Unconventional Race/Ethnicity Map for LA County

The map above is a fairly unconventional depiction regarding race and ethnicity in Los Angeles County. Demographically, race and ethnicity are hard to map because the way that people identify themselves may be different than how the data are formally collected...read more about the methodology below.

 In the 2000 and 2010 census the race/ethnicity questions were asked in the following manner and order:

- Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?

- What is Person 1's race?

For people in Los Angeles, 50% of those who said they were of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin marked themselves as white in the following race question. The other half of people marked themselves as 'some other race' and then self-identified which race. 

To prepare the map above, the American Community Survey 2005-2009 estimate data was used. The race categories are first separated by Hispanic origin. Therefore, the White, Black and Asian are all in non-Hispanic (NH) categories. These are then compared to anyone in a race category who first identified themselves as of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. 

After calculating percentages of each category in each census tract, an index was calculated.The index labeled each census tract with the category (NH white, NH black, NH asian, and Hispanic) that had the highest percentage in that census tract. 

I do not think this pattern is terribly surprising to anyone. However, it was an interesting graphic to put together and from one map geek to another, enjoy. 

If you would like a PDF copy of the graphic, click here. If you are going to use this for anything or have any questions, please leave a comment. Thanks!