Part 2 ...... Urban Studies

Koreatown Demographics

Topics	Korea Town (9004)	City of Los Angeles	U.S.
Total Population	202,318	3,976,372	322,179,605
Median Age	34.21	35.0	37.8
%male/%female	49.4/50.6	49.5/50.5	49.2/50.8
Population density	42,611/square mile	7,544.6/ square mile	93/square mile
Average Household Total Expenditure	$43,296	$81,225	$81,225
Mean Family Income	$50,413	$82,042	$72,641

The Koreatown in Los Angeles is the biggest Koreatown in America. With a population density of 42,666/square mile, Koreatown has the highest population density in Los Angeles. Also, this population density by far outnumbers the US national population density. This high population density implies that the community is overcrowded. The geographical definition of Koreatown is not always solid but generally assumed that it covers the areas within Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Vermont Avenue, and the 3rd Street. The continuous inflows of wealthy people have resulted in the expansion of Koreatown both in the population size and private investment. However, the rate of immigration has been declining in the recent times. Although Koreatown and its surrounding areas have significant population of the people from the Asian descent, the Hispanic community make up the highest percentage of people living in the area. Also, other races including the whites, the African Americans, and mixed races are present in Koreatown. Although ethnically minority, Koreans make up the largest single community from one nation. Latinos, who mainly originated from El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and other Latin American countries constitutes the largest group of people. A side-by-side comparison of the racial as well as the ethnic distribution of both Koreatown and Los Angeles County indicates that there is a relatively high number of Latinos and Koreans in Koreatown.

The level of poverty is widespread in Koreatown as compared to Los Angeles and the national poverty figures. Almost half of the population in community live below the Federal Poverty Line. Also, the cost of living is relatively higher in Los Angeles making difficult for the poor to live a decent lifestyle in Koreatown. However, the effects of poverty are being fell slightly in the current times than it was in the 2000s although Latinos are still affected by poverty. The median household income in Koreatown is $50413 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). This value is below the average household income for Los Angeles as well as the national average income level across the US. it can therefore be concluded that the low level of average household incomes in Koreatown significantly contributes to the area’s high poverty levels. Although it has been increasing in the recent times, the level of incomes among the Latino people living in Koreatown is low as compared to other ethnic communities. The past decade saw the Koreans and other non-Latino ethnic groups experience an increase in their median household incomes. Despite the Koreans and non-Latino groups making some gains in their median household incomes, their median incomes were slightly above the federal poverty lines depending on the sizes of different households. Despite having a small average household income of $50,413, Koreatown has a significantly higher amount of household total expenditures of $43,296 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). This implies that most households have a significantly less amount of incomes left for savings and investments. As a result, most households are trapped within the federal poverty line for years.

In conclusion, Koreatown faces various socioeconomic problems such poverty due to its higher population density, low amount of average household incomes, significantly higher amounts of average household expenditures, and the disparities in the incomes of different minority groups. The Latino minority groups are the worst affected since a sizable proportion of the Latino community lives within the federal poverty. Also, the community has lower household incomes.

References

U.S. Census Bureau (2010). American Fact Finder homepage. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml