Dennis RomeroOf course Los Angeles is diverse.
The problem is it's so diverse it's not diverse. Let us explain: What was once a symbol of diversity, lots of people of color existing in any given U.S. city, is now often a symbol of racial or ethnic dominance. Nearly half of the county's residents are Latino, and whites make up only slightly more than a quarter of the population.
When one ethnicity dominates the demographics, as Latinos do here, that's not really diversity, technically speaking.
So we were a little surprised to see that personal finance site WalletHub just ranked L.A. seventh when it comes to “2016’s Most Diverse Cities in America.”
But WalletHub's ranking is also based on social class diversity, economic diversity and household diversity. The site used U.S. Census data to come to its conclusions.
Diversity is good, the site says. “Diversification is nothing to be feared,” it says. “In fact, economic growth follows it.”
L.A. ranked 70th for social class diversity, 23rd for “ethno-racial” diversity, 27th for economic diversity and 47th for household diversity, the site found.
We ranked seventh for language diversity. Sadly, we came in 134th place for income diversity, a spokeswoman for WalletHub said.
That figures: L.A. is a place with $27,897 median individual income — nearly poverty wages for a family of four — and a $575,000 median home price. The first figure will barely get you a shared apartment.
L.A. came in 12th overall when cities of all sizes were ranked according to their diversity.
Still, no other place in America has anything like Koreatown, the Westside's Tehrangeles or the Chinese-American enclaves of the San Gabriel Valley.
Screw it: We're No. 1.
Credit: WalletHub
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