In-depth analysis of California’s Immigrant Enclaves (Latin American/Latino Enclaves)

Mexico

There are 3.8 million Mexican immigrants and 12.7 million people of Mexican ancestry in California. Mexicans are a massive group in California and are practically everywhere. However, by city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Mexican immigrants in California are in Historic South Central, Boyle Heights/East LA, and the North Eastern San Fernando Valley in LA. Other parts of Southern California with a high concentration of Mexican immigrants include Long Beach, Southgate in the Gateway Cities, Riverside, Fontana, Morena Valley, San Bernardino, Ontario, and Pomona in the Inland Empire, Santa Anna, and Anaheim in Orange County, Chula Vista in the San Diego metro, and Oxnard.  

There is a high concentration of Mexican immigrants in East San Jose, Hayward, and Pittsburg in the East Bay, Santa Maria, Salinas, and Watsonville on the Central Coast, and Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, and Modesto in the San Joaquin Valley. Notably, Mexican immigrants are attracted to many rural agricultural communities while other Latino groups are much more urban.

Guatemala

There are about 300k Guatemalan immigrants and 468.4k people of Guatemalan ancestry in California. By city and zip code, Guatemalan immigrants are concentrated in LA, especially the Westlake/Pico Union area near Downtown LA, Historic South Central, Vermont Knolls, Vermont Square, and Florence in South LA, and Boyle Heights/East LA. Guatemala immigrants reside in other parts of SoCal including, Long Beach, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Riverside, Palmdale, Santa Ana, and Anaheim. In the Bay Area, Guatemalan immigrants are concentrated in San Rafael’s Canal District, San Mateo, Oakland, and Richmond. Notably, Guatemalans are heavily concentrated in the LA metro and the Bay Area.

El Salvador

There are 440k immigrants from El Salvador and 750.8k people of Salvadorian ancestry in California. By city and code, Salvadorian immigrants are concentrated in LA, especially Vermont Knolls, Vermont Square, Historic South Central, West Adams, and Florence in South LA, the Pico Union district, and Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, Van Nuys, and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley. Salvadorians reside in other parts of SoCal including Inglewood, Lynwood, Southgate, Huntington Park, Palmdale, Long Beach, Santa Ana, and Anaheim. Salvadorian immigrants are also concentrated in Richmond, Oakland, Hayward, and Daly City in the Bay Area, and Mendota in the San Joaquin Valley.

Honduras

There are 66.5k Honduran immigrants and 101.4k people of Honduran ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Honduran immigrants is in LA, including Pico Union and South LA including Vermont Knolls, Vermont Square, Exposition Park, Florence, and Historic South Central. Honduran immigrants reside in other parts of SoCal including Compton, Lynwood, Huntington Park, North Long Beach, South Gate, Pasadena, Palmdale, Ontario, and Fontana.

In the Bay Area, Honduran immigrants reside in Excelsior, Ingleside, the Mission District and Tenderloin in San Francisco, Daly City, the Seven Trees neighborhood in South San Jose, Oakland, and Richmond. There is also a Honduran community in Bakersfield.  

Nicaragua

There are 58.1k Nicaraguan immigrants and 113.8k people of Nicaraguan ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Nicaraguan immigrants in California is in Daly City and San Francisco, including the Mission District, Bernal Heights, Excelsior, and Ingleside. Nicaraguans reside in other parts of the Bay Area, including San Mateo, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Redwood City, Richmond, San Pablo, Antioch, Hayward, Concord, Pittsburg, and Vallejo. Nicaraguans are an outlier Central American group that strongly favors the Bay Area over SoCal.

For SoCal, Nicaraguans reside in the Inland Empire, including Moreno Valley, Rialto, Chino, Montclair, Fontana, Ontario, and San Bernardino, West Covina, LA’s Pico Union district and Echo Park, Vermont Square in South LA, Bell Gardens, Southgate, Baldwin Park, Downey, Huntington Park, Lancaster, Palmdale, and Hesperia.

Costa Rica

There are 12.6k Costa Rican immigrants and 28.5k people of Costa Rican ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Costa Rican immigrants in California is in Hacienda Heights, Irvine, Merced, and Tracy. Costa Rican immigrants reside in other parts of SoCal, including West Puente Valley, Azusa, Downey, and Hesperia. While the Bay Area’s Costa Rican population is very small, the greatest concentration is in East Palo Alto and Petaluma.

Panama

There are 9.2k Panamanian immigrants and 21.7k people of Panamanian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Panamanian immigrants in California is in Walnut Creek. Panamanians reside in other parts of NorCal, including Excelsior/Ingleside in San Francisco, Willow Glen in South San Jose, and Santa Rosa in the Bay Area, Citrus Height and Elk Grove in the Sacramento metro, and Stockton.

