Loma Linda Ranks Among Most Racially Balanced In SoCal

With a diverse, multi-ethnic population, the city of Loma Linda is ranked as one of the most multi-racial cities in Southern California, according to a University of Southern California study released this week.

Statistics showed that, for the first time in recent decades, San Bernardino County had three cities – Loma Linda, Highland and Rancho Cucamonga – with significant populations of all four racial groups used in the study. The groups were whites, African-Americans, Latinos and Asians/Pacific Islanders.

Statistics were compared from 2000 to 2010.

According to the 2010 census, Loma Linda’s ethnic makeup was as follows: White 38.19 percent, African-American 8.79 percent, Asian 30.59 percent and Hispanic 22.23 percent.

Loma Linda, Redlands and Grand Terrace all saw an increase in African-American residents in the past decade, while Grand Terrace experienced a decline in the number of white residents in the same span, the study showed.

Riverside County overtook San Bernardino County as having the highest percentage of multi-racial cities. Twenty-one of the 26 cities in Riverside County were defined as multiracial in 2010, according to the study.

Overall, Southern California cities are on average more racially balanced than they were 20 years ago, though some cities are starting to become less multiracial than they used to be.

The total percentage of multiracial cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties grew to 61.5 percent in 2010, up from 51.2 percent in 1990.

The study by USC's PopDynamics Research Group in the Sol Price School of Public Policy defines a city as multiracial if its two largest race groups make up at least 20 percent of the population, if three different races make up at least 15 percent of the city, or where the fourth largest race group represents at least 8 percent of the population and the largest race group is no more than 55 percent. The latter is considered the most diverse type of city.

The report, "Racially Balanced Cities in Southern California, 1999 to 2010," used census data from 1990, 2000 and 2010.

"Los Angeles is leading the nation once again in this multiracial experience,'" said Dowell Myers, a USC professor of urban planning and demography and the study's lead author. "Right now, we're at a sweet spot for racial balance in Southern California. Decline in the white population and growth among Latinos or Asians only increases racial balance up to a point. Some cities have already started to lose their balance.''

In the study, Loma Linda is considered one of the Four-­Way Cities. These are the most racially balanced with significant populations of all four groups

Four-way cities as follows:  the fourth largest group is at least 8% of the

population with the largest group comprising no more than 55% of the population; the second-­

and third-­largest groups exceed 8% of the population but have no other limits. The only

four-­way cities in the five-­county region are in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

The three cities with 4-­way balance, Highland, Loma Linda and Rancho Cucamonga, all increased their multiracial balance from 2000. In 2000, Highland and Rancho Cucamonga were 2-­way cities but both gained Asian and Pacific Islander residents to become 4-­way cities.

Loma Linda’s share of black residents grew in 2010, elevating its balance.

The 3-­way cities in San Bernardino are also new to this category. Two cities – Adelanto and Victorville – both gained black residents compared to 2000, and have significant population groups among Latinos, whites, and blacks.

Six of the 11 cities with two-way balance maintained their status from 2000. The five new cities with two-way balance are Apple Valley, Big Bear Lake, Needles, Twentynine Palms, and Yucaipa.These cities are predominantly white but Latinos make up at least 20% of the population in each city.

Six cities with former multiracial balance lost their two-way balance, and now only have large Latino populations with no other group making up at least 20% of the population. Latinos comprise from a low of 60.0% (San Bernardino) to a high of 71.0% (Colton) in these cities.