Indian Community • United States
Where Hindi-Speaking Families Live in America
930,909 Hindi speakers nationwide • The largest Indian language in America • The Bay Area and New Jersey lead
Hindi is the largest Indian language in America by a wide margin — 930,909 speakers (ACS 2024), nearly double Telugu and almost three times Tamil. But it works differently from the other languages on this site, and understanding why will save you a wasted move. This page covers where Hindi-speaking families actually live, and what the number does and does not tell you.
Last updated: August 2026 • All Indian community guides →
The Short Answer
The Bay Area leads with 122,462 Hindi speakers, and New Jersey follows at 94,063. Both are clear of the field, and Dallas-Fort Worth is a clear third at 48,867. After that, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington DC form a cluster that cannot be cleanly ranked internally, with Houston and Atlanta just behind.
Because Hindi functions as a link language across northern India, the map here is broader and flatter than for Telugu, Tamil or Gujarati. Almost every metro with a substantial Indian population has a substantial Hindi-speaking population. That makes the choice less about finding your language community and more about the specifics: which regional traditions are represented, which temples, which festivals, which schools.
Read This First: Hindi Is an Umbrella
Everywhere else on this site, a language maps reasonably closely to a community. Hindi does not, and it is worth being explicit about that before you use the numbers below.
Hindi is a link language. Many Indians whose mother tongue is Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Marwari, Haryanvi, Magahi or another regional language report Hindi to the Census. So do plenty of people from Maharashtra, Bengal and the South who speak it as a second language at home in mixed households. The 930,909 figure is real, but it describes a much wider group than “people from the Hindi heartland”.
It spans many distinct regional cultures. A family from Lucknow, one from Patna, one from Jaipur and one from Delhi may all be counted here, and their food, festivals and community organisations differ considerably. Where those distinctions matter we cover them separately — our Bihari and Rajasthani guides exist for exactly this reason.
What this means practically: a metro with a large Hindi-speaking population is close to a guarantee that you will find North Indian groceries, temples and restaurants. It is not a guarantee that you will find your specific regional community. If your regional identity matters to you, read the umbrella number as a starting point and then look at the city guide.
Where Hindi-Speaking America Actually Is
Hindi speakers aged five and over, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. We aggregated these metro totals ourselves from Public Use Microdata Area data, because the Census does not publish detailed language tables at metro level.
| Metro | Hindi speakers | What defines it | State income tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| The two leaders | |||
| Bay Area | 122,462±4,438 | Fremont is around 10.75% Hindi-speaking. UPMA’s Holi celebration fills the SAP Center. | Yes |
| New Jersey | 94,063±3,864 | India Square in Jersey City has the highest Asian Indian concentration in the Western hemisphere. | Yes |
| A clear third | |||
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 48,867±3,354 | The second Indian language in DFW after Telugu. Allen and East Plano form the Hindi-dominant corridor. | None |
| The middle cluster — too close to rank | |||
| Chicago | 41,201±2,719 | Devon Avenue is America’s original Little India, with Naperville the suburban centre. | Yes |
| Los Angeles | 39,840±2,817 | Little India in Artesia dates to 1982. IFFLA anchors the Bollywood film calendar. | Yes |
| Seattle | 37,382±2,341 | Concentrated on the Eastside around Amazon and Microsoft. | None |
| Washington DC | 37,266±2,299 | The Dulles corridor — Herndon, Chantilly and Ashburn. | Yes |
| Smaller but well established | |||
| Houston | 32,089±3,006 | Fort Bend County is the hub. BANA has run since 1992. | None |
| Atlanta | 29,572±2,456 | Alpharetta and the Cumming/Forsyth corridor. | Yes |
| Austin | 13,222±1,463 | Northwest Austin and Travis County form the North Indian centre of the metro. | None |
Read the margins, not just the ranks. Census estimates carry a margin of error, shown here at 90% confidence. The Bay Area, New Jersey and Dallas-Fort Worth hold their positions unambiguously. Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington DC overlap; so do Houston and Atlanta. We group metros into tiers because the data does not support ranking them one through ten.
Three metros we do not cover yet
New York City has 47,387 Hindi speakers — a statistical tie with Dallas-Fort Worth for third on the table above — and Boston has 25,901, comparable to Atlanta. San Diego has 10,355. None of the three has an Indian city guide on this site yet. Our ten metros hold about 53% of America’s Hindi speakers.
Which City Fits Your Situation
You are in tech and want the largest community
Bay Area. Fremont is roughly a tenth Hindi-speaking, and the community is large enough to support regional sub-communities within it — which is not true in smaller metros.
