Elon Musk recently highlighted the United States as a “land of opportunity,” sharing statistics on median household incomes across various ethnic groups on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The data, sourced from the 2018 census report “Median US Household Income By Selected Ethnic Groups,” was originally posted by the user ‘The Rabbit Hole’ and featured a graphic showing the median household incomes of different immigrant groups in the US. Musk commented, “Wow, America really is the land of opportunity!”
According to the report, Indian Americans have the highest median household income at $119,858, followed by Taiwanese Americans at $95,736 and Chinese Americans at $81,487. In comparison, White Americans reported a median household income of $65,902 in 2018. Pakistani Americans also ranked high, with a median household income of $77,315, placing them fifth on the list. Other groups with higher median household incomes than White Americans included Filipino, Korean, Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese Americans.
In 2022, Asian households in the US had a gross median household income of $108,700. Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, used this data to argue that America offers significant financial opportunities for immigrants. Last month, Elon Musk re-shared a statistic showing that Asian women earn more than white males in the US, a post that has since disappeared from X. The infographic posed a provocative question about why Asian women aren’t mentioned in discussions on race and gender pay gaps, highlighting that Asian women earn 93% as much as white men.
Tom Chiang Jr., a sociologist from Florida, attributed the economic success of Indian Americans to favorable US immigration policies. In an article for the American Sociological Association’s journal Contexts, Chiang noted that these policies have historically favored immigrants who were already highly educated before arriving in the US.
Research by the Pew Research Center reveals the complexity of the gender pay gap, showing significant differences by race and ethnicity. In 2022, Black women earned 70% as much as White men, Hispanic women earned 65%, White women earned 83%, and Asian women earned 93% as much. Pew chose white men for comparison as they are the largest demographic group in the workforce.
Indian Americans, the second-largest immigrant group in the US, number nearly five million, with many being first or second-generation immigrants. Prominent Indian Americans like Vice President Kamala Harris, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft head Satya Nadella exemplify the significant contributions of this community to American society.