The Thai of United States

The Thai of United States, numbering approximately 195,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community indigenous to Thailand. They mostly adhere to Theravada Buddhism and Thai is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Thai

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: Thai
Primary Language(s): Thai (tha)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 195,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG043650
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Thai of United States

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

97%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Thai
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Thai Speakers

Media Resources in Thai:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Thai:

4 entries

Or check out the Thai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Thai are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Thai:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Thai of United States

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
readRomans 10:12

Pray that as people from different backgrounds place their faith in Christ, they will be unified by their faith Him.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Thai Across Countries (ROP3 - 101940) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

11 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ThaiThaiCanada9,200Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiFrance10,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiHong Kong13,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiGermany20,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiAustralia30,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiMalaysia34,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiMyanmar45,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiCambodia47,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiSingapore64,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiUnited States195,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiThailand22,850,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

Scroll to Top