SACRAMENTO - One of the most Multicultural/Diverse cities in the Nation? (Los Angeles: transplants)

[Tiger Beer]

I read this reference about 4 times in the 'what's sac like for an A-A thread'.

Where is this reference coming from? I've never heard that before? I would think of New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, etc. But I wouldn't think of Sacramento as in the same league.

Has it just changed significantly recently, or are the newspapers just touting the recent changes and making it sound more than it actually is? What's the story here?

[Luke9686]

I doubt it. Just using City-Data stats alone says otherwise. Diverse is when you have lots of people from everywhere. Some people say diverse is when there are less white people, but that's not really diverse. If there are 90% asians, and 10% whites that's only two categories of peoples. Not saying Sac is that, but that's an example.

[wburg]

Here's the link to the story in Time Magazine--"Welcome to America's Most Diverse City"

Welcome to America's Most Diverse City - TIME

They cite a Harvard study, but I haven't been able to find it.

Here's the demographics from Wikipedia:

The racial makeup of the city is 48.29% White, 15.47% African American, 1.30% Native American, 16.62% Asian, 0.95% Pacific Islander, 10.96% from other races, and 6.41% from two or more races. 21.61% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Sacramento has always been a diverse place. As with any part of the United States that used to be Mexico, we have always had a significant Latino population. The Gold Rush drew people from all over the world, including African Americans, Chinese and people from every place else around the globe. We had significant Japanese and Chinese neighborhoods downtown, just two of many ethnic neighborhoods. Most of Sacramento's postwar growth was in its suburbs, and the population of those suburbs was disproportionately white (due to racial exclusion laws), which is kind of where Sacramento got its "white bread" reputation. Happily, we never actually lived up to that reputation.

[Sacramentan]

And I assume that the "White" category includes the many Eastern European immigrants and those from the former USSR. There is a significant Russian and Ukranian population here, in 2001 they accounted for about 4% of the total population and doubtless it's higher now.

[wburg]

Sacramentan: That "White" category also includes most of the Hispanic/Latino population (at least according to the way HUD gathers information) as well as those from the Middle East.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by wburg

Here's the link to the story in Time Magazine--"Welcome to America's Most Diverse City"

Welcome to America's Most Diverse City - TIME

Good article.

I use to live in San Francisco for a year (2002), and people just couldnt afford living in the Bay Area anymore. I remember a lot of people opted for Sacramento just so they could be near SF even if they couldn't afford it anymore.

I can't help but most of what is making Sacramento what it is now, is from what happened to S.F.

[wburg]

I'd beg to differ on that point. This was already a pretty great city before the dot-com crash and Bay Area transplants started arriving, people just hadn't noticed it.