You want density and East Coast connections
New Jersey. India Square in Jersey City has the highest concentration of Asian Indians anywhere in the Western hemisphere, and the Oak Tree Road corridor is a short drive away.
You want no state income tax
Dallas-Fort Worth is the strongest option — a large Hindi-speaking population concentrated around Allen and East Plano, at housing costs far below the Bay Area. Houston and Seattle also have no state income tax.
You want the oldest established North Indian community
Chicago. Devon Avenue was America’s original Little India, and the institutional history in the metro runs deeper than the population figure alone suggests.
Your regional identity matters more than the language
Start with the city guide rather than this page. A Bihari family and a Rajasthani family may both be counted in the same Hindi figure while wanting quite different things from a community — Chhath Puja in one case, a Marwari business network in the other. Our Bihari, Rajasthani and Marathi guides go a level deeper.
How to Tell a Real Community From a Few Families
Holi and Diwali are public, ticketed events
In a metro with real depth, Holi fills an arena rather than a park — UPMA’s celebration at the SAP Center in San Jose is the clearest example. Diwali events run across multiple weekends rather than a single evening.
The temple has regional sub-groups
A large North Indian temple in a mature community will host distinct regional programming — Chhath Puja for Bihari families, Ganesh Chaturthi for Maharashtrians, Karva Chauth. Where a single temple serves everyone identically, the community is still small.
There is a Hindi school, not just a temple class
Weekend Hindi schools with structured curricula, rather than informal temple classes, indicate a community planning around second-generation language retention.
Groceries stock regional specifics
North Indian groceries are common. A store carrying sattu, litti ingredients, Marwari papad or Awadhi spice blends signals a specific regional community large enough to ask for them.
Common Questions
Which US city has the most Hindi speakers?
The Bay Area, with 122,462, followed by New Jersey at 94,063. Both are clear of the rest of the field. New York City has 47,387, statistically tied with Dallas-Fort Worth for third, but we do not have a New York guide yet.
How many Hindi speakers are there in the United States?
930,909, according to the 2024 American Community Survey — the largest of any Indian language in America, nearly double Telugu and almost three times Tamil.
Does a large Hindi population mean my regional community is there?
Not necessarily. Hindi functions as a link language, so the figure includes people whose mother tongue is Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Marwari, Haryanvi or another regional language, plus people from elsewhere in India who speak Hindi as a second language at home. It reliably predicts North Indian groceries, temples and restaurants; it does not reliably predict a specific regional community.
Where is America’s original Little India?
Devon Avenue in Chicago. Artesia in Los Angeles followed in 1982, and India Square in Jersey City now has the highest Asian Indian concentration in the Western hemisphere.
Which metro has the best value for a Hindi-speaking family?
Dallas-Fort Worth is the common answer — 48,867 Hindi speakers concentrated around Allen and East Plano, no state income tax, and housing costs far below the Bay Area or New Jersey.
What about cities not on your list?
New York City (47,387) is statistically tied with Dallas-Fort Worth for third on our table, Boston (25,901) sits close to Atlanta, and San Diego has 10,355. None has an Indian city guide here yet.
Hindi City Guides
Each guide covers neighbourhoods with Census data down to the suburb, temples, organisations, festivals, restaurants, grocery stores, language schools and cost of living for that specific metro.
- Hindi in the Bay Area — Fremont, Sunnyvale and the South Bay
- Hindi in New Jersey — India Square, Edison and central New Jersey
- Hindi in Dallas-Fort Worth — Allen, East Plano and the Metroplex
- Hindi in Chicago — Devon Avenue and Naperville
- Hindi in Los Angeles — Artesia, Irvine and Southern California
- Hindi in Seattle — Bellevue, Redmond and the Eastside
- Hindi in Washington DC — Herndon, Chantilly and the Dulles corridor
- Hindi in Houston — Sugar Land and Fort Bend County
- Hindi in Atlanta — Alpharetta and the Forsyth corridor
- Hindi in Austin — Northwest Austin and Round Rock
Data Sources
Population figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, Table B16001 (Language Spoken at Home), variable B16001_048 (Hindi). Metro totals aggregated from Public Use Microdata Area data by constituent county, because the ACS does not publish detailed language tables at metropolitan level. Margins of error combined using the Census Bureau’s published method for aggregated estimates and shown at 90% confidence. Note that Census language data records the language spoken at home, so Hindi figures include speakers whose mother tongue is another North Indian language. Community infrastructure details drawn from our individual city guides. Read our full research methodology →