In SoCal, Panamanian immigrants reside in Lake Forest in Orange County, San Marcos in San Diego County, Torrance, Vermont Knoll, San Pedro, Montecito Heights, and Pacoima in LA, and Moreno Valley, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga in the Inland Empire, and Hemet and Victorville in the Mojave Desert. As Panama is very ethnically diverse, California’s Panamanians’ socioeconomic diversity ranges from affluent and White Walnut Creek to low income and BIPOC South LA.

Dominican Republic

There are 7.1k Dominican immigrants and 22.7k people of Dominican ancestry in California. By city and zip code, Dominican immigrants reside in San Diego, though no specific concentration, North Long Beach, Palmdale, East Palo Alto, Vacaville, Yuba City, and Hayfork, a remote small town in Trinity County. Despite being small, Dominicans are California’s fastest growing Latino group.   

Puerto Rico

There are 229k people of Puerto Rican ancestry in California, though Puerto Ricans are technically not an immigrant group as Puerto Rico is a US territory. By city and zip code, Puerto Ricans reside in Chula Vista, Oceanside, Hawthorne, Norwalk, Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, Riverside, and Victorville in SoCal, In Central and NorCal, Puerto Ricans reside in Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley, and Pittsburg, Concord, Antioch, Hayward, and Vacaville in the Bay Area. 

Cuba

There are 30.4k Cuban immigrants and 104k people of Cuban ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Cuban immigrants in California is in Downey. Cubans also reside in Hawthorne, Bell, Southgate, Glendale, Grenada Hills in the San Fernando Valley, Mount Washington in Northeast LA, Santa Clarita, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Ontario, Rialto,  Hemet, Anaheim, City Heights in San Diego, and the Bay Area exurb of Vacaville. There used to be a Cuban community in Echo Park, though that community greatly declined.

Peru

There are 74k Peruvian immigrants and 114.3k people of Peruvian ancestry, making Peruvians the largest South American group in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Peruvian immigrants in California is in Antioch and Pittsburg in the East Bay. Peruvians reside in other parts of the Bay area, including Concord, Richmond, Hayward, Excelsior/Ingleside in San Francisco, San Mateo, Redwood City, and Novato.

In SoCal, the greatest concentrations of Peruvian immigrants are in Rancho Cucamonga, Hawthorne/Lawndale, and the San Fernando Valley, including Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Reseda, Winnetka, and Northridge. Peruvian immigrants also reside in Long Beach, San Pedro, Torrance, Anaheim, Fullerton, Riverside, Downey, Ontario, West Covina, Santa Clarita, Fontana, Palmdale, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks, as well as Bakersfield. There is an unofficial Peruvian enclave in Hollywood, though not that many Peruvians actually live there. Lawndale or Balboa Park would make more sense.  

Colombia

There are 55k Colombian immigrants and 101k people of Colombian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Colombian immigrants in the Bay Area is in Concord in the East Bay. Colombians reside in other parts of the Bay Area, including the Seven Trees neighborhood in South San Jose, Fremont, and the Sunset District in San Francisco.

In SoCal, the greatest concentration of Colombian immigrants is in Reseda and Northridge in the San Fernando Valley, Highland Park in Northeast LA, Hawthorne, and Rancho Cucamonga. Columbians reside in other parts of SoCal, including Canoga Park, and Warner Center in the SF Valley, Glendale, the northeast section of Long Beach, West Covina, Corona, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, and the Claremont District and Chula Vista in the San Diego metro. There was a proposal for “Paseo Colombia,” a Colombian enclave West of Downtown LA, though it was a vanity project proposed by a group of Colombian entrepreneurs rather than reflecting an actual Colombian community in that area. Reseda, Highland Park, or even Hawthorne would make more sense.

Venezuela

There are 16.9k Venezuelan immigrants and 24.1k people of Venezuelan ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Venezuelans in California is in Concord in the East Bay. Venezuelan immigrants reside in other parts of the Bay area, including the Telegraph Hill/Embarcadero area in San Francisco, Pleasanton, Sunnyvale, Almaden Valley in South San Jose, and Fairfield. Venezuelan immigrants also reside in Rancho Cordova and Roseville in the Sacramento metro.

The greatest concentration of Venezuelans in SoCal is in Altadena near Pasadena, the Southern part of Glendale, and Huntington Park and Florence in South LA. Venezuelan immigrants reside in other parts of SoCal, including the Historic Core/Skid Row area in Downtown LA, Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, Hawthorne, Culver City, Inglewood, Bellflower, West Covina, Mead Valley, Highland, and Ontario in the Inland Empire, Anaheim, Mission Viejo, and Garden Grove in Orange County, Carmel Valley and Chula Vista in the San Diego metro, Heber near the Mexican border, Montecito near Santa Barbara, as well as Santa Maria, and Bakersfield.

