,4481. Among SoCal counties, Ventura ($167,377), Orange ($162,971) and San Diego ($155,204) had the highest Asian Indian median household incomes in the Census Bureau's most recent detailed five-year data (2017-2021)2.
HeyAlbert data shows Los Angeles and Orange County hold 6.2% of the $25M+ profiles in our database with a known metro, and 18.4% of California's. See the data · Methodology
A large but dispersed community
The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, which covers Los Angeles and Orange counties, had 160,299 Asian Indian residents in 2024, 1.2% of the metro population1,6. Their median household income was $175,448, compared with $96,405 for all metro households, and the median home value for Asian Indian homeowners was $1,122,8001,6.
Unlike the Bay Area, where Asian Indians are about a tenth of the San Jose metro, Southern California's community is spread thin across a very large region. Five-year Census estimates for 2020-2024 count about 98,400 Asian Indian residents in Los Angeles County, 62,000 in Orange County, 47,700 in San Diego County, 19,900 in Riverside County and 15,900 in San Bernardino County4. For the Bay Area comparison, see why affluent Indian Americans concentrate in Silicon Valley.
What HeyAlbert data shows
Incomes by county
The Census Bureau's most recent detailed income data by county for Asian Indian households come from its 2017-2021 five-year Selected Population Tables. In Southern California they show2:
| County | Median household income, Asian Indian households (2017-2021) |
|---|---|
| Ventura | $167,377 |
| Orange | $162,971 |
| San Diego | $155,204 |
| San Bernardino | $137,917 |
| Los Angeles | $124,625 |
| Riverside | $114,764 |
These are in 2021 dollars and carry margins of error of roughly $5,000 to $13,000. For comparison, the same tables put San Mateo County at $243,438 and Santa Clara County at $231,2082. More recent 2024 data for Los Angeles County alone show an Asian Indian median household income of $163,4875.
Irvine and Orange County
Irvine has the largest Asian Indian community in Orange County, about 20,200 residents, or 6.5% of the city, in the 2020-2024 estimates3. A 2022 Los Angeles Times report described Orange County's Indian American population as large enough to support its own shops and services, so that many families no longer need to travel to older commercial districts7. The same report counted about 13,000 Indian American residents in Irvine and about 55,000 in Orange County as a whole, based on census data available at the time7; the newer 2020-2024 estimates show both communities larger.
Cerritos, Artesia and Little India
The best-known Indian American district in Southern California is Little India on Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia. According to the Los Angeles Times, its origins date to 1971, when a merchant began selling spices and Indian staples from an Artesia garage; other shops followed to serve the growing Indian population in neighboring Cerritos, and by 1986 there were about two dozen Indian businesses on the street and a decade later about 907. Today Asian Indians make up 10.4% of Cerritos and 9.4% of Artesia, per the 2020-2024 estimates3.
Commercial districts like this often grow out of family businesses, which we examine in the role of family-owned businesses.
San Diego and the Inland Empire
The city of San Diego had about 32,700 Asian Indian residents in the 2020-2024 estimates, 2.4% of the city3. The Inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has smaller communities, with lower median incomes in the 2017-2021 data than the coastal counties2. Newer suburbs such as Eastvale, where Asian Indians are about 5.0% of residents, show the eastward spread3.
Who Southern California's Indian Americans are
The LA metro's Asian Indian community is highly educated, though somewhat less so than in the Bay Area or Seattle: 79.3% of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor's degree and 41.7% a graduate or professional degree, against 89.2% and 60.2% in the San Jose metro1. Per capita income was $77,209 in 2024, and 60.4% of Asian Indian households owned their homes1. The occupational mix is broader too: 22.8% of employed Asian Indians in the metro work in professional, scientific and management services, compared with 40.4% in the San Jose metro1.
That mix includes physicians and other health professionals, engineers, entrepreneurs and owners of businesses from hotels to real estate. For the business side, see Indian American real estate developers and Indian American small business ownership.
Slower growth than other hubs
Southern California is not where Indian American growth is happening. The LA metro's Asian Indian population was about 163,400 in 2019 and about 160,300 in 2024, essentially flat, while Dallas-Fort Worth's grew by roughly half1,8. High housing costs are one plausible factor. For the regions that are growing fastest, see our metro-area comparison and Texas. Professionals in the region work heavily in health care: 25.7% of employed Asian Indians in the LA metro work in education and health care services1, a theme in our research on Indian American physicians.
Frequently asked questions
Where do Indian Americans live in Los Angeles?
They are spread across Los Angeles County, with about 98,000 Asian Indian residents in 2020-2024 Census estimates, including clusters in Cerritos, Torrance and Santa Clarita, and Artesia's Little India as a commercial center.
Is Irvine a hub for Indian Americans?
Yes. Irvine has about 20,000 Asian Indian residents, 6.5% of the city, the largest community in Orange County, according to 2020-2024 Census estimates.
What is the median income of Indian Americans in Southern California?
In the Los Angeles metro area, the median Asian Indian household income was about $175,000 in 2024. By county in 2017-2021 data, Ventura and Orange counties were highest at about $167,000 and $163,000.
Where is Little India in Southern California?
On Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia, in southeast Los Angeles County. It began in the early 1970s and grew alongside the Indian American community in neighboring Cerritos.
Sources
Figures are from the public sources below, with the data year stated. Estimates are labeled as estimates. Accessed October 24, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, S0201 Selected Population Profile, Asian Indian alone, by metro area (ACS 2024 1-year) (2025). data.census.gov ↩ ↩ ↩
- US Census Bureau, B19013 Median Household Income, Asian Indian alone, California counties (ACS 2017-2021 5-year Selected Population Tables) (2023). data.census.gov ↩ ↩ ↩
- US Census Bureau, B02015 Asian Alone by Selected Groups and B01003 Total Population, California places (ACS 2020-2024 5-year) (2025). data.census.gov ↩ ↩ ↩
- US Census Bureau, B02015 Asian Alone by Selected Groups, California counties (ACS 2020-2024 5-year) (2025). data.census.gov ↩
- US Census Bureau, S0201 Selected Population Profile, Asian Indian alone, by county (ACS 2024 1-year) (2025). data.census.gov ↩
- US Census Bureau, S0201 Selected Population Profile, total population, by metro area (ACS 2024 1-year) (2025). data.census.gov ↩ ↩
- Los Angeles Times, Little India struggles to adapt beyond pandemic (2022). latimes.com ↩ ↩ ↩
- US Census Bureau, S0201 Selected Population Profile, Asian Indian alone, by metro area (ACS 2019 1-year) (2020). data.census.gov ↩