EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JUNE 28, 2001 (THURSDAY) Public Information Office CB01-111 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Jesse McKinnon/Elizabeth Grieco 301-457-2402 Nation's Asian and Pacific Islander Population Profiled by Census Bureau In March 2000, 80 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander family households were maintained by married couples and 42 percent of these households had incomes of $75,000 or more, according to survey data released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. These data, collected in the March 2000 Current Population Survey (CPS), should not be confused with Census 2000 results. The 21 tables, titled Asian and Pacific Islander Population in the United States: March 2000 (Update), provide data on age, marital status, family type and size, education, labor force participation and employment status, occupation, income and earnings, poverty and tenure (owner/renter). Other highlights: - Forty-four percent of Asian and Pacific Islanders age 25 and over had a bachelor's degree or higher and 86 percent had at least a high school diploma in 2000. - In 1999, Asian and Pacific Islanders had a record-low poverty rate of 10.7 percent. - There were 2.5 million Asian and Pacific Islander families; 13 percent were maintained by women with no spouse present and 7 percent by men with no spouse present. - Asian and Pacific Islander families tended to be relatively large. For example, 23 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander married-couple families had five or more members. - Fifty-three percent of Asian and Pacific Islander households owned their homes. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. The March 2000 CPS uses the 1990 census as the base for its sample.