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very difficult question to answer, and perhaps too close to call. depends what the criteria are.
a) if we're trying to determine which region has a greater percentage of racial/ethnic minorities, then the answer is almost certainly LA. there are so many more neighborhoods and cities in LA where non-whites make up 50%, 80%, or more of the population. and i'm not just talking about the mexican areas; there are numerous cities in the LA metro where asians comprise over 50% of the population.
by contrast, in nyc only certain city neighborhoods (e.g. chinatown, flushing/murray hill, bayside, elmhurst, jackson heights, sunset park) and a few suburban towns (e.g. fort lee, palisades park, edison) are saturated with such a large plurality or majority of asians.
the LA area has a MUCH larger east asian, southeast asian, mexican, and central american presence than the nyc area. that alone, even with smaller numbers of other ethnic groups that are prevalent in nyc (such as caribbean latinos, west indians, and asian indians), means that LA's overall population is more non-white.
and i'm not just talking about decaying inner-city areas. there are so many suburban cities in the LA area that have a majority of non-whites, whereas in the nyc area, the typical suburb is still at least 70% non-hispanic white, if not more. in fact, the nyc area has quite a few suburban towns that are 90% or more non-hispanic white, while in LA, that isn't so common, even in some really affluent communities.
b) on the other hand, if it's about which region has a greater range/variety of ethnicities (even if some of those groups are not well-represented), then the answer is the nyc metro, although not by as much as some might think. the nyc area has a ton of folks from the caribbean, including latinos (puerto ricans, cubans, dominicians) and west indians (jamaicans, haitians, trinidadians, guyanese); none of these groups are well-represented in the greater LA area. nyc also has a lot more west africans (nigerians, senegalese, ghanaians) and south american latinos (e.g. peruvians, ecuadorans, argentineans, colombians, brazilians) - all groups that have a small presence in LA, but not nearly to the extent as nyc. and of course nyc has a much stronger and more visible presence of established ethnic white communities, including italians, irish, greeks, polish, etc.
of course, the nyc area doesn't necessarily have the largest numbers of every ethnic group out there, but most groups seem to have at least a moderate presence.
i should also mention that there are more than a few ethnic groups which have a huge presence in LA but only a small-to-moderate one in nyc. some of the most notable examples are persians, armenians, japanese, thais, vietnamese, cambodians, and ethiopians.
and then there are groups which have sizable communities in the nyc area that are dwarfed by their enormous counterparts in the LA area. examples include mexicans, guatemalans, salvadorans, koreans, chinese (especially taiwanese), filipinos, etc.
c) but if it's a matter of determining which metro area is more integrated, then my answer is LA. i alluded to this earlier, but the nyc metro has far more suburban municipalities that are overwhelmingly non-hispanic white. even for those who are not super affluent, it's easier to insulate oneself from minorities in the nyc suburbs or even certain neighborhoods within nyc proper, mainly in the outer boroughs.
Southern California.
Not saying that NYC is like the anti-paragon of Racial Diversity
But SoCal has more than few Chinatowns/Mexican-towns
an Armenian, Thai, Japanese, and Filipino Town
is home to the largest Korean, Cambodian, Filipino, Jews(I think) and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.
lots of Central Americans (IE: Guatemala, El Salvador)
It also has lots of Iranians, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi's, Africans (both Native and AA), Vietnamese.
NYC has a lot of Caribbean Latinos, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Japanese, Jews, and South Asians and is just diverse in general.
But I think SoCal takes the prize here.
I agree that it's too close to call. Both are extremely diverse, with large numbers of people from all different regions of the world. In any case, there's certainly no clear answer, and those who say it's "obviously" one area over another clearly haven't spent much time in both places.
I'd probably give the edge to southern CA, assuming we're comparing LA metro area to NYC metro area, as throwing San Diego into the mix muddies things up (and in that case we might as well throw in Philly while we're at it to balance things out). It's really close, though, and a good case can be made for either one.
El Diario La Prensa (circulation 265,000) is New York's largest Spanish-language daily and the oldest in the nation. The city's ethnic press is large and diverse. Major ethnic publications include the Brooklyn-Queens Catholic paper The Tablet and Jewish-American newspaper The Forward (פֿאָרװערטס; Forverts), published in Yiddish and English, and the African-American newspaper The New York Amsterdam News. The Epoch Times, an international newspaper published by the Falun Gong, has English and Chinese editions in New York. There are seven dailies published in Chinese and four in Spanish. Multiple daily papers are published in Greek, Polish, and Korean, and weekly newspapers serve dozens of different ethnic communities, with ten separate newspapers focusing on the African-American community alone.[11] Many nationally-distributed ethnic newspapers are based out of offices in Astoria, Chinatown or Brooklyn. Over 60 ethnic groups, writing in 42 languages, publish some 300 non-English language magazines and newspapers in New York City.Plus there are the two Hispanic language stations on UHF chnanels 41 and 47 which are the New York area affiliates of Univision and NBC owned Telemundo respectively. [12]
Quote:
To some observers, New York, with its large immigrant population, seems more of an international city than something specifically "American". But to others, the city's very openness to newcomers makes it the archetype of a "nation of immigrants". The term "melting pot" derives from the play The Melting Pot, by Israel Zangwill, who in 1908 adapted Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to a setting in the Lower East Side, where droves of immigrants from diverse European nations in the early 1900s learned to live together in tenements and row houses for the first time. In 2000, 36% of the city's population was foreign-born. Among American cities this proportion was higher only in Los Angeles and Miami.[19] While the immigrant communities in those cities are dominated by a few nationalities, in New York no single country or region of origin dominates. The seven largest countries of origin are the Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Russia, Italy, Poland and India.
