Breaking Down What It’s Like in Canoga Park

The city of Canoga Park is filled with many cultures, races, and ethnicities, but the most prominent is the Hispanic community. According to the Census Reporter, 64% of Canoga Park’s population is Hispanic while 19% is white followed by 12% that is Asian.

The community’s foreign born population is 48.3%. Of that percentage, 69% were born in Latin America and 26% from Asia. The most common language spoken at home is Spanish. About 68% of families with kids speak Spanish at home while 56% of adults speak Spanish at home.

The relationship between educational attainment and household income seem like they are connected. While 73% are high school graduates, I noticed that only 24% of the community has a Bachelor’s degree or higher. This could could correlate to the breakdown of income in the community. An alarming 42% of households make under $50k a year which may not be a sustainable income when the average household consists of about 3 people. The median household income is $61,250 while the per capita income is $26,073.

The community has been hit hard by the pandemic. According to USC’s Crosstown Coronavirus Tracker, the infection rate in Canoga Park is 14,450 per 100,000 residents which is one of the higher rates in the San Fernando Valley. There are currently about 9,000 cases of COVID-19 in Canoga Park.

I think that the relationship between infection rates in Canoga Park directly affects the population below the poverty line in the community. The population below the poverty line is already about 17% which is 25% higher than the entire Los Angeles Metropolitan area. With the closures of businesses that caused many to lose their jobs and struggle to pay bills, it’s concerning to think how much these numbers may have increased since the start of the pandemic.