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Iranian Americans in California: Population, History and Hubs

Census and UCLA data on Iranian Americans in California: Los Angeles County’s 101,632, migration since 1979, Persian Square and centers beyond Westwood.

ByPeter
People walk along a sunny palm-lined boulevard past shops with dark awnings in late afternoon light
AI-generated illustration

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26, 2026 — The United States is home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, and California is its main destination, according to UCLA researchers. In the 2020 Census, 101,632 people in Los Angeles County identified as Iranian alone or in combination with another group, the largest Iranian population of any U.S. county, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This guide sets out what federal data and university research show about Iranian Americans in California, how it grew after 1979 and where its cultural centers are today.

How many Iranian Americans live in the U.S.?

The answer depends on how people are counted. The 2020 Census was the first to collect detailed Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) responses. It counted 568,564 people nationwide who reported Iranian alone or in any combination, and 413,842 who reported Iranian alone, the largest single MENA group. The Census Bureau classifies MENA responses within the White racial category.

A broader count from UCLA comes out higher. The Iranian Diaspora Dashboard, built by UCLA sociologist Kevan Harris with Roxanne Corbeil and Gilad Wenig, estimates 794,915 Iranian Americans from the 2024 American Community Survey. It counts anyone born in Iran, reporting Iranian ancestry, writing in “Iranian” on the race question, or living with a parent who does. Announcing the tool, the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies said most Iranian Americans “have settled on the West Coast, with California as the primary destination.”

California’s place in the map

California had 740,219 MENA residents in 2020, twice as many as any other state, the Census Bureau reported. Iranian alone was the largest of the five biggest MENA groups in the state, at 34% of its MENA alone population. Counties where Iranian was the largest MENA group were “concentrated in California and in and around Washington, D.C.” In Los Angeles County, 44.4% of MENA respondents identified as Iranian. San Diego County follows a different pattern: Iraqi was its largest MENA group.

The Iranian population is also older than most MENA groups. In 2020, 18% was 65 or older, and Iranians and Omanis had the smallest shares of people under 18 (17% and 18%), according to the same Census Bureau report.

After 1979: a community takes shape

A study discussed below places the start of mass Iranian migration to Los Angeles about three decades before 2010, the era of the 1979 revolution. On Nov. 4, 1979, militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and its staff. The United States cut diplomatic relations on April 7, 1980, and the hostages were freed on Jan. 20, 1981, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Relations have not been restored, and Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran. For the longer story, see Iranian History: From Elam to the Islamic Republic.

Immigration did not stop with the revolution generation. The UCLA dashboard counts 596,144 Iranians granted U.S. permanent residence from 1970 to 2024, with family sponsorship the largest route throughout. Half of first-generation Iranian Americans arrived in 1999 or later, and nearly 9 in 10 Iranian Americans are U.S. citizens: 45% naturalized and 42% born in the United States, the dashboard’s immigration page says.

Westwood, “Tehrangeles” and Persian Square

Westwood Boulevard became the best-known address of Iranian Los Angeles. In March 2010, the Los Angeles City Council named a Westwood Boulevard corner “Persian Square,” according to anthropologist Atsuko Tsubakihara’s 2013 study, “Putting ‘Tehrangeles’ on the Map,” published by Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology. She quotes council minutes saying the city’s first Persian business opened in 1974 at Westwood Boulevard and Wilkins Avenue. She also writes that the looser term “Tehrangeles” (or “Irangeles”) is popular among Iranians inside and outside the city.

Tsubakihara points to a dispersed community, with residences and businesses spread across several centers, and “internal diversity in terms of political, class and ethno-religious affiliation.” Language data reflect that mix. Among first-generation Iranian Americans, 69% speak Persian at home and 11% speak Armenian, according to the UCLA dashboard’s language page. In the second generation, 31% speak Persian at home and 63% speak only English.

Beyond Los Angeles

Orange County, the Bay Area and San Diego each have their own institutions. UC Irvine hosts the Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture. Stanford runs the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies, which awards the annual Bita Prize for Persian Arts. In Los Angeles, UCLA’s Pourdavoud Institute studies the Iranian world, and the Farhang Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2008, runs community events including Nowruz at UCLA. For related background, see our profile of Reza Pahlavi and the Protest Tracker, which follows demonstrations in Iran.

Why it matters now

The 2026 Iran war and new sanctions rules have direct effects on California families with relatives in Iran. Our guide to the suspension of Iran remittance licenses explains what changed on Aug. 24. Daily coverage is on the Iran News Hub.

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