According to the U.S. Census, there are currently 300,319 Thai people living in the United States today, with an error margin of +/- 14,326.
From 2007 to 2008, numbers dip back down to regular rate until 2009, which proceeded a year of military and political turmoil due to the disconnect between the monarchic Royal Army and the relatively newly established democratic government in 2006.
[citation needed] The 2010 U.S. census counted 237,629 Thai Americans in the country, of whom 67,707 live in California.
However, on November 7, 2006, Gorpat Henry Charoen became the first U.S. official of Thai origin when he was elected to the La Palma City Council in California.
In 2010, Charles Djou became the first Thai American elected to Congress; he had previously served in the Hawaii State House and Honolulu City Council.
Tammy Duckworth, a Thai-American Iraq War veteran, ran for Congress as a Democrat in Illinois's 6th district in the 2006 mid-term election.
On November 8, 2016, she was elected as the junior U.S. senator from Illinois, the seat previously held by Barack Obama.
Bhumibol Adulyadej, the previous King of Thailand, was born at the Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 5, 1927.
In 2017, Ekamon "Ek" Venin was appointed and later elected to the Borough Council in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.