Telugu Population in US Increases Four-Fold in 8 Yrs to 1.23 Million

The Telugu-speaking population in the US has increased four times in the last eight years from 320,000 in 2016 to 1.23 million in 2024. Now Telugu is the 11th most-spoken foreign language in the US. Among the Indians living in the US, Telugu has become the third most-spoken Indian language, after Hindi and Gujarati.

California has the largest number of Telugus of around 200,000 residents, followed by Texas with 150,000 and New Jersey with 110,000.

The Centre for Immigration, an American think tank, in astudy published in 2018 revealed that the number of Telugu speakers among US residents rose by 86% between 2010 and 2017.

In 2017, there were more than 4,00,000 Telugu speakers in the US. This was nearly double the number in 2010.

Each year, between 60,000 and 70,000 students and around 10,000 H-1B visa holders from Telugu-speaking regions of India reach the US.

According to the Indian Mobility Report 2024, students from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh make up 12.5% of the Indian student population in the US.