If the state of California was made up of 10 people, 4 would be immigrants and about 6 would be people of color. The median age would be around 38. The state has one of the country’s most diverse populaces, with the highest percentage of immigrants—in 2022, they numbered 10.4 million people, or about 27 percent of the population. The result is a state that’s growing more heterogeneous on several counts—as a walk through Dolores Park in San Francisco, above, can attest—especially as younger generations represent more diversity than their older counterparts.
FAIR SHARE
California has no majority race. The state is primarily Latino, at about 40 percent, followed by white at roughly 35 percent, Asian at 15 percent, and Black at 5 percent. Around 7.4 million Californians—19 percent of the population—identify as multiracial.
FIRST PEOPLES
About 110 federally recognized Indigenous tribes call this land home, with memberships ranging from 5 to 5,000. Some tribal areas cross state borders. An additional 45 tribal communities do not have government recognition but contribute to California’s Indigenous population.
This article appears in Issue 30 of Alta Journal.
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MELTING POT
Many immigrants here are long settled, but more than 100,000 people leave their home countries for California every year. The immigrant community is primarily made up of people from Latin America and Asia, with the largest populations coming from Mexico and China.
GAY HAVEN
The LGBTQ community in California is among the largest in the country. In a 2024 Household Pulse Survey, 2.8 million adults self-reported as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. LGBTQ identification is rising nationally in younger generations, and the state has laws on the books to protect those under 18.
POLYGLOT
About 40 percent of California public school students speak a language other than English at home. Among the most common are Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Korean.
NEW PRIDE
Seven million adults in California are living with disabilities, and one in seven children receives disability assistance in school. In recognition of the state’s diversity in ability, Governor Gavin Newsom declared July as Disability Pride Month in 2024.•
Jessica Blough is a freelance writer. A former associate editor at Alta Journal, Blough is a graduate of Tufts University where she was editor in chief of the Tufts Daily.
