Micronesian American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (8,185 (2010 estimate)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Pacific American Islands (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Hawaii), West Coast (Southern of California and Portland, Oregon), Texas, Kansas City (Missouri) and Central Florida (in an area that extends from Orlando to Tampa and Clearwater) | |
| Languages | |
| English · Chuukese · Pohnpeian · Yapese · and Kosraean | |
| Religion | |
| Protestantism (majority) and Catholicism (minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| English people · other American groups of Micronesian origin (Chamorro, Palauan, Marshallese) |
Micronesian Americans are Americans who are descended from people of the Federated States of Micronesia. According to the 2010 census, a total of 8,185 residents self-identified as having origins in the country, which consists of four states. More than half of these residents identified their origin as Chuuk State (4,211) with the rest as follows: 2,060 people from Pohnpei, 1,018 from Yap, and 906 people from Kosrae.
Beginning in the early 1970s when the Pell Grant was extended, several hundred people from Micronesia (including the country Micronesia and the other Micronesian islands) emigrated yearly to the United States to attend college. By the late 1970s, many Micronesians were emigrating to Guam and the U.S. with the intention of establishing a permanent residence there. The 1980 U.S. Census found several hundred people from the FSM already residing in the U.S., with most of them being outer island Yapese. These mostly educated young people did not want to return to their outer atolls and did not want to settle in Yap, where they lacked social status and where land was scarce.
In 1986, Micronesians obtained the right to live and work in the U.S. permanently, thanks to the Compact of Free Association covering the FSM, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. At first, the Micronesian emigrants to the U.S. under the compact were heavily Chuukese, with most of them settling in Guam and Saipan. When both of these islands experienced recession in the early 1990s, Micronesians increasingly headed for Hawaii. Micronesian migration to the U.S. increased significantly in the mid-1990s when compact funding for the FSM and the RMI decreased.
In 2006, an article in the Micronesian Counselor estimated that over 30,000 Micronesian citizens were living in the United States and its territories. According to this source, one in four Micronesians were living in the U.S. or its territories. However, in the 2010 U.S. census, only 8,185 U.S. residents said they were descended from the FSM.
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