APA Demographics

Target Population: Chinatown Neighborhood and Community

The Boston Redevelopment Authority defines Chinatown as the 42-acre neighborhood bounded by Essex Street (North), the Surface Artery (East), Marginal Road (South) and Washington - Tremont Street (West). ACDC serves the Asian population of the Greater Boston Area with special emphasis on Chinatown and its 5,100 residents, of which 91% are Asian. Chinatown residents are primarily first generation immigrants who live in the most densely populated neighborhood in Boston. Forty per cent of the population has lived in Boston five years or less. The per capita income is $6,539. The poverty rate is 28% versus 18% for the general population, and the median income for Chinatown households is $9,059 compared to $12,350 for all Boston households. If one includes the nearby concentration of Asian residents living in the area between Marginal Road and East Berkeley Street just beyond Chinatown's official boundaries, Chinatown's residents number more than 6,400. Much evidence indicates that past Censuses have undercounted the population in and near Chinatown by as much as 10%.

Our Chinatown population is relatively old, the median age being about 37 compared to 30.4 for the City. Chinatown is also unusual in that it has more men than women, which is related to previous immigration patterns. The predominant Chinese dialects spoken by residents of Chinatown are, in descending order of usage: Cantonese, Toisanese and Mandarin. A high percentage of the Chinatown population does not speak English well. According to the 1990 Census count of persons five years old and older, 35.2 percent spoke English "not well or "not at all." Chinatown residents tend to have extremely low levels of education. Just 8 percent of Chinatown's Asian adult population are college graduates.

The Asian population of Boston is increasing at an annual rate exceeding 10% and has more than doubled its size as recorded in each of the last two Censuses. Chinatown is Boston's most densely populated neighborhood and Mayor Menino has described it as the last true ethnic neighborhood in Boston. The vitality of this ethnic area depends upon its continuing economic and cultural expansion.

The Asian American economy includes an extraordinary number of small family businesses operating on the margins, often started primarily to create "a job" and household income. Many of these businesses began by doing what was familiar, which, for Chinese and Vietnamese families, often means restaurants and food-related businesses, and, for Korean families, grocery stores and dry cleaners. Chinatown has become saturated in certain types of businesses. Local entrepreneurs need assistance to diversify. They also need assistance gaining access to new markets and connecting to the mainstream economy.

The number of major development projects Chinatown is facing would overwhelm any community. A number of factors make constructively participating in the development challenges and opportunities more difficult in Chinatown. Many residents do not speak English well enough to successfully grapple with complex urban planning and development concepts and terminology. Chinatown's population includes many newcomers struggling to survive, learn English, and cope with recent changes in welfare and immigration policies. Public meetings are often held in the evening, a time when many residents who work in restaurants are not available. Furthermore, many of our Asian residents have emigrated from societies in which citizens either do not engage in public processes on behalf of their own, or their community's, interests or do so at great risk. To overcome these barriers and engage a significant portion of the Chinatown community in planning and development activities requires a good deal of effort.

888 Washington Street, Suite 102 | Boston, MA 02111-1426 | 617-482-2380 t | 617-482-3056 f | info@asiancdc.org