The cultural diversity of New York can be seen in the range of official city holidays. With the growth of New York's South Asian community, Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, was recently added to the calendar.As in many major cities, immigrants to New York often congregate in ethnic enclaves where they can talk and shop and work with people from their country of origin. Throughout the five boroughs the city is home to many distinct communities of Indians, Irish, Italians, Chinese, Koreans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Caribbeans, Hasidic Jews, Latin Americas, Russians and many others. Many of the largest city-wide annual events are parades celebrating the heritage of New York’s ethnic communities. Attendance at the biggest ones by city and state politicians is politically obligatory. These include the St Patrick's Day Parade, probably the top Irish heritage parade in the Americas; the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which often draws up to 3 million spectators; the West Indian Labor Day Parade, among the largest parades in North America and the largest event in New York City; and the Chinese New Year Parade. New Yorkers of all stripes gather together for these spectacles. Other significant parades include the Gay Pride Parade, Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, all icons in the city’s counter-culture pantheon.
New York City has a larger Jewish population than any other city in the world, larger than even Jerusalem. Approximately one million New Yorkers, or about 13%, are Jewish.[20] As a result, New York City culture has borrowed certain elements of Jewish culture, such as bagels. The city is also home to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the headquarters of Orthodox Jewish movements, one of three American campuses of Hebrew Union College of Reform Judaism, Yeshiva University , and the home of the Anti-Defamation League. Temple Emanu-El, the largest Jewish house of worship in the world, became the first Reform congregation in America in 1845. It is also the home of such Jewish comedians, as Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld.
Are you excluding NYC and LA. Or just NYC? Or neither?
SoCa has a good share of Latinos, more so than the NY area, but the diversity of the Latino nationalities is a different story.
Asians are arguable close to equal in percentages when it comes to the two metros. (not sure) (The George Washington Bridge area in NJ I know for sure have large amounts of Asians)
Whites definitely take hold on the NY area.
Blacks also take hold for the NY area (especially Essex County, NJ)
I will preface this by saying that the OP's question says nothing about ethnic diversity. Therefore, when answering this question, I will respond strictly in terms of race: Caucasoid (aka "Caucasian"), Negroid (aka "black"), Mongoloid (aka "east Asian"). Native Americans are Mongoloid, so they will not be considered separately. Though mestizos (mixed Caucasoid and Native American) and mulattos (mixed Caucasoid and Negroid) are not separate races, I will discuss them because as mixed race groups, they do fit into the rubric of racial diversity. Another thing: in a discussion about race, it is inappropriate to talk about "Latinos" at face value, since "Latinos" can be of any race or racial combination. Southern California has mostly mestizo Latinos, and some white Latinos, while the NYC area (especially the City itself, the suburbs to a lesser extent) has large amounts of mestizo, mulatto, white, and black Latinos.
When it comes to racial diversity, NYC beats out Southern California by a slim margin, mainly due Sothern California's proportionately smaller black and mulatto population (see below).
In NYC, there are large numbers of:
-Europeans, Euro-Americans, Euro-Latins, Middle Easterners, Asian Indians (Caucasoid)
-East Asians (Mongoloid)
-African-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Africans (Negroid)
-Mestizo Mexicans, Central, and South Americans
-Mulatto Dominicans and Puerto Ricans
In Southern California, there are large numbers of:
-Euro-Americans, Euro-Latins, Middle Easterners, Persians, Asian Indians (Caucasoid)
-East and Southeast Asians (Mongoloid)
-African-Americans (Negroid) - BUT, proportionately a lot less representation than NYC
-Mestizo Mexicans and Central Americans
However, I realize that the question asks about the NYC metro area compared to Southern California. When taking into account the NYC metro area outside of NYC itself, Southern California takes the crown for racial diversity. Reasons why:
-Suburban NYC, in general, has proportionately less East and Southeast Asians (Mongoloid), and Mexicans and Central Americans (largely mestizo) than Southern California. On the other hand, suburban NYC has proportionately more African-Americans and immigrant blacks (Negroid) and Dominicans/Puerto Ricans (largely mulatto). Overall, however, when looking at racial demographics of both areas, it appears that Southern California's East/Southeast Asian population and mestizo Latin American population is proportionately greater than suburban NYC's African-American/Afro-Caribeean/African (Negroid) and Dominican/Puerto Rican (largely mulatto) population. Southern California, whether it be in LA, San Diego, or the suburbs, has a more uniform spread of the formerly-mentioned groups than metro NYC has of the latter-mentioned groups. Metro NYC outside of the City itself is still pretty heavily Caucasian, at least when compared to suburban areas of Southern California.
Asians are arguable close to equal in percentages when it comes to the two metros. (not sure) (The George Washington Bridge area in NJ I know for sure have large amounts of Asians)
Whites definitely take hold on the NY area.
the east asian and southeast asian presence in metro nyc isn't really comparable to the greater LA area. towns in southern california with as large a concentration of asians as fort lee or palisades park (if not larger) are a dime a dozen in many parts of LA and orange counties.
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