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Interracial Marriage in Los Angeles County

Marriage, Interracial Couple

Couple playing a video game together. Photo by Vazhnik at Pexels.com.


Also see: Perez vs. Sharp - End to California's Miscegenation Laws.


It is fitting to introduce this page by stating that Los Angeles County was the first place in California where laws against interracial marriage were finally brought to an end (see box above). In 2017, Pew Research Center released a report about interracial marriage in the United States. The reported provided data for individual U.S. metropolitan areas, including the Los Angeles County-Orange County metro area. The study focused on newly-married couples – those who had been married within the past year - using census survey data collected over the five years of 2012 through 2017.

Some findings regarding the Los Angeles/Orange County metro area:

  • More than one-in-five newlyweds in the L.A./O.C. metro area were interracially married. This followed a pattern in about a third of the nation's 126 metro areas.

  • The L.A./O.C. metro area had the highest percent of Blacks who had racially intermarried. Blacks in Los Angeles and Orange Counties were more likely to intermarry than in any other metro area.

  • Almost 30 metro areas had an overall higher percentage of racially intermarried couples than in the L.A./O.C. metro area. However, the L.A./O.C. metro area was one of only six metro areas that showed significant interracial marriage percentages across all racial/ethnic groups.

  • Asians and Whites in the L.A./O.C. metro area were more likely to racially intermarry than in 95% of all other metro areas.

  • The L.A./O.C. metro area could be argued to be one of the most diverse racially intermarried metro areas in the nation.

  • Although we have no breakdown of racial/ethnic marriage combinations specifically for the L.A./O.C. metro area, the Pew report did offer that, nationwide, 42% of intermarried couples were Hispanic/White. Asian/White couples accounted for 15% of newlywed couples. Multiracial/White couples were 12%. Black/White couples were 11%. All other racial/ethnic combinations each made up 5% or less.

Nation's Leading Metropolitan Areas for Newlywed Interracial Marriage, 2017

Where significant percentages were recorded for at least three racial groups

Metro Area Total Percent Interracial Married Asians Blacks Hispanics Whites
United States 16% 29% 18% 26% 10%
Los Angeles & Orange County, CA 22% 24% 30% 16% 23%
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 19% 35% 13% 24% 14%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 19% 29% 14% 22% 15%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 19% 28% 16% 26% 14%
Metro Area Total Percent Interracial Married Asians Blacks Hispanics Whites
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 19% 22% 11% 19% 19%
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 18% 21% 15% 23% 14%
Honolulu, HI 42% 32% - - 34%
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV 31% - - 30% 26%
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA 27% 34% - 26% 20%
Metro Area Total Percent Interracial Married Asians Blacks Hispanics Whites
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA 26% 21% - 28% 22%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 24% 16% - 22% 27%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL 24% - 14% 20% 28%

Source: Pew Research Center