Asian subgroup-specific information on type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is scarce. Using the California Health Interview Survey 2007 data, authors examined Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese adults (n = 3,688) and Caucasian adults (n = 33,981) for the prevalence of DM and risk factors. The age-adjusted prevalence of DM was the highest among Filipinos (8.05%) followed by Japanese (7.07%), Vietnamese (7.03%), and Koreans (6.3%). Chinese (5.93%) was the only Asian group studied whose prevalence was lower than Caucasians (5.94%). From multiple logistic regression, after adjusting for risk factors, Japanese had the highest likelihood of DM, followed by Filipinos, relative to Caucasians. Our results suggest that even after accounting for lifestyle and other risk factor differences between Caucasians and key Asian subgroups in California, Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans have a 1.6–1.75 greater likelihood of DM compared to Caucasians.