• TODAY PLAZ
LITTLE SAIGON,
ORANGE COUNTY:
A DEMOGRAPHIC AND
ECONOMIC PROFILE
Presented by Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting
COLLEGE OF
CSUF Business
and Economics
WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
LITTLE SAIGON,
ORANGE COUNTY:
A DEMOGRAPHIC AND
ECONOMIC PROFILE
Prepared by
Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting
College of Business and Economics
California State University, Fullerton
Anil Puri, Ph.D.
Project Director
Aaron Popp, Pn.D.
Project Co-Director
Adrian Fleissig, Ph.D.
Project Co-Director
OCTOBER 2024
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
FOREWORD
As a fellow business and community leader, I am honored to share with you the first- ever economic report on Little Saigon-a historic moment for our community. Little Saigon has long been a symbol of resilience and entrepreneurial spirit, serving as a thriving center for Vietnamese Americans and a key part of our region's economy. The Little Saigon Orange County: A Demographic and Economic Profile marks an important milestone in our efforts to understand and guide the future of our community.
I want to thank the teams at Cal State Fullerton especially the University Advancement, College of Business and Economics, Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting and the Small Business Development Center-for their support in producing this invaluable report.
This study offers crucial insights into where we stand today, highlighting key trends and opportunities that will shape our growth. Whether you're a seasoned business owner or an aspiring entrepreneur, the data and analysis in this report will help you make informed decisions for the future and guide strategic actions to drive success and development within the community.
Little Saigon's success has always been rooted in its people and our shared commitment to collaboration. I encourage all of us to use this analysis as a tool to drive collective growth and ensure that Little Saigon remains a beacon of cultural and economic vitality for years to come.
Together, we can continue building a prosperous future for our community.
Go Titans,
Tâm T. Nguyễn, MD, MBA
CSUF MBA Class of 2005
Chair, CSUF Philanthropic Foundation Board of Governors 2022-2024 Proud Little Saigon Business Owner, Advance Beauty College 1987-2024 California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
FOREWORD
At the College of Business and Economics, we are guided by dual missions: an "academic" mission to provide thought leadership through research, and a "community" mission to drive positive impact in our region. The inaugural Little Saigon Demographic and Economic Profile is a first-of-its-kind study highlighting the incredible progress made by Vietnamese Americans in Orange County over the past fifty years. It also serves as a benchmark allowing us to effectively plan for the continued growth of this community in the future.
The report provides a comprehensive look at the expanding geographical boundaries of Little Saigon, now encompassing Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Westminster. It also captures key shifts in the demographic and economic landscape of Little Saigon, illustrating the strides made by the Vietnamese American community.
While this progress is impressive, there remains important work ahead to help this community achieve full economic parity within Orange County. This publication offers essential insights for policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders to inform future actions and decisions.
I want to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Tam Nguyen for his leadership and for commissioning this project, as well as to Cal State Fullerton and the OCIE SBDC for their support. I am also incredibly proud of the team at the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting for their outstanding work on this report, which will serve as a cornerstone for the continued development of Little Saigon and our region.
Dr. Sridhar Sundaram
Dean, College of Business and Economics
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS ifi WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................. 1
Il. LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY DEFINED ...2
Ill. DEMOGRAPHICS.. 9
IV. ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS 12
V. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS .18
VI. HOUSING . 21
VIl. INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT... 23
VIl. BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS . 26
IX. FUTURE TRENDS FOR LITTLE SAIGON . 26
Data appendices are available upon request.
Please contact Anil Puri via email
([email protected]) for
more information.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS iv WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
LITTLE SAIGON,
ORANGE COUNTY:
A DEMOGRAPHIC AND
ECONOMIC PROFILE
I. INTRODUCTION
After the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, 1.5 million to 2.5 million Vietnamese residents emigrated abroad. The first wave of immigrants arrived in the United States in 1975, and the second wave was prolonged between 1978 and the early 1990s. Vietnamese communities became established throughout the U.S. The largest are in Orange County, San Diego and San Jose, California; Arlington, Garland and Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Falls Church, Virginia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Seattle, Washington. These communities established their own restaurants, grocery stores, and small businesses in geographically concentrated areas and their own economic, social, and cultural identities.
Growth of Little Saigon, Orange County
The largest and oldest Vietnamese community in the U.S. is in Orange County, California.
Bolsa Avenue in the city of Westminster became a hub in the beginning and remains a center of activity, with many shops, restaurants, and businesses surrounding the Asian Garden Mall and Little Saigon Plaza. The city of Westminster passed Resolution No. 2661 in April 1988, to recognize the Little Saigon area as a commercial area of the Vietnamese community and designated a 1.5-mile stretch of Bolsa Avenue as the Little Saigon Tourist Commercial District. Then California Governor George Deukmejian went to the Asian Garden Mall on June 17, 1988, to officially recognize the Little Saigon District as a commercial and tourism center in Orange County. Community activist and Westminster City Councilman Tony Lam played a prominent role in promoting the Little Saigon freeway signs. Governor Deukmejian introduced the directional signs to the Little Saigon area from Interstate 405 and State Route 22 in 1988. The 405 freeway from Bolsa Chica to Magnolia Avenue was designated the "Little Saigon Freeway." Little Saigon continued to expand into neighboring cities. In addition to multiple restaurants, delis, supermarkets, strip malls, and banks (First Vietnamese American Bank and Saigon National Bank most noteworthy), media and entertainment industries began to grow in the area, including Vietnamese newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and Vietnamese language TV stations.
