Why doesn't Oregon have more Asians?

[TDAS04]

Here are Asian percentages for each of the Pacific Coast states and provinces, in descending order:

Hawaii: 57.4
British Columbia: 28.8
California: 14.9
Washington: 9.0
Alaska: 7.1
Oregon: 4.9

Oregon is the only one below the US average of 5.6% Asian. 

Why is Oregon so much less Asian than the rest of the West Coast?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Portland aside, Oregon has far more in common with the Mountain West than either California or Washington. It's no surprise that it's remained much whiter than California.  However, it hasn't kept up with Washington.  Looking at the Census statistics, there was a decline in Asian population in the first half of the 20th century, especially in the first couple of decades.

[Indy Texas]

Are you aware of the history of Oregon?

It was explicitly founded as a land for "the white race" and went out of its way to bully nonwhites out of there well into the mid-20th century.

Outside of Portland and Bend, it's basically an extension of Idaho -- cranky conservative white people who want to be left alone with their guns and their livestock.

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

Portland aside, Oregon has far more in common with the Mountain West than either California or Washington. It's no surprise that it's remained much whiter than California.  However, it hasn't kept up with Washington.  Looking at the Census statistics, there was a decline in Asian population in the first half of the 20th century, especially in the first couple of decades.

WA has had proportionally more Asian/Pacific Islanders than OR since 1900, which is around when it overtook OR in population. (source 1, source 2). None of Oregon's major cities are on the coast, which means Oregon's economy historically hasn't been as reliant on maritime trade as WA or CA, and consequently hasn't experienced as much overseas immigration.

[Beet]

The bigger question is why BC has so many. 29%? Woah.

[pikachu]

The bigger question is why BC has so many. 29%? Woah.

I'd guess its because of differences in American and Canadian immigration policies. Canada overall is 18% Asian (probably higher if you removed Quebec) and the GTA is ~35%. Considering BC's dominated by Vancouver, 29% isn't too ridiculous.

[NOVA Green]

The bigger question is why BC has so many. 29%? Woah.

I'd guess its because of differences in American and Canadian immigration policies. Canada overall is 18% Asian (probably higher if you removed Quebec) and the GTA is ~35%. Considering BC's dominated by Vancouver, 29% isn't too ridiculous.

British Columbia was also ground zero of immigration from Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s with many residents relocating to the fellow Commonwealth Nation of Canada because of concerns about what would happen when political control reverted to China.

Interestingly enough, this trend has shifted a bit in recent years as Hundreds of Thousands of Canadian citizens, holding dual passports, have returned to Hong Kong.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1247617/hk-vancouver-and-back-migrants-who-came-home-home

https://www.imidaily.com/asia-pacific/hong-kong-migration-canada-doubled-last-year-highest-number-record/

[NOVA Green]

Are you aware of the history of Oregon?

It was explicitly founded as a land for "the white race" and went out of its way to bully nonwhites out of there well into the mid-20th century.

Outside of Portland and Bend, it's basically an extension of Idaho -- cranky conservative white people who want to be left alone with their guns and their livestock.

You are partially correct in your assessment, in the history of Oregon and the "Exclusion Period" circa 1885-1940  playing a major role in the restriction of in particular Chinese immigration into Oregon.

Of course that historical background doesn't explain demographic changes over the past 50 years, and why Asian-American populations increased much more dramatically in California and Washington than in Oregon.

Still, anyone looking for a good well-researched 15-20 minute read, here's an article on the Chinese-American population of Oregon over the past 170 some years from the Oregon Encyclopedia.

https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/chinese_americans_in_oregon/#.W3CJ8-hKi00

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

cuz people there don't like them

[NOVA Green]

cuz people there don't like them

Sometimes Bagel it's difficult to tell when you are being flippant or serious....

Regardless, I think most objective Historians would agree that both Washington State and Oregon State had decades of systematic and Anglo ingrained racism against Asian-Americans from the Gold Rush era through the Nativist backlashes of the 1920s.

WWII interestingly enough both accentuated societal racism against Asian-Americans in both Washington and Oregon, while simultaneously shifting one of the oldest and most "assimilated" populations from the Pacific Northwest and into Southern California (Japanese-Americans), and ALSO creating a significant growth of the Asian-American population in all states of the West Coast (Significant influx of Filipino-Americans in the immediate Post WW II era).

