A new study out of the London School of Economics and Political Science shows Los Angeles was a less segregated city in 2010 than it was at the beginning of the century. The study of population shifts in Los Angeles between 2000 and 2010 shows that "demographic stability" in the city's neighborhoods decreased as the city saw an increase in racially diverse neighborhoods.
The study looked at all Los Angeles neighborhoods, broken down into 20 different types ranging in diversity levels from racially homogenous to neighborhoods with largely mixed racial populations. Researchers found that from 2000 to 2010, largely segregated neighborhoods declined. In 2000, 40 percent of LA's population lived in a strongly segregated neighborhood. In 2010, that number was down to just 33 percent.
According to the study, both homogenous white and homogenous black neighborhoods declined after 2000. The study found that 32 percent of whites lived in a segregated community in 2000; that number was down to 21 percent in 2010. In that same time frame, the percentage of black Angelenos living in largely black communities fell from 15 percent to 11 percent in 2010.
Two demographics that did not experience a downward shift in the homogeneity of their neighborhoods were the Hispanic and Asian communities in LA. The number of Hispanic people living in largely Hispanic neighborhoods rose from 31 percent in 2000 to 33 percent in 2010. Asians living in largely Asian neighborhoods increased from 12 percent to 18 percent in that same 10-year span.
The study was done using advanced geo-computational software that provides a more nuanced portrait of population shifts over time.
·In Los Angeles, increasing neighborhood diversity means that segregation is on the decline. [London School of Economics and Political Science]
· Pretty Map Shows Just How Not Integrated Los Angeles Is [Curbed LA]