Report: Newport is least multiracial

Marisa O’Neil

One of the state’s priciest cities also has the lowest percentage of

residents who identify themselves as multiracial, according to a

report released Friday.

“California’s Multiracial Population,” a study by the Public

Policy Institute of California, listed Newport Beach as its “least

multiracial” city, with 1.7% of its population checking more than one

box to describe their ethnicity on the 2000 census. That year was the

first in which respondents were allowed to select more than one race,

including “some other race,” on the census.

Multiracial Californians are more likely to live below the poverty

line than are single-race residents, according to the study.

Statistically speaking, that would limit their ability to live in

places with expensive real estate, said Hans Johnson, co-author of

the report.

“Newport Beach is an expensive place to live,” Johnson said.

“Because it is the case that whites have higher incomes than other

groups, that’s a reflection of the cost of living in Newport Beach.”

The state’s multiracial population has an average age of 24,

versus 34 for its single-race residents. That’s a reflection of the

increasing acceptance of intermarriage, shown by more mixed-race

children in recent years, Johnson said.

Johnson also co-wrote a 2002 report that showed Newport Beach as

the least-diverse city in California, with a 90% white population.

Average median home prices in June hovered around the $1.5 million

mark. Median household income in the city was $83,455 in 1999,

according to the 2000 census.

Because Newport Beach has so few minority residents, it stands to

reason that few people in the city would intermarry and produce

offspring, said Scott Bollens, a professor of urban planning at UC

Irvine.

“Throughout the years, [residents] would have less interaction --

at libraries, at community events, wherever -- that could lead to the

development of households,” he said.

In 2000 census data, 1,220 residents out of 70,032 identified

themselves as being more than one race. Those included -- from

highest percentage of occurrences to lowest -- white, Asian, some

other race, black, American Indian and Pacific Islander.

Glendale, at 10.1%, was the “most multiracial,” according to the

report. The city has a large Armenian population that checked “some

other race” and wrote in “Armenian” on the census form, Johnson said.

Statewide, 5% of Californians identified themselves as multiracial

on the 2000 census, according to the report. That was more than

double any other state.