1.) Institutionalized racism was de facto US Government Policy against Japanese-American Citizens, and both Oregon and Washington experienced massive forcible relocation of Japanese-Americans into "Internment Camps", frequently way out in the Middle of the Desert somewhere in the American West.

In addition Japanese-Americans had their property seized while they were effectively being treated as almost the equivalent of enemy combatants without any due process under FDR's executive order back in '42.

2.) The impact of the Internment Policy, led to a massive relocation of Japanese-Americans from these internment camps from the Pacific Northwest into Southern California as part of the Nikkei/Issei Japanese-American attempt to rebuild after their adopted Nation turned upon them so brutally....

http://americanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-270

https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww2/Pages/threats-paradise.aspx

3.) Many of the first, second, and third Generation of Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest were farmers in places within the Columbia River Gorge region of the State, after "Internment", chose never to come back home, and rebuild a new life elsewhere in California from scratch.

4.) Filipino-American communities in the West Coast of the US surged in the immediate Post WW II era, heavily concentrated in the largest Metro areas of the West Coast (Seattle-Tacoma, Bay Area, and SoCal) which also happened to have the largest West Coast Military Base communities.

Portland, Oregon had neither.

So, despite the historical and ugly experience of racism against Asian-Americans in many parts of the West Coast, it doesn't really explain the OPs question.

Again, I would imagine we need to look more carefully at relatively more recent Asian Immigrant populations from 1950-1990, where there was a massive immigration of SouthEast Asians fleeing all of the regional destabilization associated with the Vietnam War, massive influx of Korean-Americans leaving the aftermath of a massive Civil War in the '50s, and ultimately Fascism and Military Repression from ~1960-1990, Taiwanese immigration from the Chinese Civil War in the Post Japanese Occupation era, etc....

Since many of these communities had special protections under US Immigration Law and Policy, being generally from "Anti-Communist" backgrounds, the political asylum paperwork was handled by regional immigration offices, which tended to be concentrated in (Guess it.... Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). I don't believe Portland tended to be an initial "Port of Entry" type destination for the SE Asian Refugees fleeing decades of War, Civil War, etc....

Sure we can look at 1990-2018, but my suspicion is that between 1950 and 1980 is where we started to see the greatest gap between Oregon vs California/Washington States in terms of Asian-American % of total statewide population.....

Sure we can cruise down to the Hollywood District in Portland and roll down the road along Sandy Blvd, and to this day you will likely see occasionally business signs still in Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian, like I did in the '90s, but these days Washington County Oregon, in places like Beaverton and Hillsboro are really the places where there is a much larger and more vibrant Asian-American population than in the "Core" of the City....

I know from personal experience of ~ 20 Years of family living in Seattle, that even within the City of Seattle that there still large concentrated Southeast Asian Populations in South Seattle just a few minutes drive from my sister's house there are heavily Asian-American Majority Population Centers, with small business signs posted in both English and *Insert SE Asian Language*....

I might be wrong, but it seems that the Vietnam era SE refugee population bypassed Portland and exploded in Seattle, Bay Area, and SoCal in the aftermath of America's elective war in Vietnam and associated destabilization of the region, combined with the inevitable escalation on the other side during the Cold War, where after all so many people and refugees from throughout the world were just "pawns in the game" of Super-Power politics, egos, and grandstanding....

Still it does see that something changed significantly between Oregon and Washington State in the first couple decades of newer SE Asian Refugee Populations....

Not sure if this link will pull it up the correct page, but if not, go to page 7 of this Academic article, which has so much more data than I have even absorbed or read at this point:

The civil rights movement, spearheaded by African Americans in the South, also affected
ethnic politics in Washington state. In Seattle's Central District, where Asian Americans and
African Americans had lived in close proximity for nearly six decades, community leaders
crossed ethnic lines to fight together for public housing, tenant rights, election reform and
employment opportunities. While ties between Seattle's Black and Asian communities frayed
by the late 1960s, the city was unique on the West Coast for its multiethnic civil rights
campaigns.
Asian Americans, long stereotyped as passive laborers, also made political inroads of their
own as well. They became an increasingly vocal constituency in Washington state politics. In
1963, Wing Luke became the first Chinese American elected to the Seattle City Council;
Ruby Chow, the first Chinese American woman, was elected in 1973; and in 1996 Gary
Locke, then King County Executive, was elected as the first Chinese American governor on
the mainland United States. Such victories were made possible by political coalitions that
united Asian Americans of all orientations. In political as well as cultural terms, Asians
began referring to themselves as Asian Americans, or Asian/Pacific Americans, reflecting an
identity that transcended previous ethnic bonds.

https://content.lib.washington.edu/curriculumpackets/A_History_Bursting_With_Telling.pdf

Thoughts anyone?

