Using the Census 2000 data, the authors map and analyze in detail the residential distributions of Whites, Blacks, Latinos, American Indians, and Asians as of 2000 and changes that occurred during the 1990s in the five counties of the greater Los Angeles area. In addition, there is coverage by maps and text for Central Americans, five specific Asian nationality groups, homeownership rates, and people who reported two or more identities in Census 2000.

Colorful maps in this 11 by 15 inch, 64-page book cover all of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, virtually all of Ventura County, and the western portions of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Many maps show group distributions by census tract as of 2000 and other maps identify the locations of each ethnic group's gains and losses during the 1990s. A dramatic population dot map shows total population distribution against a darkly shaded terrain. There are also summary maps of predominant ethnic groups and of ethnic diversity in different
neighborhoods.

Various tables provide figures on the ethnic populations and colorful photographs provide a
flavor of some of the ethnic neighborhoods.

• During the 1990s Whites, Blacks, Central Americans, and Filipinos became more mixed residentially with other groups while Latinos and larger Asian groups tended to cluster increasingly together with members of their own group. These differences relate to cultural and economic assimilation and the proportions of recent immigrants within the different groups.

• Blacks continued to leave their concentrated settlements (former ghettoes) and disperse widely in suburbs like the San Fernando Valley, southeastern Los Angeles County, and the Inland Empire. 

• Latino populations declined where Asians arrived in large numbers - Monterey Park, Cerritos, and the East San Gabriel Valley.
  

• Groups tend to be more mixed residentially in areas of moderately priced housing in newer suburbs, such as in the Antelope Valley and in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

• In contemporary Southern California, ethnic group clustering in enclaves is more voluntary rather than coercive. Ethnic enclaves reflect, apart from financial limitations of some groups and families, the residential preferences of people rather than restrictions imposed by a racist society. The growth of Asian enclaves in more affluent suburbs is a major trend of the 1990s. While racism and discrimination have not disappeared, they have diminished substantially since the 1960s. For this reason, in this book the term separation is more appropriate than segregation to describe ethnic differences in residential locations.