Danchen Astle attributed a portion of that growth to the expansion of other Asian- owned businesses.

"People are more comfortable dealing with people who can speak their language and understand their culture," she said.

Koreans represented the largest group of Asian owners in Colorado, with 2,443 businesses, followed by Vietnamese businesses, which numbered 2,311, and Chinese businesses, with 2,131.

Tod Nguyen, founder of Aurora-based AsiaXpress.com, said the types of Asian-owned businesses in the area have expanded. His company provides news, information and business listings for metro Denver's Asian community.

"It's not just a niche thing like restaurants," he said. "The businesses are getting a little bigger and more diverse. You've got cellphone providers, mortgage brokers, real-estate businesses.

" Some 3,441 of the state's Asian-owned businesses had paid employees. Those companies employed a collective 21,343 people and had an annual payroll of $500.1 million, according to the data.

Asian-owned businesses represented 2.3 percent of the state's firms and 0.6 percent of the state's sales.

The number of Asian-owned companies has risen 20.8% in the state from 1997 to 2002
By Kristi Arellano, Denver Post Staff Writer, May 17,2006.

Danchen Astle's A-A Printing LLC does a steady business printing menus for Chinese and other Asian-owned restaurants. She has also seen an increase in requests for Chinese-language business cards.

Astle, who came to the United States from China in 1992, is among the entrepreneurs who contributed to a 20.8 percent increase in Asian-owned Colorado businesses from 1997 to 2002.

Census data released Tuesday show that Asian-owned businesses in the state increased from 9,028 to 10,910 during that period, the bureau's most current data. National growth in Asian-owned businesses for the period was 24 percent.

Previously released census data showed that Hispanic-owned businesses in Colorado increased 16.8 percent and black- owned businesses increased 43 percent during the same period. The total number of Colorado businesses grew 13.3 percent from 1997 to 2002.

Colorado's 10,910 Asian-owned businesses took in a collective $2.45 billion in 2002, an increase of 19 percent from 1997, according to the new data. The retail trade, professional and scientific, and food and accommodations industries showed the largest concentration of Asian-owned businesses.

Astle came to the United States to attend the University of Montana's master of accounting program. She and her husband, Dan, launched A-A Printing in Denver in 1998.

The company's business has increased at a rate of about 10 percent each year, Dan Astle said.