Los Angeles, California - Demographics - Race and Ethnicity

Race and Ethnicity

Los Angeles is home to people from more than 140 countries speaking 224 different identified languages. Ethnic enclaves like Chinatown, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Ethiopia, Tehrangeles, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town provide examples of the polyglot character of Los Angeles.

According to the 2010 Census, the racial makeup of Los Angeles included: 1,888,158 Whites (49.8%), 365,118 African Americans (9.6%), 28,215 Native Americans (0.7%), 426,959 Asians (11.3%), 5,577 Pacific Islanders (0.1%), 902,959 from other races (23.8%), and 175,635 (4.6%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1,838,822 persons (48.5%).

Non-Hispanic whites were 28.7% of the population in 2010, compared to 86.3% in 1940. Mexicans make up the largest ethnic group of Latinos at 31.9% of Los Angeles' population, followed by Salvadorans (6.0%) and Guatemalans (3.6%). The Latino population is spread throughout the city of Los Angeles and its metropolitan area but it is most heavily concentrated in the East Los Angeles region, which has a long established Mexican American and Central American community.

The largest Asian ethnic groups are Filipinos (3.2%) and Koreans (2.9%), which have their own established ethnic enclaves−Koreatown in the Wilshire Center and the Historic Filipinotown. Chinese people, which make up 1.8% of Los Angeles' population, reside mostly outside of Los Angeles city limits and rather in the San Gabriel Valley of eastern Los Angeles County, but make a sizable presence in the city, notably in Chinatown. Chinatown and Thaitown are also home to many Thais and Cambodians, which make up 0.3% and 0.1% of Los Angeles' population, respectively. Japanese comprise 0.9% of L.A.'s population, and have an established Little Tokyo in the city's downtown, and another significant community of Japanese Americans is located in the Sawtelle district of West Los Angeles. Vietnamese make up 0.5% of Los Angeles' population. L.A. has a rather small South Asian population−Indians make up 0.9% of the city's population.

The city of Los Angeles and its metropolitan area are home to a large Middle Eastern population, including Armenians and Iranians, partially residing in enclaves like Little Armenia and Tehrangeles.

African Americans have the largest establishment in South Los Angeles, remarkably within the industrial neighborhoods of Crenshaw and Watts. However, since the 1980s, there has been a large influx of immigration from Mexico and Central America which have outnumbered the blacks in South Los Angeles. South Los Angeles, as well as neighboring communities such as the city of Compton that were home to predominant African American populations are now transforming into Hispanic communities.

Pacific Islanders make up a scant 0.1% of Los Angeles' population, but are prevalent in southwestern Los Angeles County, namely in Long Beach and Carson, which are home to thousands of Samoan Americans.