Our Melting Pot: A California Perspective on the Generational Divide Over Immigration

California, it turns out, is diverse even within its diversity, at least judging by newly available immigration data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. In Shasta, Mendocino, Tuolumne, and many other counties, the percent of residents who are foreign born is a tiny fraction of the overall population, adults or kids. But in other counties – Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara – nearly half (or more) of residents in some age groups are foreign born.

Another interesting demographic difference is the generational divide evident in a graphic from the New York Times. California is home to six of the 11 metropolitan areas nationwide that have the largest gap between the percentage of children who are white and of residents over 65 who are white:  Riverside-Ontario-San Bernardino, Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, Stockton, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos.

These data are compelling, given survey results that show a generational difference on opinions regarding immigration. A recent New York Times article offers insights as to why younger and older generations differ about their feelings on immigration. The article notes that baby boomers and older Americans “came of age in one of the most homogeneous moments in the country’s history.” In 1970, for example, less than 5 percent of the country was foreign born. By contrast, 13 to 15 percent of the U.S. was foreign born from 1860 through 1920. That percentage – roughly three times the figure in 1970 – is actually quite similar to breakdowns today.

Tags: Data Projects

Posted by Andy Krackov

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 12:23 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.