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Bangladeshi Americans or Bengali-Americans are individuals of Bangladeshi descent who reside in the United States. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi Americans are ethnically Bengalis, and speak Bengali. The majority of immigrants from Bangladesh come from the districts of Sylhet and Chittagong as people from these two districts have a long history of working as merchant marines; the Sylheti and Chittagonian dialects of Bengali^{[citation needed]} are most often heard in the streets of major urban centers of the United States such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, etc.

Most Bangladeshi Americans adhere to Islam, although there are a handful of Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian Bangladeshi Americans as well.

Many Bangladeshi Americans are closely associated with the Indian American community, particularly with those of Bengali Indian descent.

While ethnic Bengalis have been living in the United States for decades, Bangladeshi Americans are a new community. As Bangladesh has only been an independent country since 1971, the first immigrants specifically from that nation traveled to the United States in the 1970s. Prior to that date, all Bengali Americans were considered either Indian American or Sri Lankan American.

• The real-life Mujibur Rahman and Sirajul Islam were actual shopkeepers of a souvenir shop (K & L's Rock America) next to the Ed Sullivan Theater when David Letterman formed an impromptu friendship with them on camera on The Late Show with David Letterman in the show's first season in the autumn of 1994. The two friends from Bangladesh became celebrities from their frequent appearances on the show and acted as "Dave's ambassadors" when he sent them on a tour of the United States. [1]

Contents 1 Demographics 2 Notables 3 See also 4 External links

The 2000 census undertaken by the Census Bureau listed 95,294 people identifying themselves as having Bangladeshi origin. Almost 50% of Bangladeshis over the age of 25 had at least a Bachelor's degree as compared to less than 25% of the United States population. The reported median family income for Bangladeshis was $50,046, which was higher than the United States average of $38,146 that year.

• List of Bangladeshi Americans

• Desi
• Demographics of Bangladesh
• Asian American

• US Census 2000 foreign born population by country

v • d • e Asian Americans
East Asian	Chinese · Japanese · Kalmyk · Korean · Taiwanese
South Asian	Bangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepali  · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan
Southeast Asian	Burmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
Other	Asian Latino · Amerasian · Afro-Asian  · Eurasian · Hapa