Long Beach is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the fifth-largest in California. As of 2008, its estimated population was 492,682. In addition, Long Beach is its county's 2nd largest city after Los Angeles, and also the largest city nationwide that is not a county seat.
The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city also has a large oil industry; oil is found both underground and offshore. Manufacturers include aircraft, automobile parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment, and home furnishings. It is also home to headquarters for corporations such as Epson America, Molina Healthcare, and Scan Health Plan. Long Beach has grown with the development of high-technology and aerospace industries in the area.
At the 2005-2007 American Community Survey Estimates the city's population was 45.6% White (30.5% non-Hispanic White alone), 14.5% Black or African American, 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 14.5% Asian, 0.9% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 27.0% from some other race and 3.8% from two or more races. 39.9% of the total popultion were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [2]
As of the census of 2000, there were 461,522 people, 163,088 households, and 99,646 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,532.8/km² (9,149.8/mi²). There were 171,632 housing units at an average density of 1,313.8/km² (3,402.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 45.16% White, 14.87% African American, 0.84% Native American, 12.05% Asian, 1.21% Pacific Islander, 20.61% from other races, and 5.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35.77% of the population.
Non-Hispanic/Latino whites were 33.13% of the population. This has been a significant decrease since the 1950s, when the city was mostly Anglo-American and nicknamed "Iowa by the Sea" or "Iowa under Palm Trees." The city was long a major port of entry for European, Asian and Latin American immigrants headed to Los Angeles in the 20th century. The Harbor section of downtown Long Beach was once home to persons of Dutch, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese and Spanish ancestry, most of them employed in manufacturing and fish canneries until the 1960s.
According to a report by USA Today in 2000, Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States. Its Asian community includes a large Cambodian community, the second-largest Cambodian community outside of Asia (after Paris); and a neighborhood along Anaheim Street is called "Little Phnom Penh". There are also sizable populations of immigrants and descendants from Vietnam and the Philippines.
It has a relatively high proportion of Pacific Islanders (over 1 percent), from Samoa and Tonga. Most American Indians, about 2 percent of the city's population, arrived during the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs urban relocation programs in the 1950s.
Long Beach once had a sizable Japanese-American population who mostly worked in the fish canneries on Terminal Island and small truck farms in the area. They were victims of racial prejudice and transported to internment camps in 1942, supposedly for national security reasons. Most did not return to Long Beach after their release from the camps. Due to their transportation, interracial marriage, and other factors, Japanese Americans make up less than 1% of the population of Long Beach. There is still a Japanese Community Center and a Japanese Buddhist Church in Long Beach. The Japanese-American Cultural Center is just over the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.
There were 163,088 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.55.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,270, and the median income for a family was $40,002. Males had a median income of $36,807 versus $31,975 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,040. About 19.3% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.7% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over. In 2008, the Census Bureau showed the amount of people living below the poverty line had dropped to 18.2%.