Like with the proposed Colombian and Peruvian districts, there was a proposed Venezuelan enclave in Hollywood, where there actually isn’t much of a Venezuelan community. Altadena, Florence, or even Main Street in Downtown LA would make more sense. Venezuelans being represented in both ultra-wealthy Montecito and Skid Row and South LA show the extreme disparities in the diaspora, with the earlier wave of immigrants being wealthier and the recent wave being poorer. While the number of Venezuelans migrating to California is nothing compared to other cities like Miami, Denver, Chicago, and New York, Venezuelans are California’s 2nd fastest growing Latino group. Not to mention that these stats are from the 2020 census and do not show the recent migrant wave under Biden. 

Ecuador

There are 21k Ecuadorian immigrants and 45.6k people of Ecuadorian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Ecuadorian immigrants is in LA, including the Westlake Pico Union area and North Hills in the San Fernando Valley. Ecuadorian immigrants also reside in the Eastern part of Pasadena, Fontana, West Covina, Downey, Palmdale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton, and Huntington Beach. While the Bay Area’s Ecuadorian population is very small, there are communities in Redwood City and San Jose.

Argentina

There are about 34k immigrants from Argentina and 54.8k people of Argentinian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, Argentinean immigrants don’t have any particular enclave in California. Still, they are mostly concentrated in the LA area, including the San Fernando Valley, Glendale, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Santa Clarita, and Palmdale, as well as Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana in the Inland Empire, and Orange County, with no particular concentration. While the Bay Area’s Argentinian community is very small, they reside in Gilroy, Campbell near San Jose, San Francisco’s Marina District, Alameda, Walnut Creek, and Petaluma.

Uruguay

There are 3.8k Uruguayan immigrants and 6.1k people of Uruguayan ancestry in California. By city and zip code, Uruguayan immigrants reside in Glendale, Winnetka in the San Fernando Valley, Huntington Beach, Coronado near San Diego in SoCal, and Fairfield, Castro Valley, and San Francisco's Marina District in the Bay Area.  

Chilean

There are 15k Chilean immigrants and 30k people of Chilean ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Chilean immigrants in California is in Concord and San Jose, east of Downtown. Chilean immigrants reside in other parts of the Bay Area including, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Burlingame, and San Leandro. The greatest concentration of Chilean immigrants in SoCal is in Anaheim. Chilean immigrants reside in other parts of SoCal, including Northridge, Reseda and Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, West Hollywood, Venice, Lancaster, Irvine, and Chula Vista. Chilean immigrants also reside in Davis, Truckee near Lake Tahoe, Madera, Porterville, Santa Maria, and Calexico. Like Argentinians and Uruguayans, many Chileans could also be classified in the White category.

Bolivians

There are 8.5k Bolivian immigrants and 15.5k people of Bolivian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, California’s main Bolivian community is in the Southern part of Santa Anna and Tustin, as well as the San Fernando Valley.

Paraguay

There are 1.4k people of Paraguayan ancestry making them the smallest Latin American diaspora in California. By city and zip code, California’s Paraguayan immigrants reside in Ontario and Grand Terrace in the Inland Empire, as well as the Marina District in San Francisco.  

Brazilians

There are 53k Brazilian immigrants and 47k people of Brazilian ancestry in California. By city and zip code, the greatest concentration of Brazilians in California is in San Pablo and Richmond in the East Bay. Brazilians reside in other parts of the Bay Area, including Santa Clara, Mountain View, and San Francisco. ESL stats show there are many Brazilian students in the Potrero Hill and Mission Bay areas in SF.

The greatest concentration of Brazilian immigrants in SoCal is in the Culver City/Palms area, the West Hollywood/Hollywood area, and Torrance. There is a stretch of Venice Blvd, along the border of Culver City and Palms, which is a small unofficial Brazilian enclave. Brazilian immigrants also reside in Hawthorne, Long Beach, Irvine, West Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, and San Diego, in the area around Downtown, Old Town, Mission Bay, and Pacific Beach.

Source: @namisumida on X

From 2010 to 2020, Venezuelans and Dominicans, who are not significant demographics in California, both doubled, and this was before Biden’s migrant wave. Colombians and Hondurans also had significant growth, with both groups increasing by almost half during the 2010s. California’s Mexican population is close to plateauing, and it would not surprise me if California’s Mexican population declines for the first time by the 2030 census. Even Salvadorians, who are California’s 2^nd largest Latino group, are starting to slow down in growth.

The future of California’s Latino population depends upon whether upcoming Latino groups like Venezuelans, Colombians, Peruvians, Ecuadorians, Nicaraguans, and Hondurans get a foothold. If not, California’s Latino population may stagnate by the 2030s and 40s. California’s Latino population is heavily Mexican and from the Northern Triangle of Central America, but will likely become more diverse in the future.  

This is part of a series with upcoming articles on European, Pacific Islander, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Afro-Caribbean immigrant enclaves in California.