Anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 149% in 2020. Author: Megan Yoder, Tiffany Liou Published: 12:47 PM PDT May 17, 2021 Updated: 1:03 PM PDT May 17, 2021 Across the country, there have been a number of disturbing acts of hate against Asian Americans making headlines. How do these trends compare to years past and is there a connection to the pandemic? In those 16 areas, overall hate crimes dropped by 7%. But anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 149% in 2020. In 2019, there were 49 documented cases of hate crimes with anti-Asian bias in the 16 cities studied, while in 2020 there were 122 cases. That’s more than double the number of hate crimes from the year before.