Karen Americans
ကညီအမဲရကၤဖိ | |
|---|---|
 Karen flag | |
| Total population | |
| 215,000[1] (2024, est.) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Minnesota (Minneapolis–Saint Paul) Indiana (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne) New York (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica), California (San Francisco Bay Area), Nebraska, (Omaha, Lincoln), Texas (Austin, Houston, Dallas, Amarillo) North Carolina (Chapel Hill, New Bern), Utah (Salt Lake City) | |
| Languages | |
| Karen languages (S'gaw Karen, Karenni, Pa'O), English | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christianity (especially Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist;[2] other denominations include Reformed Christian, Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Mormonism); minorities of Buddhism and Animism |
Karen Americans (S'gaw Karen: ကညီအမဲရကၤဖိ) are Americans of full or partial Karen ancestry. They are a recent but rapidly growing immigrant population in the United States. Many Karen who emigrate are refugees as a result of violence in their homeland. Many come either from their traditional homeland of Kawthoolei in Myanmar or from refugee camps in Thailand.[2]
Minnesota had more than 20,000 Karen residents in 2025, making it the state with the largest Karen community.[3][4] Other states with significant populations are California, Texas, New York, and Indiana.[5]
Karen first started arriving in the United States en masse during the mid-2000s and now form a significant minority in several cities. The growth of Karen Americans is part of the larger growth of Burmese Americans in the United States.[6]
The Karenni, a related subgroup of the Karen, are sometimes included in official statistics of Karen Americans and other times are treated as a separate ethnicity.[7][3]
History
[edit]The first Karen refugees started arriving in the United States in the late 1990s, but only during the mid-2000s did Karen people start emigrating en masse.[8] Resettlement of Burmese refugees peaked in October 2006 to August 2007, when 12,800 Karen refugees were resettled in the United States.[9]
In November 2017, over 9,000 Karen people gathered in Washington, D.C., to both thank the United States government for granting them settlement[10] and at the same time protest the Burmese government's treatment of the Karen and other minorities, especially the ongoing persecution of Rohingya people and the Trump-era policies on immigration.[11] Karen people have protested in the past in Washington, D.C., over the treatment of Karen by the Myanmar government.[12]
Distribution
[edit]
As of June 2022 there were 75,218 Karen refugees that had been resettled in the United States, with an additional 13,509 of the Karenni ethnicity.[13] These numbers may be inaccurate as the statistics cover only Karen who came after 2000 and counted as refugees.
Minnesota
[edit]The state with the largest Karen population,[3][14] most Karen who live in Minnesota reside in the Twin Cities area. As of 2025, there are over 20,000 Karen people living in Minnesota.[3] Among Minnesota public K-12 students, Karen is the fifth most commonly spoken home language: it's spoken by 4,700 students, more than half of whom live in St. Paul.[15]
Within Minnesota, the majority of Karen people live in Ramsey County.[16] There are also Karen communities in Greater Minnesota, including Albert Lea, Austin, Marshall, and Willmar.[17]
Cultural impact in Minnesota
[edit]The majority of Saint Paul's Baptist congregations' members are now Karen.[18] The Karen Organization of Minnesota (KOM) was founded to improve the community's social progress, health, and employment opportunities[19] and is today [when?] the largest Karen social organization in the country.
Ler Htoo was sworn in after graduating from the St. Paul Police Academy in Minnesota in 2014. Htoo is believed to be the first ever police officer of Karen ethnicity in the United States.[20]
The Saint Paul Public Library has commissioned and published two children's books in Karen because of the lack of these resources in the U.S. and the need within the city. The city of Saint Paul has the largest and fastest-growing population of Karen people in the U.S.[21]
Karen language classes are offered at multiple public schools in Minnesota, including four high schools in Saint Paul as of 2023[22] Karen language classes bear increased significance since the language was banned for 60 years in Myanmar. The classes at Saint Paul schools are believed to be the first Karen language classes at any public school in the US. Building on the popularity of the high school classes, Saint Paul started offering Karen language kindergarten classes at Wellstone Elementary School in 2024.[23]
Some Minnesota state resources are available in Karen, including hunting and fishing regulations[24] and drivers' license exams.[25]
In 2022, Xia Gallery and Cafe in Saint Paul hosted a group exhibit titled “Window to the Soul: A Myanmar Group Exhibit” featuring Karen artists.