[DC Al Fine]

The bigger question is why BC has so many. 29%? Woah.

I'd guess its because of differences in American and Canadian immigration policies. Canada overall is 18% Asian (probably higher if you removed Quebec) and the GTA is ~35%. Considering BC's dominated by Vancouver, 29% isn't too ridiculous.

Why so few high profile Asian-Canadian politicos? Jagmeet Singh is the only one I can think of, as an American.

There's a lag between getting numbers and entering the halls of power. Same thing happened with Italians, Ukrainians a generation ago. Heck at one point there were few German politicos, but we eventually had a German PM. It is changing though. Michale Chong was a contender for the Tory leadership and the current Defence and Infrastructure ministers are South Asians.

[Lu Xun]

It really just comes down to the Seattle metro area being much larger and more cosmopolitan than the Portland metro area.  Large cities attract large amounts of immigrants.  Outside of the Seattle and Portland areas both Washington and Oregon have very few Asian Americans.  Washington only has 92k Asians living outside of the Seattle metro area.  Oregon has 32k outside of the Portland metro area.

In terms of specific groups of Asian Americans, we can compare the Seattle metro area and the Portland metro area.

Seattle area:
Chinese - 2.38% of total population, 20.5% of Asian population
Filipino - 1.94% of total population, 16.7% of Asian population
Indian - 1.67% of total population, 14.4% of Asian population
Vietnamese - 1.54% of total population, 13.2% of Asian population
Korean - 1.45% of total population, 12.5% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.84% of total population, 7.2% of Asian population
Cambodian- 0.49% of total population, 4.2% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.23% of total population, 1.9% of Asian population

Portland area:
Vietnamese - 1.34% of total population, 22.8% of Asian population
Chinese - 1.26% of total population, 21.4% of Asian population
Indian - 0.65% of total population, 11% of Asian population
Filipino - 0.61% of total population, 10.3% of Asian population
Korean - 0.60% of total population, 10.2% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.44% of total population, 7.4% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.21% of total population, 3.6% of Asian population
Cambodian - 0.16% of total population, 2.9% of Asian population

There are differences in specific groups.  Seattle has significantly higher share of Filipinos and Indians, while Portland has a relatively higher amount of Vietnamese.  The other big difference is that Seattle has more Cambodians, while Portland has more Laotians.  But both cities have substantial Southeast Asian refugee/immigrant populations.  Seattle just has higher numbers across the board despite the relatively similar Southeast-Northeast ratio because Seattle is a larger more global city in ways that Portland just isn't.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Why does Alaska have so many

[NOVA Green]

It really just comes down to the Seattle metro area being much larger and more cosmopolitan than the Portland metro area.  Large cities attract large amounts of immigrants.  Outside of the Seattle and Portland areas both Washington and Oregon have very few Asian Americans.  Washington only has 92k Asians living outside of the Seattle metro area.  Oregon has 32k outside of the Portland metro area.

In terms of specific groups of Asian Americans, we can compare the Seattle metro area and the Portland metro area.

Seattle area:
Chinese - 2.38% of total population, 20.5% of Asian population
Filipino - 1.94% of total population, 16.7% of Asian population
Indian - 1.67% of total population, 14.4% of Asian population
Vietnamese - 1.54% of total population, 13.2% of Asian population
Korean - 1.45% of total population, 12.5% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.84% of total population, 7.2% of Asian population
Cambodian- 0.49% of total population, 4.2% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.23% of total population, 1.9% of Asian population

Portland area:
Vietnamese - 1.34% of total population, 22.8% of Asian population
Chinese - 1.26% of total population, 21.4% of Asian population
Indian - 0.65% of total population, 11% of Asian population
Filipino - 0.61% of total population, 10.3% of Asian population
Korean - 0.60% of total population, 10.2% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.44% of total population, 7.4% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.21% of total population, 3.6% of Asian population
Cambodian - 0.16% of total population, 2.9% of Asian population

There are differences in specific groups.  Seattle has significantly higher share of Filipinos and Indians, while Portland has a relatively higher amount of Vietnamese.  The other big difference is that Seattle has more Cambodians, while Portland has more Laotians.  But both cities have substantial Southeast Asian refugee/immigrant populations.  Seattle just has higher numbers across the board despite the relatively similar Southeast-Northeast ratio because Seattle is a larger more global city in ways that Portland just isn't.

