What is the least "WASP" city in the United States?

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't doubt a large share of LA whites are Jewish, but I doubt a majority.

Yeah, there are Jews in basically all the white west side neighborhoods, but not many will have a Jewish majority. Places like Pacific Palisades have Jews, but they aren't particularly Jewish.

And there are still lots of whites in the fringe SFV, in places like Chatsworth. I don't think those places are particularly Jewish.

I really meant to say more like half, not majority. There’s no way of knowing since LA city isn’t a neatly defined geopolitical entity like NYC. But it figures that if the county is 5.7% Jewish, and most of the very Jewish areas are in LA city, then 13-14% is within the realm of possibility. Jews are also not just limited to the Westside or SFV. One of the densest Jewish concentrations is the area between Koreatown and Beverly Hills, south of WeHo. My office (when I was commuting) is around 3rd and La Brea, and on Rosh Hashanah last year, more than half of the people walking by were dressed in either Orthodox clothing and/or had yarmulkes on. My bosses (who aren’t Jewish) live in that neighborhood as well, and they can confirm that there’s a large Orthodox population and it certainly shows in the voting results of their precinct. As a side note, I once took a Lyft ride to my sister’s BuzzFeed office just up the street; my driver was from Israel (and played Hebrew music during the entire ride) and he shouted something in Hebrew to a bunch of Jewish kids playing outside on the residential streets. You would also think the Hollywood Hills and Los Feliz, where there’s wealth associated with the entertainment and media industries, is quite Jewish.

It’s true that west of the 405 gets more WASPy, although Russian is the most common ancestry in Brentwood and Iran being by far the most common foreign place of birth (Russian and Iranian being proxies for “Jewish”). The Palisades are even more WASPy, but it’s still a very affluent community with many Hollywood types. Chatsworth has its own chabad and synagogue, and it’s adjacent to areas that are known to be rather Jewish—West Hills, Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, and Northridge. The latter three though are more racially diverse, so they’re not “exclusively” Jewish communities.

I also suspect that a good amount of LA Jews claim German ancestry, since we have a comparatively smaller Eastern European population. And since there are 1.5 million (have to double check that) people in Greater NYC who claim “German” ancestry but seemingly very few “regular” German Catholics or Protestants, I think it’s safe to assume that a good amount of LA Jews are identified as “German” in the Census, unless every single Russian, Pole, Hungarian, etc. is Jewish.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Quixote

I really meant to say more like half, not majority. There’s no way of knowing since LA city isn’t a neatly defined geopolitical entity like NYC. But it figures that if the county is 5.7% Jewish, and most of the very Jewish areas are in LA city, then 13-14% is within the realm of possibility.

Is L.A. city as Jewish as Manhattan? Manhattan is around 15% Jewish or 30% of the NHW population there. I don't think half of LA whites are Jewish.

There may be a few wealthy west side neighborhoods where the Jewish share is similar to UES/UWS of Manhattan.

I'm not even sure Beverly Hills is majority-Jewish. Very few places in the US are majority-Jewish.

[Quixote]

I did a quick examination of some of the major streets in Pacific Palisades, taking a look at the surnames of the listed property owners. Pacific Palisades is definitely not majority WASP. The white population seems to be evenly split among those with Ashkenazi Jewish/Hebrew, Persian and Arab (mostly Persian), and your typical Western European surnames. I don't think it's majority Jewish, but probably in the 33-40% range assuming most of the Persians are Jews.

https://blockshopper.com/ca/los-angeles-county/cities/los-angeles/neighborhoods/pacific-palisades

[Docere]

From the Pew religious landscape study

Los Angeles MSA

White Protestant 12%
White Catholic 5%
Jewish 3%
White no religion 11%

[Docere]

New York MSA

White Protestant 9%
White Catholic 19%
Jewish 8%
White no religion 12%

[brickell]

Originally Posted by Docere

New York MSA

White Protestant 9%
White Catholic 19%
Jewish 8%
White no religion 12%

Do you have the dataset that shows racial/ethnic breakdown?
Do Miami next.

[Docere]

Approximations, based on ethnic breakdowns provided.

https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

[Docere]

Miami

NHW Protestant and other Christian 11%
NHW Catholic 9%
Jewish 9%
NHW no religion N/A

[Crawford]

Orange County, CA, in particular, seems to have a large white Protestant population. Lots of mainline Protestant denominations and Christian megachurches, lots of people with roots in the country's midsection.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Orange County, CA, in particular, seems to have a large white Protestant population. Lots of mainline Protestant denominations and Christian megachurches, lots of people with roots in the country's midsection.

Orange County is Arizona by the Pacific Ocean, only with a lot more Asians and Middle Easterners (Iranians and Arabs). I would say Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda, and San Clemente are the main places that still live up to that old-school reputation of devout conservatism and piety.

