Nepalese community in the Bay Area

Roughly 225,000 people identified as Nepalese nationwide in 2023, up 24 percent since 2019, and California is the third-largest state for the community with around 21,000 residents. The Bay Area is a significant and fast-growing center of that population, though it is not among the country's biggest Nepalese metros. Many families have settled in the East Bay, especially El Cerrito and Albany, where Solano Avenue has become a hub of Nepalese restaurants and grocery stores. A Bhutanese-Nepali (Lhotshampa) refugee community is also present in the East Bay, including Oakland.

The community's anchor institutions include the Nepali Association of Northern California (NANC), established in 1994 to promote Nepali culture across the region and the owner of a Nepali Community Center at 369 Chesley Avenue in Richmond, and the Bay Area Nepalese Community in Fremont (BANCF), a Fremont 501(c)(3) that runs Nepali language classes and cultural festivals. This page gathers what's nearby: organizations and temples, restaurants and grocers, upcoming events, and the festival calendar — source links are shown when available.