Iranian girl winner of bikini contest in Houston Texas
Iranian immigration to the United States has been continuous since the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of foreign-born people from Iran in the United States increased by 74 percent. Today, the United States contains the highest number of Iranians outside of Iran. The Iranian-American community has produced individuals notable in many fields, including medicine, engineering, and business. The community chiefly expanded in the early 1980s, following the Iranian Revolution and its abolition of the Iranian monarchy.
According to Hakimzadeh and Dixon, members of religious and ethnic minorities such as Bahai'is, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrians were disproportionately represented amongst the early exiles of the 1978–79 revolution.
According to Census 2000, 50.9 percent of Iranian immigrants have attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 28.0 percent national average. According to the latest census data available, more than one in four Iranian-Americans holds a master's or doctoral degree, the highest rate among 67 ethnic groups studied. However, according to the latest U.S. Census news, Taiwanese Americans have the highest educational levels with at least 73.3 percent having a Bachelor's degree or higher.
