Long Beach Now 41% Latino; Hispanics Largest Population in 7 of 9 Council Districts
This could be considered of import to note based on the reality that race plays a factor in one's socio-economic status. Blacks and Latinos are more likely to live in poverty than are their white counterparts,
Edward Kamlan, a City Hall spokesman, said the Long Beach Planning Commission is scheduled to review population data for each council district when it meets on May 5. The City Council will then in the coming weeks consider whether the new population numbers warrant local redistricting.
Historically, the City Council has made a decision to redistrict when one or more council districts have deviated greater than plus or minus five percent from the average population of the city's nine districts, Kamlan said.
Each council district's population makeup by racial subgroup as of 2010 is detailed below.
In the First District, Latinos represent 64.5 percent of the population. The second largest subgroup in that district is African Americans, who were tallied at 13.9 percent of the population. Whites trail behind at 11.9 percent, Asians are 6.3 percent, two or more races are 1.9 percent, Pacific Islanders are .8 percent, American Indians are .4 percent and "other" is .2 percent.
The Second District, while dominated by Latinos at 38.4 percent, also features a large Caucasian population at 34.6 percent. The remainder is 13.4 percent Black, 9.4 percent Asian, 3.1 percent two or more races, .4 percent American Indian, .4 percent Pacific Islander and .3 percent "other."
The Third District is 69.9 percent white, 15 percent Latino, 7.4 percent Asian, 3.6 percent Black, 3.3 percent two or more races, .3 percent American Indian, .3 percent "other" and .2 percent Pacific Islander is .2 percent
The Fourth District is 35.9 percent Latino, 33.2 percent white, 15.5 percent Asian, 11.2 percent Blacks, 3.3 percent two or more races, .4 percent "other," .4 percent Pacific Islander and .3 percent American Indian.
The Fifth District is 63.9 percent white, 19.8 percent Latino, 8.2 percent Asian, 3.7 percent two or more races, 3.4 percent Black, .5 percent Pacific Islander, .3 percent American Indian and .2 percent "other."
The Sixth District is 54.9 percent Latino, 19.8 percent Asian, 17 percent Black, 5.1 percent white, 1.7 percent two or more races, 1.1 percent Pacific Islander, .2 percent American Indian and .2 percent "other."
The Seventh District is 37 percent Latino, 24.4 percent Asian, 17.9 percent white, 15.4 percent Black, 4 percent two or more races, 1.8 percent Pacific Islander, .2 percent American Indian and .2 percent "other."
The Eighth District is 43.8 percent Latino, 19.7 percent Black, 17.7 percent white, 13.6 percent Asian, 2.8 percent two or more races, 2 percent Pacific islander, .3 percent American Indian and .2 percent "other."
Finally, the Ninth District is 58.1 percent Latino, 18.6 percent Black, 9.5 percent white, 9.3 percent Asian, 2.4 percent Pacific Islander, 1.7 percent two or more races, .2 percent American Indian and .2 percent "other."
The Eighth and Ninth districts are the only two districts citywide in which Blacks outnumber whites, according to the data.
The Latino population grew in every council district except the First District, which saw a decline of about 1,005 Latino residents, and the Second District, which saw a decline of about 300 Latinos.
Meanwhile the First District is the only district to be represented by a Latino (Councilman Robert Garcia) on the City Council.
3:01pm | Census 2010 demographics data released by the city of Long Beach Thursday illustrates that the city's Latino population continues to grow while the Caucasian and African-American populations shrink.
The number of Latinos living in Long Beach jumped from 165,092 to 188,412 between 2000 and 2010, bumping Latinos up from 35.8 percent to 40.8 percent of the city's population.
The city's Asian population also increased, but minimally. It grew from 54,937 in 2000 to 58,268 in 2010, boosting its percentage from 11.9 percent to 12.6 percent. This growth, however slight, positions the Asian population extremely close to equaling the city's Black population, whose numbers tumbled.
The number of residents who identified themselves as "some other race" grew, too, up from 1,013 to 1,118. The increase is so small that it did not affect the category's percentage of .2 percent.
The Caucasian population dwindled from 152,899 in 2000 to 135,698 in 2010, dropping whites down from 33.1 percent of the population to 29.4 percent.
The number of African Americans living in Long Beach shrunk from 66,836 to 59,925, or from 14.5 percent to 13 percent of the population.
American Indian and Alaskan Natives dipped from 1,772 to 1,349, or from .4 percent to .3 percent of the population, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders fell from 5,392 to 4,915, or from 1.2 percent to 1.1 percent of the population.
Individuals who identified themselves as two or more races decreased from 13,581 to 12,572, or 2.9 percent to 2.7 percent of the population.
A majority of the population in seven of the city's nine council districts is Latino, with only the Third and Fifth districts featuring another racial subgroup majority. In those districts, Caucasians are the majority, according to the city-issued report.
The Latino population did actually decline in two council districts, said City Hall spokesman Tom Modica. The First District lost 4.3 percent and the Second District lost 1 percent, he said.
The demographics data can be obtained by visiting LongBeach.gov/redistricting.