The largest and oldest Vietnamese community in the United States is Little Saigon, encompassing parts of Westminster, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Cal State Fullerton economists Anil Puri, Aaron Popp and Adrian Fleissig document the progress made over the past 50 years and report that this ethnic enclave is likely to expand and thrive in the future in their study highlighted at a Oct. 4 event featuring business leaders and policymakers.

To better understand the phenomenon of the unique ethnic enclave that is Orange County’s Little Saigon, CSUF College of Business and Economics economists Anil Puri, Aaron Popp and Adrian Fleissig have released a first-of-its-kind report on the demographic and economic profile of this community.

The Birth and Development of Little Saigon

As the CSUF economists explain in their report, when Saigon fell to communist North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975, 1.5 million to 2 million ethnic Vietnamese emigrated abroad.

Many were airlifted by departing U.S. military and diplomatic personnel, arriving at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County before settling in Orange County.

A second, more prolonged wave of immigrants arrived between 1978 and the early 1990s.

Bolsa Avenue in the city of Westminster soon became the most active hub for Vietnamese expatriates in the United States, and within a decade, the Asian Garden Mall and Little Saigon Plaza were established, serving the needs of the local community and interesting many tourists and weekend travelers, especially during festivals such as the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (known as the Tet Festival).

Former California Governor George Deukmejian led the way in recognizing Little Saigon as a true ethnic enclave community in the midst of suburban Orange County.

And in the decades since, Little Saigon has only grown, with more than 100,000 Vietnamese American residents calling the growing region home as of the 2021 American Community Survey.

The Demographics of Orange County’s Little Vietnam

Puri, Fleissig and Popp note that Little Saigon’s population has grown faster over time than that of Orange County as a whole, largely driven by immigration from Southeast Asia.

Though only 52.8% of Little Saigon residents are even of Asian descent, the concentration and influence of this demographic is strong enough to exude a powerful defining impact on the neighborhoods.

“Little Saigon has a weaker labor market than Orange County as shown by key labor market indicators,” the Titan economists explain.

“The unemployment rate of Little Saigon was 6.7% in 2022, higher than Orange County’s 5.4% rate. The unemployment rates differ within Little Saigon. The highest unemployment rates were in the southern parts east of Mile Square Regional Park and the neighborhood around and south of the Asian Garden Mall where unemployment rates are above 15%. The lowest unemployment rates are in the northern part of Garden Grove and along Westminster Avenue in the eastern part of Little Saigon where unemployment rates are below 5%.”

There is a lower employment-population ratio in Little Saigon, representing different demographic factors such as more elderly residents and more stay-at-home parents and grandparents living in multigenerational housing situations.

“Workers who live in Little Saigon are more likely to be employed in service- and production-related occupations and less likely to be in white-collar work,” our economists say.

“This difference may be caused by the fact that fewer Little Saigon workers have a college degree which is more likely to be required for white-collar jobs. As later sections in our report show, manufacturing employment within Little Saigon’s boundaries has fallen substantially since 2002, forcing many of Little Saigon’s manufacturing workers to commute out of Little Saigon for work.”

A little under 40% of Little Saigon workers are employed in the services sector and about 17% work in manufacturing.

About 7% are self-employed and 81.8% work in the private sector.

Everyday Life in Little Saigon

“Housing units in Little Saigon tend to be smaller but have higher occupancy than Orange County, and the typical housing unit is older than what we see in Orange County as a whole,” report the CSUF economists. “Little Saigon residents were relatively more likely to have paid off their mortgages compared to Orange County residents as a whole.”

Rents and mortgages tend to be lower in Little Saigon than in the rest of the county (for instance, 10% of housing units are still valued below $200,000 as of 2022), but that doesn’t mean housing affordability isn’t a burden for many people.

“Monthly rent as a percentage of household income measures the financial burden of housing that considers income. 52.6% of Little Saigon renter-households pay more than 35% of their income in gross rent compared to 46.1% for the county,” reports our economists.

“Little Saigon households are less likely to own a vehicle compared to Orange County residents, but if they own vehicles, they are more likely to own many,” report the economists. “Less than a fourth of Little Saigon households own just one car.”

“Little Saigon businesses pay significantly less in some sectors per employee compared to Orange County businesses. No industry pays more per employee in Little Saigon than in Orange County,” our economists observe.

Trends and the Future

Today, health care and social assistance is the largest industry in Little Saigon. But that hasn’t always been the case.

In 2002, the largest single industry was retail, accounting for 22.4% of employment.

And manufacturing has been in decline, as it has in the rest of Orange County and Southern California.

“The major industries that have grown the fastest since 2002 are accommodation and food services and health care and social assistance,” our economists explain. “Little Saigon’s location near Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and other tourism destinations may have helped growth in accommodations and food services, and employment growth in health care and social assistance is consistent with county-level growth in this industry.”

While half of Orange County’s Vietnamese residents live outside of Little Saigon, it seems that Little Saigon will retain the Vietnamese identity for the foreseeable future.

Many of these Vietnamese residents residing outside of Little Saigon proper live in nearby neighborhoods.

“Little Saigon is expanding to the north, east and southeast, its border to the southwest is banded by the I-405 freeway,” our economists note.

Puri, Popp and Fleissig see a strong and perhaps more diversified economy in Little Saigon’s future.

“Little Saigon’s recent generation of college graduates are more likely to have STEM-related degrees, and this pool of technical talent may encourage more high-tech businesses to move to or be founded in Little Saigon,” they report.

“Little Saigon’s small businesses have seen rapid growth in recent times. Between 2012 and 2021, employment by small businesses has been increasing faster in Little Saigon compared to Orange County, and the job losses seem concentrated in larger firms. While Little Saigon lags Orange County by several economic indicators, there are tax incentives, grants, and other programs that could attract more investment into Little Saigon.”

Among these programs of benefit are the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, and other forms of state and federal development and entrepreneurial assistance.

Helping Little Saigon Reach Higher

Cal State Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics is at the forefront of supporting the Little Saigon community though its many Centers of Excellence.

“Our dual mission at the College of Business and Economics is to drive thought leadership through research while fostering a positive impact on our local community,” explains Sri Sundaram, dean of the College of Business and Economics. “The inaugural Little Saigon Demographic and Economic Profile is a significant step in capturing the remarkable progress of Vietnamese Americans in Orange County, while also providing a roadmap for future growth.”

“I want to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Tam Nguyen for his leadership in commissioning this project, along with Cal State Fullerton, the SBDC and the Woods Center team for their outstanding contributions to this report, which will be vital for the continued development of Little Saigon,” Sundaram adds.

For More on the Woods Center

The Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting produces twice-annual economic forecast reports covering the Orange County, California, U.S. and global economies, as well as periodic reports, updates and surveys.

Visit the Woods Center website to read the center’s reports, including the Little Saigon report. Or read more of our articles on CSUF economic forecasting.