Structure of a Neighborhood Within a City within a County
According to Census Reporter I live among 4 million people, and the immensity of that number never ceases to amaze me. So instead of focusing on the City of Los Angeles focused on the 90043 zip code. Within this zip code I am one of approximately 45 thousand people.
Looking at the data the thing I am most surprised about is the poverty level of the area. The percentage compared to what I see is quite low. So I really wanted to look into how poverty was defined.
When I dug into the numbers deeper I found that my areas poverty level is a portion of the total from Los Angeles County, which is a portion of the poverty level of California. The numbers made me think of Matryoshka dolls, where inside something big is something smaller but still significant.
After exploring the numbers I had to realize a number of things. Firstly, the poverty I see is not the poverty of when the polls were taken. Secondly, I have always presumed that having a home means that you do not experience poverty.
I had a realization that these numbers are not based upon people living on the streets, however, they are based upon people living in a house or an apartment that are struggling to get by.
The interesting thing about the poverty numbers is that it explains the income numbers or vice versa. With the median household income of the area being so low as well as the split between the next highest incomes poverty can appear to be a foregone thought. When the percentage of households that may make up the median are below the poverty line, there is a problem.
Living in the area you learn to speak a convenient dialect I feel. When I was in high school you choose between French class and Spanish class and a majority of my classmates chose Spanish. The data brings to light why an overwhelming amount of students would choose the language.
These classes were not just filled with African American students who are the majority of the school but also Hispanic/Latinx. These language skills were expected to assist students to communicate with others who obviously speak another language. As time has passed the need for knowledge of Spanish language skills has grown as more people have and continue to emigrate from all over, specifically from Latin America.
The breakdown of the 90043 zip code by ethnicity is really easy to see and to experience. Most blocks you’ll see a majority of homes inhabited by Black people with an occasional 2 to 3 Hispanic homes. In recently remodeled homes you’ll find representations of other ethnicities coming into the area. According to Mapping L.A. the area is considered “Moderately diverse,” which sounds about right.
