U.S. Department of Commerce
and U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development Joint Release IMMEDIATE RELEASE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1997 Public Information Office CB97-H.11 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TTD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Ed Montfort 301-763-8551 Twenty-Two Percent of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Metropolitan Area's Households Give High Marks to Their Neighborhood, Census Bureau Report Says About 22 percent of households in the Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif. Metropolitan Area rated their neighborhood a perfect 10 and about 27 percent said their home was "the best place to live," according to a new report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the report, American Housing Survey for the Los Angeles-Long Beach Metropolitan Area in 1995, H170/95-7, respondents were asked to rate their neighborhood and their house or apartment as a place to live based on scales of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best and 1 is the worst. Of the households in these neighborhoods, 16 percent reported problems with crime, 9 percent reported problems with traffic and 4 percent experienced problems with litter or housing deterioration. Other findings about the Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif. Metropolitan Area: - The area had 3,276,000 housing units in 1995, of which 2,948,000 were occupied (47 percent by owners and 53 percent by renters). - Single-family homes, at 58 percent of all occupied units, represented the predominant housing type in the area. - The median age of homes in Los Angeles city was 38 years, compared with 34 years for the remaining area. - Homes in the area had a median of 2.2 bedrooms. - Occupied homes in the area had a median of 2.5 persons per unit and a median of 4.9 rooms per unit. - The median monthly housing costs for owners was $943 and for renters was $654. Monthly housing costs include mortgage payments or contract rent, utilities, fuels, insurance, real estate taxes (for owners) and other housing-related expenditures. - Monthly housing costs that were $1,000 or more accounted for 48 percent of the owners and 13 percent of the renters. - The median household income for area homeowners was $48,100; for renters, it was $22,600. - Owners had monthly housing costs that represented a median of 23 percent of their current income; for renters, it was 36 percent. - The median value of homeowners' residences in 1995 was $192,800, down 26 percent from a 1995 constant dollar figure of $ 261,600 for 1989. - Of the 19,400 owner-occupied homes built or purchased during the last four years, 94 percent cost $100,000 or more; 70 percent of the owners of new homes used savings or cash-on-hand for their down payment. Data in the report are shown separately for units with African American and Hispanic householders. Since data in the report are from a survey, they are subject to sampling variability.-X-The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In over 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
