Demography of California

The demography of California is characterized by the big part of Hispanic immigration as by the attraction which the area exerts, within the framework of the Sun Belt. California is the state more populated the United States. Its population concentrates in the agglomerations of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Demographic history

The demographic history of California is marked by immigration. At the 19th century, the discovery of gold starts a rush towards the west. Chinese immigrants also arrive by the Pacific Ocean.

In the Years 1920, more than one million people settle in California: this flow comes primarily from Midwest and they are thus domestic currents, which come to enlarge the urban population of the littoral. During the crisis of the years 1930, the Okies which flee the consequences of the Dust Bowl, remake their life in the Golden State . After the Second world war, the area sees flowing of reprocessed in search of sun and the young people attracted by the " dream californien". Lastly, as from the years 1980, the immigrants are foreigners, mainly Mexico, and sometimes clandestine. On a million legal immigrants in the United States in 2002,30% are in California.

Statistical indicators

Since the Years 1960, California is the State more populated of the United States, with more than 35 million inhabitants, that is to say 12% of the American population. The political capital of California, Sacramento (407 018 inhabitants; 1,8 million inhabitants in the agglomeration), is in the central valley, but the most populated cities are located close to the coast, where the temperature is more moderate.

Ethnic composition

California is the third state of the United States (after Hawaii and the New Mexico) where the nonHispanic white represent less than 50% of the population. Because of its demographic importance, the Hispanic community plays a big role in the presidential elections: it lays out of the greatest number of Great Electors (55, out of 270 necessary to be elected). In spite of this situation, the role of California to the presidential elections is seldom decisive.

Composition of the population according to the office of census.

Urban population

California counts many agglomerations, of which most important are those of the Grand Los Angeles and the Baie of San Francisco. The Urbanisation was spectacular as from the 19th century. Many cities pushed like mushrooms and the urbanization was often brutal. The recent immigrants were established in districts with ethnic base which survived or in dilapidated sectors. The cities continue today to extend, by Mitage on the hills which surround them or towards the desert margins. The urban growth poses problems of pollution, managements of waste and water provision. The urban spreading out is spectacular in the agglomeration of Los Angeles. A Mégalopole is in the course of formation in the west of the state: it is called SanSan, because this urban area extends from San Francisco in north, in San Diego in the south. Nearly a third the Californian ones reside in the agglomeration of Los Angeles and that of San Francisco gathers seven million people. The role of these two urban poles is determining in the organization of Californian space. The power and the administrative duty of the cities are represented by the Central Business District S : there are some apart from the mégapoles, for example with Oakland. The agglomeration of Los Angeles is characterized even by several centers of the businesses dispersed. The Skyscraper and architecture generally, were always innovators: that one thinks of the form of the Transamerica Pyramid or the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The principal agglomerations are located on an estuary or a bay or even on a river (Sacramento, Stockton). Inside the grounds, the central valley is presented as a chain of medium-sized cities which are as many highway nodes and of centers of redistribution of the productions Agroalimentaire S. Some cities settled in the desert: Palmdale, Palm Springs, Barstow, Victorville, etc These cities of the Vallée of Coachella are harbors where the pensioners come to seek the sun, far from the tumult of Los Angeles.

See too

Random links: