 The Chinese American experience has been documented at the Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan's Chinatown since 1980.The chart on the right shows the total number of ethnic Chinese in the United States since 1850.According to the 2012 Census estimates, the three metropolitan areas with the largest Chinese American populations were the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area at 735,019 people, the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area at 629,243 people, and the Los Angeles Area Combined Statistical Area at about 566,968 people.