Still though, south OC has its share of chabads/synagogues. I think Laguna Woods (a retirement community) has a good amount of Jews. It's 5% Russian, 4.1% Polish, 2.4% Iranian (although OC Iranians tend to be Muslim), 1.8% Hungarian, and 1.1% Romanian.

[destroycreate]

I'm late to the party clearly, but anecdotally or at least culturally I would say Honolulu, El Paso, Miami, LA, and NYC are the least if we're talking WASPY-like Leave-It-To-Beaver WASPY.

[Crawford]

I don't think most NYC Italians are Sicilian. The vast majority are southern Italian, to be sure, but there are six other regions in southern Italy. Tons of people have roots in Abruzzo, Apulia, Campania and Calabria.

Sicily is likely the most common province of origin, though, at least with the later postwar migration. But Campania (Naples) and Calabria seem almost as common.

[Docere]

But let’s get back to Brooklyn, or more to the point, New Jersey, being that my trip to Brooklyn was sandwiched between visits to Long Island and New Jersey. Which brings me to Soprano Country—Bloomfield, Clifton, and North Caldwell. I saw it all. But what really stuck with me is how ubiquitous Italian American life is in the area (not just New Jersey or Long Island, mind you; I took a jaunt down Brooklyn’s Court Street and Avenue U, too, and saw plenty of pasticcerie and salumerie, not to mention other subtle, or not so subtle, signs of Italian American existence).

What struck me is the way a small town, like, say, Nutley, New Jersey, seems to have become (or always was?) a kind of Little Italy all its own. That when Italian Americans did their part in the great white flight to the suburbs in the decades following the Second World War, those in the New York area appeared to have taken a good part of the commerce and culture of their urban neighborhoods with them. (I realize I’m making some broad generalizations here.)

This phenomenon did not happen in California, even though the state had a number of Italian American urban neighborhoods that disappeared or drastically changed when Italian Americans moved out of the cities. Why does Italian American identity remain intact more recognizably in Eastern suburbs?

There are two straightforward answers: demographics and geography. California’s 1.5 million Italian Americans just don’t compare to the nearly 4.5 million in New York and New Jersey. Plus, New York’s relative nearness to Italy arguably allows for commerce and culture to move back and forth more easily.

However, there’s a more interesting possibility, one that requires much more careful study than is called for in a simple blog post: that is, the role of the (often-overlooked) second major wave of Italian immigration to the U.S. after the Second World War. Sure, California received its share of post-WW II immigrants (and they’re still coming today—Silicon Valley is full of Italians with H1-B visas), but not to the same degree as on the East Coast. Further—and yes, I’m being a little coy here—but I’ll take a wild guess that the influx of new immigrants in the post-war decades reinvigorated Italian American communities in greater New York in multiple ways: from customs around food, to the use of Italian and dialects, to all sorts of vernacular displays of culture.

Let’s get specific, or maybe I’m just turning to the mundane. For example, I was surprised at how much Neapolitan I heard walking around Nutley and at the ways the local Nutley supermarket, a Shop-Rite, caters to an Italian American clientele.

http://bloggers.iitaly.org/bloggers/1761/californian-goes-east

[Crawford]

I doubt Beverly Hills is 50%+ Jewish. It attracts Hollywood wealth, in general, not just Jewish wealth.

Is there a large, secular Jewish geography in North America that is still clearly majority Jewish? Not just census tracts or small villages, but an area of at least, say 40-50k people? In the past, sure, but I'm not so sure these days given intermarriage and wealth segregation trumping ethnic segregation. Maybe Livingston, NJ area or parts of Westchester around Armonk/Rye Brook, or LI around Jericho/Plainview? I'm not confident Scarsdale makes the cut.

It seems that majority Jewish secular area with outstanding schools tend to attract families of all backgrounds that want outstanding schools, especially Asians. And those with less notable schools become Orthodox, over time.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I doubt Beverly Hills is 50%+ Jewish. It attracts Hollywood wealth, in general, not just Jewish wealth.

Is there a large, secular Jewish geography in North America that is still clearly majority Jewish? Not just census tracts or small villages, but an area of at least, say 40-50k people? In the past, sure, but I'm not so sure these days given intermarriage and wealth segregation trumping ethnic segregation. Maybe Livingston, NJ area or parts of Westchester around Armonk/Rye Brook, or LI around Jericho/Plainview? I'm not confident Scarsdale makes the cut.

It seems that majority Jewish secular area with outstanding schools tend to attract families of all backgrounds that want outstanding schools, especially Asians. And those with less notable schools become Orthodox, over time.

Skokie is down from majority-Jewish to around 30% (and the Asian population is up to 25%, largely Filipino I think).

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I doubt Beverly Hills is 50%+ Jewish. It attracts Hollywood wealth, in general, not just Jewish wealth.

