Newport has fewest minorities in the state

June Casagrande

While many Orange County and Southern California cities have seen

large increases in minority residents, Newport Beach’s population

continues to be about 90% white, making it the least diverse city in

the state with a majority white population, according to a report by

the Public Policy Institute of California.

“It’s not surprising that Newport Beach has as high a percentage

of white residents as it does, given the relatively high housing

costs,” said Hans P. Johnson, a researcher for the institute and

co-author of the report, based on 2000 census figures. “That kind of

housing is only going to be available to a small subset of the

population.”

Johnson explained that white and Asian people usually occupy the

state’s most expensive areas, while Latinos and blacks are more

likely to live in areas with lower housing costs.

At the 2000 census, Newport Beach had a population of 70,032. That

included 64,342 whites, 3,301 Latinos and 354 black residents.

City Manager Homer Bludau said that the city’s diversity has

improved with the recent annexation of Newport Coast, which has a

relatively large Asian American population. The census was done prior

to Newport Coast’s annexation to the city. But because census

boundaries in the area are not perfectly consistent with city

boundaries, it’s possible that a portion of Costa Mesa’s population

is factored into Newport Beach data, Johnson explained. This could

mean that Newport Beach’s white population is actually a little

higher than 90%. It’s also possible that some Newport Coast residents

were factored into the 2000 census data. Data specific to Newport

Coast was not available.

Either way, he said, the city is definitely more diverse than it

was 10 years before, according to the institute, which rates cities’

diversity by assigning them numbers that increase with the level of

diversity. Newport’s current “diversity index” ranking by the

institute is 33, a marked increase over its 1990 ranking of just 28.

By comparison, Costa Mesa earned a diversity rating of 55, a

substantial increase from its 1990 ranking of 44. Of Costa Mesa’s

108,724 residents at the 2000 census, 61,778 were white or 57%,

34,523 were Latino at 32% and 1,313 were black or 1%.

Newport Beach is followed by Redding, with an 86% to 88% white

population and Encinitas with 79% to 81% white

The report, “Who’s Your Neighbor? Residential Segregation and

Diversity in California,” was released last month.