Distribution of Ethnic Groups in the United States

Because many people are curious about how Los Angeles compares to other

metropolitan areas (or metros) in the size of ethnic populations, we present a table

showing the five metros with the largest numbers of each group. (Scroll down to

see table.) Nearly all people in our study’s groups live in one of several hundred

federally defined metropolitan areas, which include larger cities and their closely

connected suburbs. As of 2010 the metropolitan area that best represents Southern

California includes all of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Although technically

identified as the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Area, we label

it in bold type simply as Los Angeles and refer to it in this text as the Los Angeles

metro. When listing other metro areas, we also abbreviate them to the name of the

first city in the official name. The percent column shows the percent of the total

metro population that is represented by the ethnic group.

The table makes clear that the Los Angeles metro is easily the country’s largest

center for a great many ethnic groups: Cambodians, Filipinos, Indonesians,

Koreans, Taiwanese, Thais, Vietnamese, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans,

and Belizeans. Armenians have over seven times the Armenians in the next largest

metro, and Iranians in the Los Angeles metro number almost four times those in

any other metro. But patterns of chain migration to different places have meant that

Los Angeles is not even among the top five metros in numbers of Brazilians,

Haitians, Jamaicans, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Pakistanis, and Laotians. Again

the result of past migration patterns, the Los Angeles metro has more people of

English ancestry than any other metro but among people of German ancestry it is

ranked only sixth.

For Blacks, American Indians, and Asians the table shows near its beginning

separate numbers for those who identified also as Hispanic and those who did not.

Subtracting the Non-Hispanic number from the total for a race group produces the

number of people who reported themselves as both Hispanic and in the race group.

For example, in the New York metro over 300,000 people reported themselves as

both Black and Hispanic. Many American Indians from the Southwestern states

were strongly influenced by Spanish and Mexican culture. Los Angeles has been

the destination of many of these. Because 72 percent of Indians in the Los Angeles

metro reported themselves as also Hispanic, our metro is shown as third in total

Indian numbers but not even listed among the top five in Non-Hispanic Indian

numbers. Among Asians, the Hispanic identify is most often found among

Filipinos as a result of the Philippines having been a Spanish colony for over three

centuries becoming U.S. territory at the beginning of the twentieth century.

One distinctive feature of the Los Angeles metro is that both Whites and Blacks

represent much smaller percentages than are found in other very large metros. Less

than a third of the residents in the Los Angeles metro in 2010 were Whites,

although in 1960 Whites constituted 82 percent of the total population. This huge

reduction resulted primarily from the out-migration of Whites and the in-migration

of Mexicans. Los Angeles is not even among the five largest metros for Blacks,

ranking only eleventh in the country. The percentage of Blacks in the Los Angeles

metro is also much lower than in other large metros – only 7.1 percent.

See table below.

Arab Nationality New York, NY 168,915 0.9 Detroit, MI 117,404 2.7 Los Angeles, CA 91,364 0.7 Chicago, IL 67,819 0.7 Washington, DC 49,995 0.9

Five Largest Metropolitan Areas for Individual Ethnic Populations in 2010

Races and HispanicsPersons

Percent of Metro

TotalPersons Persons Persons Persons

Non-Hispanic White New York, NY 9,233,812 48.9 Chicago, IL 5,204,489 55.0 Los Angeles, CA 4,056,820 31.6 Philadelphia, PA 3,875,845 65.0 Boston, MA 3,408,585 74.9

New York, NY 3,044,096 16.1 Atlanta, GA 1,679,979 31.9 Chicago, IL 1,613,644 17.1 Washington, DC 1,409,473 25.2 Philadelphia, PA 1,204,303 20.2Non-Hispanic BlackPhoenix, AZ 76,662 1.8 Tulsa, OK 74,729 8.0 Gallup, NM Micro 52,402 73.3 Lumberton, NC Micro 50,866 37.9 Oklahoma City, OK 47,462 3.8

Non-Hispanic Asian New York, NY 1,860,840 9.8 Los Angeles, CA 1,858,148 14.5 San Francisco, CA 994,616 22.9 San Jose, CA 566,764 30.9 Chicago, IL 526,857 5.6

Hispanic Los Angeles, CA 5,700,862 44.4 New York, NY 4,327,560 22.9 Chicago, IL 1,957,080 20.7 Dallas TX 1,752,166 27.5 Philadelphia, PA 468,168 7.8

Black New York, NY 3,362,616 17.8 Atlanta, GA 1,707,913 32.4 Chicago, IL 1,645,993 17.4 Washington, DC 1,438,436 25.8 Philadelphia, PA 1,241,780 20.8

American Indian* Phoenix, AZ 99,278 2.4 New York, NY 92,632 0.5 Los Angeles, CA 90,960 0.7 Tulsa, OK 77,388 8.3 Gallup, NM Micro 53,988 75.5

Asian Los Angeles, CA 1,884,669 14.7 New York, NY 1,878,261 9.9 San Francisco, CA 1,005,823 23.2 San Jose, CA 571,967 31.1 Chicago, IL 532,801 5.6

Asian Indian New York, NY 526,133 2.8 Chicago, IL 171,901 1.8 Washington, DC 127,963 2.3 Los Angeles, CA 119,901 0.9 San Francisco, CA 119,854 2.8

Cambodian Los Angeles, CA 37,843 0.3 Boston, MA 21,976 0.5 Seattle, WA 16,172 0.5 Stockton, CA 11,119 1.6 Philadelphia, PA 11,087 0.2

New York, NY 626,213 3.3 Los Angeles, CA 416,042 3.2 San Francisco, CA 413,057 9.5 San Jose, CA 136,748 7.4 Boston, MA 106,528 2.3

