Alexa Reyes

HSCI 610

Julie Ann Hernandez

Community Demographics: Los Angeles County

The 2010 census reported 308.7 million of individuals living in the United States.

Of those, 37,253,956 millions live in California alone and 9,818,605 million live in Los

Angeles County. In Los Angeles City, 3,792,621 million individuals live in this

geographic location as illustrated on Table 1. As it is observed California is home to 8.3

% of the entire U.S. population. When comparing California to other states in the

country, California ranks second in population density after New York as shown on

figure 1. Of those 8.3 % living in California, 3.8 % live in Los Angeles County. This goes

to show that Los Angeles is considered one of the most densely populated county in the

California and the country.

Ethnicity and Race: Los Angeles largest Ethnic group is not Hispanic or Latino. As

shown in Table 2 we can see that 5,130716 of Los Angeles residents are not Hispanic

or Latino. However, 4,687,889 residents are Hispanic or Latino. It is clear that about

50% of the population is not Hispanic or Latino origin out of the 3.8 million individuals

that live in this geographic location. Growing up in Los Angeles County for the longest

time I believed that Hispanics or Latinos were the majority race or ethnic group. After

analyzing census data I have come to realize that Hispanics are not the majority in Los

Angeles County. Looking closely at race one can see that 4,936,599 of these

individuals are predominantly white. Table 2 illustrates that 1,346,865 individuals are
Asian, 856,874 are African American,72,828 are AIAN, 26,094 are NHPI, 2,140,632 are

some other race and lastly 438,713 individuals are of two or more races.

Sex: About 50 % of Los Angeles County residents are female. In fact, according to

2010 census 4,978,951 individuals are female and 4,839,654 are males (Table 3).

Income and poverty: According to 2014 census the median Household Income for

Los Angeles County was approximately $55,686 with a 90% confidence interval of

$55,165 to $56,207. In my research I found that in 2014 the poverty level in Los

Angeles County was approximately 18.7% for all ages. The website showed a 9%

Confidence Interval of 18.3% to 19.1%. For the same year poverty level estimated to

be 26.7% with a confidence interval of 25.9% to 27.5% in individuals under the age of

18. Likewise the poverty level among individuals between the age of five to 17 years of

age in families estimated to be 26.4% with a 90% confidence interval of 25.6 to 27.2%.

In that same year, the poverty level between children under the age of 5 estimates to be

23.4% with a 90%confidence interval of 22.8 % to 24% statewide.

Education System: In 2014, census data shows that Los Angeles Unified School

District had an estimated 31 % poverty level shown on Figure 2. Comparing Los

Angeles School District with Orange County w e can see the poverty level drops

significantly. Looking at Orange County we can see that the poverty level in this county

is 14.4%. This means that Los Angeles school district is not heavily funded by the

government and/or the state. Students from K1 to 12 are not getting enough education

as well as support. Growing up I was able to witness the disparities in Los Angeles

education system across the county. Cities like El Monte, and Whittier had very little

Money for books, supplies and of course failed to provide the highest quality of
education. During my entire youth up until sophomore year I had not heard much

information regarding colleges, Universities workshops. In reality, our professors mainly

just focused on us graduating high school than anything else. Most professors didn’t

even believe that any of us can make it to college. In fact, when professors found out

that I was planning to go to college they were shocked and I became the girl that was

going to go to college. Suddenly I was different. Moving to Eastvale in the middle of my

sophomore year I noticed the disparities. The school I know attended was a new school

in a new community with a lot of funding. Professors really encouraged students to go to

college and made programs like Avid available to help guide students to a brighter

better future. The census website shows that in the year 2014 Corona-Norco school

district only had a 13.4% poverty level that year. This goes to show that communities

that are well supported by the state and/or government as well as organizations thrive

more than in communities were the poverty level is very low such as Los Angeles.

One of the things that I learned was that Hispanics or Latinos are not the majority

ethnic or race group in Los Angeles. In fact, whites are the majority. Everything else I

believe I have a good understanding of it because I grew up in a poor community and

saw the disparities for myself. When I got older I was able to see that our community

and other environmental factors highly influence our life and future such as income,

level of education access to medical care etc. The common person did not have access

to medical services because of their immigration status while others had Medical or

Medicare. Often time’s immigrants or individuals that couldn’t afford medical care would

wait until a condition got worst in order to go to the doctor because they had no money.

If I were to plan a healthcare service I would try to create programs that help educate
the community especially for those of low income that can’t afford health insurance and

immigrants.
Table of Content

Figure 1:

Table 1: Population

National Population 308,745,538

California 37,253,956
Los Angeles County 9,818,605
Los Angeles City 3,792,621

Table 2: Ethnicity and Race

Ethnicity
Not Hispanic or Latino 5,130,716
Hispanic or Latino 4,687,889
Race
White 4,936,599
Asian 1,346,865
African American 856,874
AIAN 72,828
NHPI 26,094
Some Other Race 2,140,632
Two or more Races 438,713

Table 3: Sex
Females 4,978,951
Males 4,839,654

Figure 2