Our earlier guide to work in America carried one piece of advice: pick the state first, then the occupation. The advice was right but unfinished, because it never said which state.
This piece answers that, using government figures, for the four states Vietnamese families weigh most often: California, Texas, Georgia and Washington.
Where the Vietnamese community is
Pew Research Center analysis of the 2021–2023 American Community Survey puts about 770,000 people of Vietnamese origin in California — 36% of all Vietnamese Americans. Texas is second with roughly 310,000, Washington about 105,000, Georgia about 70,000.
By metropolitan area, Los Angeles is the largest at around 350,000, followed by San Jose at about 145,000 and Houston at about 140,000.
These figures matter more than they look. A large community means Vietnamese grocers, Vietnamese-speaking doctors, someone who can point you to work, a church and a temple. For a newcomer whose English is not yet steady, that is not a convenience. It is infrastructure.
But the question is really a question about rent
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes an annual index called the regional price parity, measuring the price level in each state against the country as a whole. The agency defines it as a measure of differences in price levels across states, expressed as a percentage of the national price level. The nation sits at 100.
For 2024, the all-items index: California 110.7 — the highest in the country. Washington 107.0. Texas 97.1. Georgia 96.3.
Read those four numbers alone and the gap between dearest and cheapest is about 14 points. Break the index into its parts and the picture changes completely.
Housing alone: California 154.3. Washington 126.0. Texas 96.5. Georgia 88.7.
The California-to-Georgia gap on housing is nearly 66 points — more than four times the gap on the headline index.
Meanwhile goods — food, clothing, household items — barely differ: California 106.1, Washington 104.4, Georgia 98.9, Texas 98.1. Under 8 points between them.
Put differently: choosing a state is almost entirely a matter of choosing what you pay for shelter. A bunch of greens and a shirt cost roughly the same anywhere. What differs is the roof.
One more line deserves its own look. Utilities in California stand at 158.9 — nearly 60% above the national level, and higher than that state's own housing index. In 2019 the figure was 131.0. Texas is 87.5, Georgia 92.8, Washington 92.9.
The job market
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes state unemployment rates monthly. For June 2026, still preliminary: Georgia 3.6%, Washington 4.7%, Texas 4.9%, California 5.2%. The national rate was 4.2%.
This is one month's figure and it moves, so do not treat it as a verdict. But it shows something worth noticing: of these four, the state with the cheapest housing currently also has the lowest unemployment, while the state with the largest Vietnamese community currently has the highest.
Same trade, different hours
Occupational licences are issued by states, and the requirements are not alike. Take nail work as the example, since it is the occupation people ask about most.
California requires not less than 400 hours of instruction. Texas requires 600 hours at a school licensed in Texas, an applicant at least 17 years old, and passing both a written and a practical exam. Washington requires 600 hours through the school route, or 2,000 hours through an apprenticeship.
Georgia runs a separate apprentice route, and the state's rules specify eight months and 1,050 hours for a nail technician, while also providing that apprentice hours cannot be combined with school hours.
The same work, the same pair of hands, and Texas asks half again as many hours as California. That is why a relative's experience in another state is not a guide.
There is one exception worth knowing: Washington will recognise a licence from another jurisdiction if it is active and in good standing and the applicant passed that jurisdiction's exams. Not every state does this, so if you already hold a licence somewhere and are thinking of moving, ask this before packing.
Four questions to ask first
- Does your intended occupation need a licence in that state, and for how many hours? Look it up on the state licensing agency's own site, not an intermediary's. The information is public and free.
- What is rent in the actual neighbourhood you would live in? A statewide index is an average; California has cheap areas and Georgia has expensive ones.
- Does the state levy an income tax, and at what rate? This varies substantially between states and should be checked with that state's own revenue department.
- If your English is not yet steady, is there a community nearby? For a first year, the distance to a Vietnamese neighbourhood can matter more than a few hundred dollars of rent.
There is no single answer
These four states cannot be ranked, because each is strong somewhere and weak somewhere else.
California has the largest community in the country and the highest price level in the country. Georgia has the cheapest housing of the four and the smallest community. Texas sits in the middle on most measures, with the second-largest community and a Houston metro area full of Vietnamese families. Washington is second dearest overall but low on utilities, and it has a path to recognising a licence earned elsewhere.
Which of those matters is a matter of circumstance. But choosing on figures beats choosing on hearsay, and all four sources used here are public, free, and reachable from Vietnam.
Who this is written for
For readers in Vietnam planning a move: these are the four states that come up most often, set side by side in numbers rather than impressions. Choosing the wrong one is not a small mistake, because an occupational licence does not travel and rent is paid every month.
For readers already here: moving state is a real and increasingly common calculation, particularly while California rent stays at California levels. This is something to work from — or to send to a relative asking where they should go.
Bảo Nguyễn
Bảo Nguyễn founded Saigon Sentinel to give the Vietnamese diaspora truly independent, in-depth community coverage at a time when misinformation moves faster than fact-checks and the language barrier makes verification harder than it should be. He sets the editorial standards and quality controls that govern the reporting, chooses the subjects, writes and edits each article, reads it against its sources before publication, audits published output, and handles corrections.