Filipino Los Angeles, CA 393,170 3.1 San Francisco, CA 239,232 5.5 New York, NY 189,058 1.0 San Diego, CA 146,618 4.7 Honolulu, HI 142,238 14.9

Indonesian Los Angeles, CA 11,435 0.1 Riverside, CA 5,967 0.1 New York, NY 5,565 0.0 San Francisco, CA 3,668 0.1 Washington, DC 3,197 0.1

Japanese Honolulu, HI 149,701 15.7 Los Angeles, CA 134,563 1.0 New York, NY 44,391 0.2 San Francisco, CA 39,310 0.9 Seattle, WA 27,128 0.8

Korean Los Angeles, CA 304,198 2.4 New York, NY 208,190 1.1 Washington, DC 80,150 1.4 Chicago, IL 54,135 0.6 Seattle, WA 52,113 1.5

Pakistani New York, NY 78,244 0.4 Houston, TX 29,433 0.5 Chicago, IL 28,557 0.3 Washington, DC 28,206 0.5 Dallas TX 16,860 0.3

Taiwanese Los Angeles, CA 53,495 0.4 New York, NY 21,969 0.1 San Jose, CA 15,070 0.8 San Francisco, CA 14,198 0.3 Houston, TX 6,204 0.1

Thai Los Angeles, CA 29,029 0.2 New York, NY 10,004 0.1 Washington, DC 8,030 0.1 Chicago, IL 6,480 0.1 San Francisco, CA 6,297 0.1

Vietnamese Los Angeles, CA 271,234 2.1 San Jose, CA 125,774 6.8 Houston, TX 103,525 1.7 Dallas TX 71,839 1.1 Washington, DC 58,767 1.1

Mexican Los Angeles, CA 4,368,745 34.1 Riverside, CA 1,713,658 40.6 Houston, TX 1,579,983 26.6 Chicago, IL 1,546,171 16.3 Dallas TX 1,458,178 22.9

Puerto Rican New York, NY 1,177,430 6.2 Orlando, FL 269,781 12.6 Philadelphia, PA 238,866 4.0 Miami, FL 207,727 3.7 Chicago, IL 188,502 2.0

Cuban Miami, FL 982,758 17.7 New York, NY 135,391 0.7 Tampa, FL 81,542 2.9 Los Angeles, CA 49,702 0.4 Orlando, FL 36,724 1.7

Guatemalan Los Angeles, CA 231,304 1.8 New York, NY 101,257 0.5 Washington, DC 52,421 0.9 Miami, FL 47,699 0.9 Houston, TX 38,147 0.6

Honduran New York, NY 97,854 0.5 Miami, FL 74,357 1.3 Houston, TX 53,598 0.9 Los Angeles, CA 46,044 0.4 Washington, DC 37,665 0.7

Nicaraguan Miami, FL 118,768 2.1 Los Angeles, CA 40,607 0.3 San Francisco, CA 30,807 0.7 New York, NY 17,987 0.1 Washington, DC 14,187 0.3

Salvadoran Los Angeles, CA 381,519 3.0 Washington, DC 228,045 4.1 New York, NY 199,510 1.1 Houston, TX 140,928 2.4 San Francisco, CA 77,149 1.8

Colombian New York, NY 228,574 1.2 Miami, FL 204,198 3.7 Orlando, FL 37,703 1.8 Los Angeles, CA 33,104 0.3 Houston, TX 28,929 0.5

Peruvian New York, NY 133,798 0.7 Miami, FL 71,886 1.3 Los Angeles, CA 43,468 0.3 Washington, DC 42,069 0.8 San Francisco, CA 19,180 0.4

Ancestries

Armenian Los Angeles, CA 191,152 1.5 New York, NY 26,106 0.1 Boston, MA 19,218 0.4 Fresno, CA 9,823 1.1 Detroit, MI 9,427 0.2

English Los Angeles, CA 386,990 3.0 Dallas TX 365,411 5.7 New York, NY 345,978 1.8 Atlanta, GA 307,916 5.8 Boston, MA 307,185 6.7Iranian Los Angeles, CA 117,561 0.9 New York, NY 30,425 0.2 Washington, DC 26,048 0.5 San Francisco, CA 22,119 0.5 San Jose, CA 15,117 0.8

Russian New York, NY 404,334 2.1 Los Angeles, CA 139,639 1.1 Miami, FL 99,461 1.8 Chicago, IL 87,019 0.9 Philadelphia, PA 83,987 1.4

Nigerian New York, NY 38,925 0.2 Houston, TX 23,833 0.4 Washington, DC 20,748 0.4 Atlanta, GA 17,308 0.3 Dallas TX 13,228 0.2

Belizean Los Angeles, CA 13,834 0.1 New York, NY 7,263 0.0 Chicago, IL 3,540 0.0 Houston, TX 2,255 0.0 Riverside, CA 1,809 0.0

Jamaican New York, NY 312,893 1.7 Miami, FL 156,774 2.8 Atlanta, GA 48,059 0.9 Orlando, FL 26,444 1.2 Washington, DC 26,113 0.5

"A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population, and a micro area contains an urban core of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. Each metro or micro area consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core urban area, as well as any adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration (as measured by commuting to work) with the urban core." U.S. Census Bureau

For brevity the full name of each metro area has been reduced to that of its major component city. The Los Angeles metro includes Los Angeles and Orange counties.

* American Indian counts include Alaska Natives.

Percent of Metro

Total

Percent of Metro

Total

Percent of Metro

Total

Percent of Metro

Total

Non-Hispanic Amer. Indian*

Chinese (excl. Taiwanese)