America's Chinatowns dwindling as residents head to the suburbs

The historic Chinatowns of America are fading as rising living costs, jobs elsewhere and a desire for wider spaces lure Asian-Americans more than ever to the suburbs. The first neighborhoods known as Chinatowns emerged in the 1800s during the Gold Rush and the building of railroads.

After the work was done, a shortage of jobs led Congress to pass a law in 1882 banning the entry of new Chinese laborers. Seeking refuge, many Chinese in the US avoided jobs that directly competed with white labor and opened laundromats and restaurants in urban Chinatowns.

As the Lunar New Year begins Monday, annual festivities in Washington, DC's shriveled Chinatown are, for the first time, being promoted by a large marketing firm. New York's Chinatown, one of the nation's oldest, has lost its status as home to the city's largest Chinese population, based on the 2010 census.

Nationwide, about 62% of Asian-Americans in the nation's large metropolitan areas live in the suburbs, up from 54% in 1990 and the highest ever. Tied with Hispanics as the fastest-growing group, the nation's 4.4 million Asians are more likely than other minorities to live in the suburbs; only whites, at 78%, are higher.

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