Community Composition and Naturalization Among U.S. Immigrants from China, India, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam

There is a lack of consensus in the migration literature about the relationship between the demographic composition of the places where immigrants live and their propensity to become U.S. citizens. Further, scholars have interpreted observed correlations in previous studies as the effects of community composition on naturalization, even though the immigrants being analyzed may have naturalized before moving into their communities. In this paper, I use American Community Survey data that include the timing of naturalization and residential moves to understand whether Asian immigrants (specifically those from China, India, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam) who live in communities with higher co-national concentrations are more or less likely to naturalize. When all Asian immigrants are pooled together, there is no relationship between co-national concentration and naturalization, but when national origin groups are analyzed separately, I find a negative relationship for Filipino/a and Korean immigrants, and for some Indian immigrants. Results highlight the importance of accounting for national origin and the timing of naturalization, and they indicate that living among co-nationals may hinder the political incorporation of some Asian immigrants.