Downtowns nationwide have experienced a resurgence in the last 10 years, thanks in part to hipsters moving in. The Wall Street Journal even argued recently that oldsters — namely baby boomers — were a key part of the central city wave.

And now a new report from the International Downtown Association says not only are folks moving to our urban cores, they're working there, too. Downtown Los Angeles is a prime example:

According to the report, “Downtown Rebirth: Documenting the Live-Work Dynamic in 21st Century U.S. Cities,” Los Angeles' center has a high percentage of people who both live and work downtown:

As many as one in five DTLA residents also work in greater downtown, the report says. This summary spells it out:

… 21,135 residents live in commercial Downtown Los Angeles, 97,214 residents live there and within a half-mile adjacent area, and 174,975 residents live within the downtown and broader one-mile adjacent area. Additionally, 19.3% of the workforce living in commercial Downtown also works in the area, compared to 19.3% who live within downtown and the adjacent half-mile area and 19.4% who live and work in the commercial Downtown and within the adjacent one-mile area.

Credit: cyan79 / LA Weekly Flickr pool

Credit: cyan79 / LA Weekly Flickr pool

That wasn't among the very highest ratio of live-work residents in an American downtown. New York, which is practically all downtown, so to speak, had a nearly 50 percent rate for Midtown Manhattan alone.

But it was a good showing. And there's this:

L.A. came in second place for the number of jobs in its downtown and other urban employment “nodes” (including Westwood, Hollywood, and Koreatown): 1,679,859. Only New York beat us.

The folks at the International Downtown Association say there's been an 8.7 percent population increase in greater DTLA from 2000 to 2010.

And they say there has been a whopping 45.9 percent increase in the number of jobs downtown from 2002 to 2011.

Who says Los Angeles isn't a real city with a thriving urban core?

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