As of 2019, there were 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. They included information technologists, software developers, engineers and scientists. These figures do not include medical doctors and healthcare workers – Illustration Dawn.Com

 

US Census Update: Pakistani-Americans' Average Annual Household Earnings Estimated at $150,000
By Riaz Haq
CA

The average annual household earnings of  Pakistani-Americans  are $149,178, according to the  latest update  issued by the United States Census Bureau for 2022. The update estimates the median income of 132,958 Pakistani-American households at $106,281.

Average is calculated by adding up all incomes and dividing it by total number of households. Median income level divides the top 50% of families from the bottom 50%.  It shows that Pakistani-American household incomes are roughly at par with the Asian-American households' median of $104,646 and average of $149,363.

The highest income ethnic group in the US is of Asian  Indian households  with a median of $152,341 and average of $197,732.  Asians are significantly richer than Whites (mean $78,636, average $112,415) and African Americans (mean $52,238, average $76,888). The word "alone" in the labels in the following table excludes mixed race households. 

 

South Asian Americans Households - US Census Update 2022

Asians, including Chinese/Taiwanese, Indians and Pakistanis, tend to be concentrated in  STEM  (Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology) fields where incomes are generally much higher than in other occupations. 

As of 2019, there were 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. They included information technologists, software developers, engineers and scientists. These figures do not include medical doctors and healthcare workers. 

Foreign-born STEM workers in America - American Immigration Council

Foreign-born workers make up a growing share of America's STEM workforce. As of 2019, foreign-born workers made up almost a quarter of all STEM workers in the country. This is a significant increase from 2000, when just 16.4% of the country’s STEM workforce was foreign-born. Between 2000 and 2019, the overall number of STEM workers in the United States increased by 44.5 percent, from 7.5 million to more than 10.8 million, according to the American Immigration Council . 

India and Pakistan among top 10 countries receiving US Immigrant visas - Visual Capitalist

India topped the top 10 list of foreign-born STEM workers with 721,000, followed by China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), Vietnam (100,000), Philippines (87,000), South Korea (64,000), Canada (56,000), Taiwan (53,000), Russia (45,000) and Pakistan (35,000).  Enormous number of Indian STEM workers in the United States can at least partly be attributed to the fact that India's "body shops" have mastered the art of gaming the US temporary work visa system. Last year, Indian nationals sponsored by "body shops" like Cognizant, Infosys and TCS received  166,384 H1B  visas for work in the United States. By comparison, only  1,107 Pakistanis  were granted H1B visas in Fiscal Year 2022.  In addition to H1B work visas, 9,300 Indian nationals and 7,200 Pakistani nationals received  immigrant visas  to settle in the United States as permanent residents in 2021. 

Doctor brain drain - Statista

In addition to 35,000 Pakistan-born  STEM workers , there were 12,454 Pakistan-born and Pakistan-trained  medical doctors  practicing in the United States, making the South Asian nation the second largest source of medical doctors in America.  Pakistan produced  157,102 STEM graduates  last year, putting it among the world's top dozen or so countries. About 43,000 of these graduates are in information technology (IT).

H1B Visas issued in Pakistan - Visagrader.Com

Every year, applicants sponsored by Indian body shops claim the lion's share of  H1B visas . In 2022, Indians received 166,384 new H1B visas, accounting for nearly three quarters of all such visas issued by the US government. The figures reported as India  IT exports  are in fact the wages earned by millions of Indian H1B workers in the United States. 

(Riaz Haq is a Silicon Valley-based Pakistani-American analyst and writer. He blogs at  www.riazhaq.com )