generations upon generations. Afghan Americans who arrived before the 21st century are mostly found residing near other middle class Americans. Some may be found living in the upper middle class neighborhoods and earning high salaries. Because the majority of Afghan Americans were originally admitted as refugees under , the government provided various forms of assistance (welfare) and selected their city of residence. Some decided to move to other cities that had larger Afghan communities but most remained in the cities where they first arrived. They gradually left the government assistance programs and eventually mortgaged homes. Their children were sent to colleges or universities. Those who could not achieve this decided to build or franchise small businesses. Others became real estate agents, bank employees, office workers, hotel workers, store clerks, salespersons, security guards, drivers, mechanics, waiters, etc. Like many other immigrants in the United States, Afghan Americans often engage in the operation of small businesses. Many operate American and Afghan restaurants as well as Afghan markets, while some have been reported in the 1990s as vendors in Manhattan where they have replaced Greek Americans in the field. The family incomes of Afghan Americans (specifically, those that were termed "refugees") was a median of $50,000 in 2015. This figure is higher than Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans and slightly higher than Hmong Americans, but lower than Vietnamese Americans. Education Afghan immigrants that were admitted to the United States before 1979 were well educated. In contrast, current immigrants have escaped from totalitarianism, genocide, torture, persecution, mistreatment, and military conflicts. This group has had some trouble coping with learning the English language. Those who have pursued their education in America during the middle of the 20th century and traveled back to Afghanistan faced trouble attaining employment when returning to the United States since their education, often in medicine and engineering, is frequently viewed as outdated. After the 1979 Soviet invasion, Afghanistan's education system worsened, causing many migrants in the late 20th century to place less emphasis on educational attainment. Notable people Politics, academia and literature Zalmay Khalilzad – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2007 to 2009 Ashraf Ghani - 5th President of Afghanistan Ali Jalali – Distinguished Professor at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.; ex-Afghan diplomat Mohammad Qayoumi – Former President of San Jose State University and California State University, East Bay Safiya Wazir - Member of the New Hampshire House