Lu Xun: Welcome to the Forum on your First Post !!!!

Appreciate you pulling this all together, and you present a strong argument when it comes to the overall size and % of the Seattle Metro Area vs the Portland Metro Area when it comes ....

One interesting side note is that in Oregon, outside of Metro PDX, the Asian-American Population is most heavily concentrated in the larger population centers of Willamette Valley from Salem down to Eugene, rather than in smaller towns and rural areas....

Meanwhile, in "Downstate Oregon" outside of certain pockets in the Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon, the Asian-American Population is extremely small as a % of the total population, especially compared to historical population patterns.

Benton County, Oregon obviously stands out with a 5.8% Asian-American, but even there it is most likely significantly lower as a total % of "Race/Ethnicity" than it was 20 Years ago, mainly as a result of a dramatic increase in the overall Latino Population of the County....

Obviously if we delve into the larger Cities of the "Downstate Oregon" in the Willamette Valley, we see Corvallis has a population of 4.3k Asians (7.9% of Total Population), Eugene 6.5k Asians (4.1% of Total Population), Salem 4.3k Asians (2.8% of Total Population).

Now Corvallis and Eugene are both College Towns, so obviously there's a major question there as to Foreign Grad/Undergrad Students where there might well be many foreign nationals on Student Passports/Visas versus Naturalized Citizens, in a time over the past few decades where many West Coast "Elite Colleges" are trying to fund their programs in a competitive academic environment, by increasingly recruiting out of state students and international students, where generally they can expect a 2:1 or 3:1 ration on the REV/EXP math....

Went a bit off topic there on "downstate oregon"....

So, you posted some awesome raw data for the Metro PDX vs Metro Seattle Area when it comes to the Asian-American community based upon Countries of origin.

Here is a graph that summarizes your numbersbfor Metro PDX and Metro Seattle by Total Population % based upon Country of Origin....



There are a lot of things that stand out for me, especially the relative equivalency of the Vietnamese-American Population of Metro PDX compared to Metro Seattle as % of the TOTAL Population.

The larger concentration of Filipino-Americas in 2018, does nor surprise me at all.

For me, my comments on this thread are not only political, but personal as well from friendships I built over 30 Years Ago in a small Oregon Town when I was a young boy of less than Ten Years of Age (3rd Grade), into High School, College in Ohio, back to Oregon in a large Tech Mfg Plant in the Mid '90s etc

Now the 2nd data point you posted pulled up numbers of Asian-Americans in Metro Seattle vs Metro PDX by Country of Ancestry.



Here the graph really starts to stand out....

We see that the Vietnamese-American Population in Metro Portland really jumps out as a % of the total Asian-American community, not to mention the Chinese-American relative Population among Asian-Americans....

The main thing that really stands out with Seattle compared to Portland when it comes to the Asian-American population by Ancestry, is an extremely higher population of Filipino-Americans, as well as an extremely high number of Indian-Americans....

The latter might be partially explained as a result of a BPO outsourcing Tech Worker Model from Microsoft, as well as much smaller players in the Tech Sector / Software Industry, seeing a shortage of domestic skilled software workers that could meet the minimum qualifications for the compensation offered, or perhaps equally likely could be simply Intra-State Migration patterns of Asian-Americans from California most likely to the two major metro areas of the Pacific Northwest....

Thoughts anyone now that Lu basically did the detailed compare/contrast with OR/WA state, made an extremely compelling argument when it comes to the "Metro" / "Non-Metro", and rolled the Asian-American population down to Country of origin?

Epic first post!!!!

Edited to improve the Graphs presented and modified slightly for clarity....

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

It really just comes down to the Seattle metro area being much larger and more cosmopolitan than the Portland metro area.  Large cities attract large amounts of immigrants. Outside of the Seattle and Portland areas both Washington and Oregon have very few Asian Americans.  Washington only has 92k Asians living outside of the Seattle metro area.  Oregon has 32k outside of the Portland metro area.

In terms of specific groups of Asian Americans, we can compare the Seattle metro area and the Portland metro area.

