The Racial Resegregation of Los Angeles County, 1940-2000

Chart 4b: WHITE SETTLERS
Probability that Whites w ill have Black, Hispanic, or Asian Neighbors
in Los Angeles County, 1940-2000
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Whites w ith Hispanics 0.02 0.04 0.07 0.14 0.18 0.22 0.25
Whites w ith Asians 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.07 0.1 0.14
Whites w ith Blacks 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.05
Whites w ith Hispanics
Whites w ith Asians
Whites w ith Blacks
Chart 4b, “Probability that Whites will have Black, Hispanic, or Asian Neighbors
in Los Angeles County, 1940-2000,” looks at the White residential experience from the other direction as that
shown in 4a. The Exposure Index is “asymmetric,” which means that we can see the segregation relation from
two different perspectives for each pair of racial groups. Since the groups are all very different in size and
location, these figures are not simple the inverse, but reveal the less obvious conditions of segregation that are
a function of location. Thus, for example, looking back at Chart 4a, we see that Blacks had a 45% chance of
having White neighbors in 1940, but here in Chart 4b we see that Whites in that same year had only a 1%
chance of having a Black neighbor. This asymmetry can easily be explained by the fact that Blacks were
vastly outnumbered in 1940, and because most Black neighborhoods had significant White populations as well
(which is no longer the case: Whites have almost completely removed themselves from Black neighborhoods).
The hard fact is that this severe level of segregation has not changed significantly in 60 years of struggles
against the White-Black divide. White families in Los Angeles County in 2000 still had only a 5% chance of
sharing their neighborhood with African American families.
Whites are significantly more likely to have Hispanic neighbors, 25% in 2000 compared with 14% in 1970.
But again, this figure is easy to explain by rapid increase in the Hispanic population and the steady decrease of
the White population. The Hispanic population has grown around many clusters of settlement in the County,
and so the “edges” between Hispanic and White areas have grown in length, making increasing “exposure”
more likely. To put this figure in perspective, we must again refer back to Chart 4a: Hispanics are less likely
to have Whites as neighbors (18%), and this figure has been steadily declining.
Whites are only in the year 2000 significantly likely to have Asian neighbors (14%), but again, Chart 4a
shows that as Asians grow in population size, they are less likely to have White neighbors (down to 23% in
2000 from 49% in 1980).
Race Contours 2000 –Resegregation of Los Angeles County, 1940-2000 14