Photos of Dublin by Jessica Christian and Nick Otto/The Chronicle

Shared from the 07/07/23 San Francisco Chronicle eEdition:

By Adriana Rezal

The Asian population is growing across the United States, and three cities in the Bay Area’s Tri-Valley have some of the fastest-growing Asian communities.

Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon were among the 10 largest cities with at least 30% of their population identifying as Asian that had the highest growth since 2010, an analysis of census data shows.

Dublin is the fastest growing city in California overall, and its Asian population is fueling that growth. In the past decade, the suburban city’s Asian population grew from 12,000 in 2010 to nearly 39,000 in 2020 — a 219% increase, according to census data. The Asian populations in Pleasanton and San Ramon — two other Tri-Valley area cities — grew by 94% and 68%, respectively, during the same 10-year period.

The Tri-Valley has had an infusion of new residents who are seeking better housing opportunities and school districts, said Steve Minniear, a volunteer city historian in Dublin.

“Many people are coming here as young families (and are then) realizing that … they’re going to have more kids and the kids are going to grow up or … that they want their parents to live with them,” he said. “So, they’re looking for bigger houses — three, four bedrooms — and Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore, to some extent, are the places that tend to have those (housing options) coming out.”

With 56% of its total population identifying as Asian, 2021 estimates show that Dublin is now an Asian-majority city. San Ramon is close to being majority Asian, with 49.7%. In Pleasanton, Asian residents made up just over 40% of the total population in 2021.

Indian and Chinese communities made up the majority of the Asian populations in the Tri-Valley, data shows. In Dublin, more than a quarter of the population — about 19,600 people — identified as Indian and nearly 14% — 9,900 people — identified as Chinese.

In addition to being the two largest ethnic groups, Indian and Chinese communities in the Tri-Valley were also the fastest-growing Asian populations in recent years. Across the Tri-Valley, there were 20,000 more Indian people in 2021 as compared with 2016, and 10,000 more Chinese people.

Not all Asian ethnic groups saw an increase in populations during this time period in the region, however. The region’s Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Mongolian and Vietnamese communities saw declines in their populations from 2016 to 2021, data shows.