24 Facts You Should Know About Highland Park

The Department of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs recently published a report for the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council about the various sociodemographic and economic characteristics of the neighborhood. The report took the latest U.S. Census data and tweaked it to highlight aspects within the 90042 zip code, which were then compared with similar data for the City of Los Angeles as a whole.

The idea behind the report is largely to “understand the most pressing policy issues and programmatic needs facing the neighborhood,” according to the report’s introduction.

Below are some of the report’s most striking elements. The full report can be viewed here.

1. More than 70 percent of the population in Highland Park identifies as Hispanic or Latino, and 40 percent of the population is born outside the United States.

2. The number of non-Hispanic Whites has decreased by 22 percent from 1980 to 2010. The largest decrease between decades occurred from 1980 to 1990, when the proportion of Non-Hispanic Whites dropped from 36 percent to 20 percent. 

3. The portion of Hispanic/Latinos has gradually increased in the neighborhood since 1980, from 52 percent to 72 percent. The proportion of Asians in the neighborhood has more or less stayed constant, making up about 10 percent of the population.

4. A third of Highland Park’s population speaks English “less than very well,” potentially raising accessibility barriers for the neighborhood. This is slightly larger compared to the City of Los Angeles, where residents report a limited English proficiency rate of 30 percent. The rate of English proficiency has significant policy implications.

5. Highland Park is a fairly young neighborhood, with a median age of 35 years. It has a high percentage of married couple families (45 percent), and about half of the households in the neighborhood consist of four or more people.

6. Nearly a third of Highland Park’s residents have a high school degree or less, which can create challenges surrounding the type of low-skill employment attainable with that educational level.

7. About two-thirds of Highland Park’s working population participates in the labor force, while 11 percent of the neighborhood’s labor force is unemployed.

8.  The median annual earnings for Highland Park residents is about $35,000, lower than the median earnings for a full-time full year worker in the city of Los Angeles, which is about $38,000.

9. The median annual household income in Highland Park is about $51,000—slightly higher than that of the City of Los Angeles as a whole, which is about $50,000.

10. About 14 percent of the families in Highland Park earned incomes below the poverty level in 2012, and one in 10 households rely on cash public assistance or Food Stamps/SNAP.

11. About 45 percent of homes in Highland Park are worth between $300,000 and $500,000, with the median home value being $454,156. In the City of Los Angeles, nearly 40 percent of owned housing units are worth between $500,000 to $1,000,000, with the median home value being $513,600. 

12. More than 60 percent of Highland Park’s housing is rented, compared to about 40 percent of housing that is owned. Among family households, 53 percent of married couples rent their homes, compared to 47 percent who own their homes. Among non-family households, 65 percent of households rent their homes, whereas 35 percent who are homeowners.

13. The median gross monthly rent in Highland Park is $1,042, slightly less than that for the City of Los Angeles, where it is $1,127.

14. In Highland Park, 40 percent of residents have two cars. A large majority of residents drive alone to work, not least because of the 20,468 age-eligible workers who live in Highland Park, 96 percent work outside the neighborhood.

15. However, about 30 percent of residents either carpool, take public transit, bike or walk to work.

16. Only 11 percent of households are car-free, slightly higher than the City of Los Angeles, where the figure is just under 8 percent.

17. Over the past decade, the number of jobs in Highland Park has increased 60 percent. In 2002, Highland Park was home to about 3,600 jobs, whereas by 2011, that number rose by about 5,800 jobs to 60 percent. This is a high level of job growth compared to the City of Los Angeles, which experienced only a 13 percent growth in the total number of jobs during the same time period.

18. Most jobs in Highland Park are concentrated along the York and Figueroa commercial corridors.

19. A little more than 25 percent of workers in Highland Park have a Bachelor’s degree or above.

20. The percentage of Highland Park jobholders 55 years and older increased over the past 10 years, whereas the percentage of jobholders 29 years and younger has decreased.

21. Almost 60 percent of jobholders in Highland Park are female, compared to only about 50 percent of jobholders in the City of Los Angeles who are female 

22. Since 2002, Highland Park has experienced minor changes in the major employment industries within the HHPNC boundaries: In 2002, the highest number of jobs in Highland Park came from the educational services, health care and social service sectors. By 2011, the largest number of jobs remained in those sectors, with educational services accounting for the next highest number of jobs.

23. The majority of workers employed within Highland Park commute from surrounding cities such as Pasadena, the City of Los Angeles and Burbank.

24. Almost 70 percent of Highland Park residents work in the private sector—a slightly larger share compared to the City of Los Angeles, where residents report a limited English proficiency rate of 30 percent. The rate of English proficiency has significant policy implications.

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The authors of the UCLA report offered the following preliminary recommendations:

Socioeconomic Status:

• "Given Highland Park’s high percentage of residents with low levels of higher education, we recommend the neighborhood focus on college preparation programs to boost educational attainment levels within the neighborhood."

• "Focus on education through after-school youth development programs that will also aid in Highland Park’s gang prevention efforts. These programs could provide positive alternatives for youth in the community that would simultaneously help with future education and employment opportunities."

• "Connect Highland Park’s significant job growth over the past ten years to the local residents through job training and employment programs. Local businesses could create vocational training programs that would develop real-world marketable skills for residents, while strengthening the Highland Park’s local economy. This could potentially address challenges faced by a high percentage of unemployed residents and the declining number of workers 29 and younger in Highland Park, creating pathways to future employment."

Housing and Transportation:

• "Focus on attracting quality affordable housing development in Highland Park through advocacy and support for such projects both at the Neighborhood Council and City level. More affordable housing options throughout the neighborhood could aid in relieving a portion of the housing burden experienced by a significant number of Highland Park residents."

• "Maintain and strengthen connectivity between local Metro/DASH buses and the Gold Line station to further encourage public transit ridership in Highland Park. Given the Gold Line’s connectivity to the regional rail network, it is a major asset for the community that should be capitalized upon." 

• "Continue to enhance security efforts around the Gold Line Highland Park station, so residents feel safe and comfortable when riding public transit, which will help promote ridership."