Many people, including residents of Orange County, believe the County to be white, conservative, and well off. Any one who doesn't fit the mold is generally ignored by the mainstream press or villainized as causing the "downfall" of the County. Like all parts of America, Orange County had the space to grow, the jobs to accommodate new people, and attracted many with these opportunities.
In the last 60 years, Orange County has gone from groves of orange trees with population 130,760 in 1940 to over 2.8 million in 2000. (Currently, Fullerton has about 133,000 people living in their city.) During the same period, the nearly all-white face of the County in the 1950's shifted to about 50% white by 2000. The "whiteness" is not uniformly spread thru the area but is concentrated in Seal Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Coto de Caza and Tustin Foothills. The center of the County - Buena Park,Cypress, Fullerton, Orange, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Irvine, Anaheim, La Habra, Stanton, Westminster, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana - have much greater diversity in their residents.
Accompanying this demographic shift is an economic shift - more families living in or near poverty. In 1970, only 6% of Orange County families lived in poverty compared to 20% nationwide. By 2000, 10% of Orange County families were in poverty, but only 14% of US families overall. While the poverty trend was going down across the nation, it was going up in Orange County. Using another measure of poverty recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, almost 1 in 4 (24.9%) of County residents were economically disadvantaged in 2008.
The least well off areas are in the center of the County - Santa Ana, Stanton, Westminster, Garden Grove, Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, and Orange. Several cities - Aliso Viejo, Tustin Foothills, Yorba Linda, Rancho Santa Margarita, Rossmoor, Portola Hills, Villa Park, and Coto de Caza - have less than 3.5% of their populations living below the poverty line.
Orange County has split and many people don't realize it yet. There are areas in the center and north County which need economic stimulus and workforce development efforts to increase the standard of living in these areas. At the same time, quality affordable housing needs to be built in these same areas to improve the living conditions many families face. In south County and a few areas in north County, residents who can afford to live in higher end communities where there is a significant economic barrier to entry.
For more on how Orange County demographics are shifting, see The Orange Crush: The Squeezing of Orange County's Middle Class by John R. Hipp.
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