Is there a large, secular Jewish geography in North America that is still clearly majority Jewish? Not just census tracts or small villages, but an area of at least, say 40-50k people? In the past, sure, but I'm not so sure these days given intermarriage and wealth segregation trumping ethnic segregation. Maybe Livingston, NJ area or parts of Westchester around Armonk/Rye Brook, or LI around Jericho/Plainview? I'm not confident Scarsdale makes the cut.

It seems that majority Jewish secular area with outstanding schools tend to attract families of all backgrounds that want outstanding schools, especially Asians. And those with less notable schools become Orthodox, over time.

Two Montreal suburbs do: the wealthy village of Hampstead (population 7000, 75%) and the larger economically mixed Cote St. Luc (population of 30,000, 62%).

https://www.federationcja.org/en/jewish_montreal/demographics/

[Docere]

Beverly Hills is certainly a very Jewish place, somewhere in the 35-50% range I suspect.

Ancestry

Iranian 25.7%
Russian 8.6%
German 6.2%
Polish 6.1%
English 4%
Italian 3.5%
Irish 3.1%
American 3.1%
French 2.7%
Arab 2.7%
Hungarian 1.7%
Ukrainian 1.4%
Eastern European 1.4%
Romanian 1.3%
European 1.2%
Iraqi 1.1%
Scottish 1.1%
Swedish 1%

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/California/Beverly-Hills/Ancestry

[Quixote]

I'll change my "half" speculation to 33-40%. LA city only needs to be 9.5% Jewish for Jews to constitute a third of all whites. The county is already 5.7% Jewish, and most of the very Jewish areas are within LA city limits. Looking squarely at the city proper excludes Jewish-heavy Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Calabasas, but it also factors out the South Bay, San Gabriel, Santa Clarita (which is actually quite Jewish... estimated 20,000 out of a population of about 275,000), and Antelope Valleys with their large gentile populations. There's a fair to high concentration of chabads and synagogues within a 1-2 mile radius in areas where whites make up at least 33% of the population, with the exception of Northeast LA, Silver Lake + Echo Park, Westchester + Playa del Rey, San Pedro, and Sunland-Tujuna + Lake View Terrace + Shadow Hills.

Westchester + Playa del Rey in particular will probably get more Jewish as high-paying jobs cluster around Culver City and Playa Vista; there's already a chabad in the Playa Vista area called "Chabad Culver City." And Silver Lake + Echo Park, due to proximity to Downtown and Hollywood and being liberal, are fair game for increased Jewry. I suspect the same for NELA, but to a lesser extent.

[Docere]

Jews make up a similar share of the population in Los Angeles and Bay Area, but L.A. has Jewish enclaves/concentrations the Bay Area lacks. In the Bay Area, the Jewish population is quite dispersed, and it doesn't seem to have anything that can be called a Jewish neighborhood or suburb.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Docere

No, I'm agreeing L.A. is a much more visibly "Jewish" place than the Bay Area. I think the existence of enclaves makes a difference. Nor do I think it's a matter of sheer numbers only - the Bay Area certainly has the critical mass for enclaves. You'll much more easily find concentrations of Jews in Boston, Chicago, Baltimore and Cleveland, than in the Bay Area.

Agreed.

I forgot to mention that Doug Emhoff (Kamala Harris' husband) to the list. He grew up in New Jersey but moved to LA when he was 17, graduating from high school, college, and law school, and establishing his law career here.

Casey Wasserman, a sports and entertainment executive, was responsible for bringing the 2028 Olympics to LA.

Rams COO Kevin Demoff, born in LA and grew up a (Los Angeles) Rams fan, was the essentially the face of the SoFi Stadium development... LA's newest landmark.

Max Fried... Atlanta Braves ace. Gabe Kapler... San Francisco Giants manager.

I think Jewish LA vis-a-vis Jewish South Florida is an interesting point of discussion. I find it fascinating that LA County is more Jewish than Miami-Dade, with half of South Floridian Jews residing in Palm Beach County, which is definitely not "Miami" in the cultural sense. It's much more "American" in demographic makeup, as non-Hispanic whites make up 57% of the population and Hispanics 20%; Cubans barely edge out Mexicans for most common Hispanic ancestry.

There is no question that South Florida is much, much more Jewish than Greater LA and that Jews are more evenly distributed across the metro area. Yet South Florida as a whole doesn't seem to have the Jewish cultural currency that you'd expect based on the numbers, in large part because much of the Jewish population consists of retirees from the Northeast.

In LA, Jewish culture certainly takes a backseat to Mexican culture and many Jews are originally from NYC, but the difference is that the Jews are urban-based ("urban" meaning part of the cosmopolitan fabric of the city) and have left their imprint on our civic institutions for decades. And when I say civic, I actually mean the city of Los Angeles (not the county, MSA, or CSA). Jews that come to CA to retire don't move to Encino; they head to the Coachella Valley, which has its own substantial Jewish community.