Seattle area:
Chinese - 2.38% of total population, 20.5% of Asian population
Filipino - 1.94% of total population, 16.7% of Asian population
Indian - 1.67% of total population, 14.4% of Asian population
Vietnamese - 1.54% of total population, 13.2% of Asian population
Korean - 1.45% of total population, 12.5% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.84% of total population, 7.2% of Asian population
Cambodian- 0.49% of total population, 4.2% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.23% of total population, 1.9% of Asian population

Portland area:
Vietnamese - 1.34% of total population, 22.8% of Asian population
Chinese - 1.26% of total population, 21.4% of Asian population
Indian - 0.65% of total population, 11% of Asian population
Filipino - 0.61% of total population, 10.3% of Asian population
Korean - 0.60% of total population, 10.2% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.44% of total population, 7.4% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.21% of total population, 3.6% of Asian population
Cambodian - 0.16% of total population, 2.9% of Asian population

There are differences in specific groups.  Seattle has significantly higher share of Filipinos and Indians, while Portland has a relatively higher amount of Vietnamese.  The other big difference is that Seattle has more Cambodians, while Portland has more Laotians.  But both cities have substantial Southeast Asian refugee/immigrant populations.  Seattle just has higher numbers across the board despite the relatively similar Southeast-Northeast ratio because Seattle is a larger more global city in ways that Portland just isn't.

I don’t know how many times I’ve pointed this out on Atlas- most of the racial/ethnic and income differences between OR and WA have to do with the size, location, and number of major cities.

It could just be my surroundings and college social network, but Metro Seattle in general feels significantly more East and Southeast Asian than Metro Portland. One of the things I noticed when I moved to Seattle for college is how many more Japanese and Filipino Americans there are in WA relative to OR. I didn’t notice much difference with Indian Americans because I grew up around a lot of South Asians in Waahington County.

Also NOVA Green: I was surprised you didn’t mention the 1965 immigration act in your previous post. The vast majority of Asian Americans today- and virtually all of the Indochinese refugees from Mainland SE Asia- came after the passage of that law.

[NOVA Green]

It really just comes down to the Seattle metro area being much larger and more cosmopolitan than the Portland metro area.  Large cities attract large amounts of immigrants. Outside of the Seattle and Portland areas both Washington and Oregon have very few Asian Americans.  Washington only has 92k Asians living outside of the Seattle metro area.  Oregon has 32k outside of the Portland metro area.

In terms of specific groups of Asian Americans, we can compare the Seattle metro area and the Portland metro area.

Seattle area:
Chinese - 2.38% of total population, 20.5% of Asian population
Filipino - 1.94% of total population, 16.7% of Asian population
Indian - 1.67% of total population, 14.4% of Asian population
Vietnamese - 1.54% of total population, 13.2% of Asian population
Korean - 1.45% of total population, 12.5% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.84% of total population, 7.2% of Asian population
Cambodian- 0.49% of total population, 4.2% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.23% of total population, 1.9% of Asian population

Portland area:
Vietnamese - 1.34% of total population, 22.8% of Asian population
Chinese - 1.26% of total population, 21.4% of Asian population
Indian - 0.65% of total population, 11% of Asian population
Filipino - 0.61% of total population, 10.3% of Asian population
Korean - 0.60% of total population, 10.2% of Asian population
Japanese - 0.44% of total population, 7.4% of Asian population
Laotian - 0.21% of total population, 3.6% of Asian population
Cambodian - 0.16% of total population, 2.9% of Asian population

There are differences in specific groups.  Seattle has significantly higher share of Filipinos and Indians, while Portland has a relatively higher amount of Vietnamese.  The other big difference is that Seattle has more Cambodians, while Portland has more Laotians.  But both cities have substantial Southeast Asian refugee/immigrant populations.  Seattle just has higher numbers across the board despite the relatively similar Southeast-Northeast ratio because Seattle is a larger more global city in ways that Portland just isn't.

I don’t know how many times I’ve pointed this out on Atlas- most of the racial/ethnic and income differences between OR and WA have to do with the size, location, and number of major cities.

It could just be my surroundings and college social network, but Metro Seattle in general feels significantly more East and Southeast Asian than Metro Portland. One of the things I noticed when I moved to Seattle for college is how many more Japanese and Filipino Americans there are in WA relative to OR. I didn’t notice much difference with Indian Americans because I grew up around a lot of South Asians in Waahington County.

