About Berkeley: General Demographics

BERKELEY, CA

1. Size and demographics of the population. Is it old, young, educated, working class, homeowner, renter?

Age: The population is pretty much middle-aged with a median age of 32 years old, and the largest age cohort is 25 to 44 at 31.8 percent of the population.

Age breakdown: Age:14.1% under the age of 18, 21.6% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older

Education: educated, high school or higher 92 percent, 68 percent bachelor’s degree or higher.

Working class:65.8 percent are in the labor force. service occupation 9.6 percent, sales and office jobs are 20.3 percent. construction 3.6 percent, production, transportation and material moving are 5 percent. 61 percent is actually professionals and manager, white collar jobs, so may not be working class in the blue collar sense.

Homeowner 42.7 percent

Renter 57 percent.

2. What languages are spoken? Is English a first or second language at home?

English and Spanish. 25.2 percent speak English as a second language at home.

3. What are the major countries of origin of residents? What is the naturalization rate for this group? Voter registration? (click and look under “Political subdivision by county.”)

80.5 percent of residents are native born. Of the 19.5 foreign born, 8.4 percent are naturalized citizens; 11.2 are not.

According to the 2005 ACS population estimates, the city’s residents are 64% White, 12% African American, 14% Asian/Pacific Islander and 9.4% Latino. According to the 1990 Census, the largest Asian ethnic groups were Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean and Asian Indian and Vietnamese. Nearly 60% of the Latino population was of Mexican descent.

4. What are the living patterns? Is the group integrated or do they live in ethnic enclaves? What is the average household size for the overall city and each ethnic group?

Low-income residents are concentrated in South and West Berkeley, which is primary African American and Latino. The remainder of the city is primarily white and upper to middle class, with Asians living in larger clusters near the university. The average household size for the city overall is 2.04; the average family size is 2.72.

5. What are the employment demographics, are groups concentrated in certain jobs or professions?

In general, according to the rough estimates of the American Community Survey, 65.8 percent (+/- 3.5) of the total Berkeley population over the age of 16 is in the labor force, with an unemployment rate of 6.3 percent.

By sex, 76.2 (+/-5.2) percent of men between the ages of 20 and 64 are employed, while 71.9 (+/-5.1) percent of women are employed. Notably, for women with children under the age of 6, that percentage drops to 53.7 percent (+/-16.0). This a significant drop, but also a significant margin of error. Merits further investigation.

41.7 percent (+/-8.4) of those living below poverty level are in the work force, as are 47.3 percent (+/- 10.3) of those claiming disability status.

The mean household family income is $73,066 (+/- 0.08). The mean income per capita is $36,954.

In general, 64.2 percent of the Berkeley workforce is employed in management, professional or related fields. The service industry employs 13.7 percent; sales and office, 14.9 percent; farming, fishing and forestry, 0 percent; construction, extraction and maintenance, 2.4 percent; and production, transportation and material moving, 4.7 percent.

6. What are the major employers?

1. University of California at Berkeley (510) 642-6000 total number: 12,377

2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

(UC/US Dept of Energy) (510) 486-4000, 3,832

3. Alta Bates Medical Center (510) 204-4444, 2,065

4. City of Berkeley (510) 644-6480, 1,569

5. Berkeley Unified School District (510) 644-6348, 1,200

6. Bayer Corporation

(pharmaceutical manufacturing) (510) 705-5000, 1,101

7. Kaiser Permanente Medical Group

(health support services) (510) 596-1000, 700

8. California Department of Health Services

(public health lab) (916) 445-4171, 600

9. Pacific Steel Casting Company (510) 525-9200, 380

10. Andronico’s Market (grocer) (510) 524-2696, 325

7. What are the major geographic landmarks?

UC Berkeley campus. The first university campus opened in California in 1873.

Within it, there is Memorial Stadium, Heart Greek Theatre, Heart Memorial Mining building, Doe Library, Sather Tower and Esplanade, Sather Gate and Bridge.

Berkeley Marina and People’s Park

George C. Edwards Stadium. Panoramic Hill.

Berkeley’s Historic Civic Center District.

Berkeley Women’s City Club.

First Church of Christ

St. John’s Presbyterian Church

William R. Thorsen House

8. What are the ethnic neighborhoods or shopping districts?

Commercial Centers: Downtown Berkeley starting at the intersection of Strattuck and Center, extending north to Heart, south to Dwight, east to Oxford, and west to Martin Luther King Jr.

Others include West Berkeley (OceanView), North Berkeley (Berryman’s), Telegraph just south of campus, Elmwood (along College near Ashby, San Pablo Avenue, South Berkeley, Thousand Oaks along Solano Avenue, and the arts district on Addison St. And the Berkeley Bowl in a big marketplace located at 2020 Oregon St.

9 Major demographic changes in the last decade (that can mean 1990 to 2000, or you can use American Community Survey estimates if you like)

An increase in the Latino population and drop in the African American population are the only significant changes.

10. Square mileage of your city or segment you’re covering.

10.5 square miles