Nepalese community in Harrisburg, PA

Central Pennsylvania — Harrisburg and surrounding Dauphin County — is home to one of the largest Nepali-speaking Bhutanese (Lhotshampa) communities in the United States. State figures cited by Gov. Josh Shapiro in March 2025 put Pennsylvania's Bhutanese refugee population at more than 70,000, with roughly 40,000 in Central PA. These are ethnic Nepalese forced out of Bhutan in the 1980s and 1990s, who spent close to two decades in UN refugee camps in eastern Nepal before resettling in the US between roughly 2008 and 2016. Counts vary widely by source — narrow Census tallies (about 2,400 Bhutan-born in Dauphin County, per 2018–22 estimates) run far below the community-wide figures, which also include US-born children and the wider region — so the local total is best read as an approximate range in the tens of thousands.

The community is anchored by the Bhutanese Community in Harrisburg (BCH), also known as the Bhutanese Community of Central Pennsylvania, which offers cultural orientation, English classes, job training and housing assistance under chair Tilak Niroula. Spiritual and cultural life centers on the Organization for Hindu Religion and Culture (OHRC), a 501(c)(3) established in July 2013 at 5650 Lancaster St, which serves former Bhutanese Hindu refugees and supports Nepali-language teaching. A growing commercial presence reflects the community's roots, including Swatara Restaurant and Bar in Swatara Township, opened in 2025, and Best of Asia Nepali-Indian Grocery at 2035 Linglestown Rd in Harrisburg. This page gathers what's nearby: organizations and temples, restaurants and grocers, upcoming events, and the festival calendar — source links are shown when available.