Best Start geographies have over 5% of their total population consisting of children ages 0-5, and are home to many essential workers and their young families. Watts/Willowbrook has the highest percentage of children under the age of five and these children comprise nearly 10% of the area’s total population, totaling 8,015 children.
Why this matters: Best Start geographies largely consist of families with children age 0-5. Investing in these communities inherently improves the opportunities in which these children will have access to and to better uplift them for success.
Population by Race and Ethnicity in the Best Start Communities
Most people living across Best Start geographies are Latinx; only in Lancaster are Latinx residents not the majority within a Best Start geography.
Why this matters: Diverse populations live in Best Start geographies and are disproportionately affected by Covid. According to a RACE COUNTS analysis of Covid exposure in L.A. County by September 21, 2020, higher populated areas with Latinx residents had 3.1 times as many cases as lower populated Latinx areas.
WIC Families with Essential Workers in the Home in Best Start
More than one-third of WIC families in all five of the Best Start regions have at least one family member who is an essential worker. Among WIC families in Region 1 and Region 4, 45% of them have an essential worker in the home, which exceeds the county rate. Southeast L.A. (SELA) and Central Long Beach Best Start geography have the highest rate of WIC families with an essential worker at home, at 50% and 54% respectively.
Why this matters: A large portion of families living in Best Start geographies are essential workers, making the support of Best Start families and essential workers coincide. WIC families are higher need families and deserve special attention. These are essential workers who ensure the needs of families in the county are met while they themselves are of lower socioeconomic status.
Best Start Region Data
Best Start Geography Data
Median Household Income
Why this matters: Essential workers are earning insufficient incomes to meet fundamental needs of their children and families, despite shouldering the burden of the pandemic for families who can remain safe and earn higher incomes while working from home. Lower incomes automatically create constraints, forcing families to make impossible decisions on what to spend money on while sacrificing health and safety for job and income security.
Data Source: Table S1901 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Estimates 2016-2020
Undocumented Population
Los Angeles County is a county of immigrants with approximately 2.7 million naturalized citizens and lawful permanent residents and an undocumented population of roughly 700,000 people, not including nearly 100,000 additional immigrants with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) benefits or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
In interviews, First 5 LA program officers and Regional Network Grantees advocated for prioritizing undocumented families living within Best Start geographies to ensure these families receive necessary support. Undocumented families have a harder time accessing free Covid tests and other government resources because of misinformation and fear, leaving it up to community-based organizations to act as social safety nets
Why this matters: There is an urgent priority to support undocumented families with gov’t resources, as identified through interviews with First 5 LA for those residing in Best Start geographies.
| Nativity | Los Angeles County |
| U.S. Citizen by Birth | 6,642,651 |
| Naturalized Citizen | 1,773,675 |
| Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) | 1,010,126 |
| Undocumented (no DACA or TPS) | 698,234 |
| TPS Holder | 37,152 |
| DACA Recipient | 58,958 |
| Total | 10,220,796 |
Best Start Region Crosswalk
| Region 1 | East L.A. |
| Metro L.A. | |
| South El Monte/El Monte | |
| Southeast L.A. (SELA) | |
| Region 2 | Broadway/Manchester |
| Compton/East Compton | |
| Watts/Willowbrook | |
| West Athens | |
| Region 3 | North East Valley |
| Panorama City & Neighbors | |
| Region 4 | Central Long Beach |
| Wilmington | |
| Region 5 | Lancaster |
| Palmdale |