Also NOVA Green: I was surprised you didn’t mention the 1965 immigration act in your previous post. The vast majority of Asian Americans today- and virtually all of the Indochinese refugees from Mainland SE Asia- came after the passage of that law.

I debated the inclusion of the 1965 Immigration Act in many original post, and ultimately chose to exclude for several reasons:

1.) I was trying to go back to the deep roots of the Asian-American population in the Pacific Northwest, and straight up address the racist history of the Region, and essentially eliminate that as a potential explanation for current demographic populations between States in the West Coast....

2.) There was clearly something that changed significantly in the immediate Post WW II era, where established Asian-American populations started to shift much more heavily towards Washington State and California than Oregon.

I strongly suspect that shifts in populations of Japanese and Filipino-Americans towards California in the former case, and WA and CA in the latter was a direct result of WW II.

3.) Opening the question up as to what happened especially from 1970 onwards, is essentially where I think we really start addressing the OPs question at a substantive level of detail, and honestly there are still some major questions as to the *WHY*, that I believe we haven't really yet had a chance to more fully explore.

4.) It starts to get tricky once we look at the massive increase of SE Asian refugees from '75 onwards in particular, especially when it comes to shifts of populations of immigrant refugee communities throughout an entire Region of the United States and again the *WHY* question of what in many ways was an internal migration pattern within the US, regardless of the First "Port of Call", so to speak.

So, let's start to dip our toes into the waters of the massive increase of Asian-Americans from '75 to '95, who were predominately refugees from devastated war-torn countries in SE Asia....

1.) Here is a chart that pulls that data together at a National Level....



So here we clearly see the "surge" of Vietnamese to the US in '75, a massive drop-off until about '79/'80, drops down a bit in '81, and then essentially stabilizes from '82 > '93.

We also see a delayed reaction of Laotian immigrants to the US compared to Vietnamese, with a massive spike from '79 > '81, and from '86 to '89 sustained levels.

Cambodian immigration basically spiked hard from '80 to '85.....

2.) Now let's look at where SE Asian Refugees were concentrated by State as a % of the total US Population by Country of Origin / Ancestry in 2010.



Now we see that 38% of Cambodian-Americans live in Cali, and 9% in Washington State.

Hmong--- 35% California.

Laotian- 30% California

Vietnamese- 26% California, 3% Washington

3.) Clearly California was the "Ground Zero" of SE Asian War refugees on the West Coast, and to a much lesser extent Washington, as part of the whole "Port of Entry" political asylum deal......

So, to accentuate that point, here is snip of an academic publication that I have been sourcing for some of this topic....



It's pretty obvious from my current understanding is that many of the SE Asian Refugee Populations came to Oregon and Washington frequently from California, especially with the Vietnamese diaspora, especially once we start rolling into 2nd and 3rd generations of Vietnamese-Americans....

So here's a link one of the academic publicans I've been reading recently on this topic, and there's tons more out there, but hey at least it seems like a good start off point to discuss the OPs question....

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1127&context=jsaaea

You and Lu Xun are totally on the mark when it comes to Oregon/Washington and comparative size of Metro Seattle vs Metro PDX as a % of State Pop IMHO and nailed it on the head much more succinctly and accurately than my general exploration and overview of the topic....

4.) Still, where it would start to get even more interesting is looking at shifts over time between the Vietnamese-American population (In particular) by Western State, since by 2010 the Vietnamese-American Community had become so widely dispersed compared the First Wave of Asylum Seekers that were heavily concentrated in a relatively small number of large Metro Centers.....

5.) Back to the OPs question, it is still pretty clear that Metro Portland did not experience nearly as large an internal migration of SE Asians as Metro Seattle from Southern California during the 1980s.

I suspect part of that is that Oregon was essentially in a Depression from the Start of the Reagan Recession through most of the 1980s, where the "Reagan Oregon Depression" of the early '80s essentially shifted into the "Reagan Oregon Recession by the late '80s.

Simply put, jobs weren't that plentiful in most parts of Oregon in the '80s, even in Metro Portland....

There was a massive internal migration of labor and people from heavily Timber dependent communities into the Cities of Oregon, that increased labor competition for unskilled labor, even in Metro PDX which was able to recover much quicker from Reagan's Recession than most of Downstate Oregon.

Washington State was a different scene.....