The Asian Garden Mall and Village Center is an iconic landmark in Little Saigon. This two-story building houses Asian Garden Mall (Phước Lộc Thọ), which opened in 1987 on Bolsa Avenue. Developer Frank Jao built it for $15 million. The Asian Garden Mall has many shops, restaurants, and entertainment businesses. During summer weekend nights, it hosts the Asian Garden Night Market.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE News media and television stations led the growth of cultural and entertainment outlets.
Ethnic newspapers included The Little Saigon News, Vien Dong Daily News, Việt Báo Daily News, and the newspapers of Nguoi Viet. Little Saigon Radio and Radio Bolsa are two popular Vietnamese radio stations. There were also broadcasts of Little Saigon TV, SBTN TV, VietFace TV, VNATV, and Saigon TV.
The Vietnamese Lunar New Year, known as Tết Festival (Tết Nguyên Đán), stands as the pinnacle of Vietnamese cultural celebration each year. It celebrates the new spring season, marking a time for families to come together in joyous reunions. Amidst colorful festivities, Tết offers a respite from the trials of the past year, fostering hope and anticipation for the year ahead. It is a cherished occasion where bonds are strengthened, and optimism reigns supreme.
The annual Tết celebrations are held across Orange County, including at the Asian Garden Mall, Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana. The Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce has been celebrating it since 1996. The OC Fair and Event Center had its 10th annual Tết festival in 2024, celebrating Orange County's the Year of the Dragon. Thousands of people attend the celebration, which is broadcast Little Saigon remains live on local Vietnamese-language TV and radio stations. By 2024, the festival attracted the largest and most over 15,000 attendees, with additional viewership estimated to be 250,000 globally influential community for across multiple streaming and TV channels. Orange County's Little Saigon remains the Vietnamese Americans in largest and most influential community for Vietnamese Americans in the United States. the United States.
II. LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY DEFINED
Using a population-based approach used in the academic literature to distinguish ethnic enclaves, we define Little Saigon as a collection of neighborhoods with a substantial population of Vietnamese residents. Specifically, we used American Community Survey data (and decennial census data historically) to find an adjacent collection of census tracts, including the historical Little Saigon boundary, where the population of people who are Vietnamese alone or Vietnamese in combination with other races is 30% or more of the population'. These criteria yield the borders for Little Saigon using 2021 American Community Survey estimates in Figure 1. Table 2 lists the 41 census tracts of Little Saigon and their Vietnamese population for census tracts in Little Saigon according to 2021 American Community Survey data.
The area in the boundaries contains an estimated 46.1% of the population in Orange County describing themselves as Vietnamese alone in the 2021 American Community Survey five-year estimates (99,585 of 215,546)?.
"The 2000 Census was the first to allow respondents to choose two or more races, so data from the 1980 Census and 1990 Census use the share of the population that is Vietnamese alone. 2DP05-line 50 (Detailed tables referred to in the report are available upon request).
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE FIGURE 1: 2021 Borders of Little Saigon
Vietnamese Population, 2021
<30%
30-60%
Stanton
>60%
Garden Grove
Fountain Valley
The criteria we use do not require the ethnic Vietnamese percentage to be a majority of the area's population, which is consistent with the literature on ethnic enclaves. For example, Logan et al. (2011)3 discuss that past studies have had a variety of criteria that effectively ranged from 10% to 35% of a tract's population, and our 30% criterion is in the upper part of the range for similar criteria of ethnic enclaves.
We do not suggest that the borders of Little Saigon used in this report define a The borders of Little neighborhood that excludes other large ethnic groups. Instead, the borders of Saigon delimit a Little Saigon delimit a connected area where a significant share of the population is connected area where a Vietnamese. The definition of Little Saigon we use does not assume that the area is significant share of the
an ethnic enclave solely influenced by Vietnamese culture and language. For example, Koreatown in Garden Grove is inside the 2021 boundary we define, and there are large population is Vietnamese.
Hispanic neighborhoods on the west side of Santa Ana. Instead, the borders of Little Saigon have a substantial share of the population having Vietnamese heritage. 'Logan, John R., Seth Spielman, Hongwei Xu, and Philip N. Klein, "Identifying and bounding ethnic neighborhoods." Urban Geography 32, no. 3 (2011): 334-359.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 3 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE TABLE 2: CENSUS TRACTS OF LITTLE SAIGON, 2021
Census Tract Total Population Vietnamese Population % Vietnamese 889.04 4,890 3,852 78.8
889.05 4,939 3,558 72.0
998.03 5,893 3,864 65.6
889.02 5,543 3,490 63.0
992.04 5,167 3,144 60.8
992.23 5,538 3,116 56.3
890.01 6,083 3,329 54.7
889.01 6,729 3,592 53.4
889.03 8,643 4,542 52.6
992.47 2,836 1,485 52.4
887.02 6,001 3,130 52.2
992.22 5,465 2,846 52.1
992.03 5,386 2,776 51.5
888.02 5,403 2,759 51.1
997.01 6,550 3,306 50.5
992.24 3,190 1,584 49.7
997.02 8,304 4,040 48.7
998.02 4,611 2,178 47.2
881.07 6,175 2,894 46.9
887.01 6,134 2,696 44.0
999.04 5,737 2,418 42.1
999.03 5,610 2,324 41.4
880.01 4,673 1,911 40.9
880.02 4,270 1,713 40.1
881.05 4,685 1,876 40.0
992.26 3,777 1,429 37.8
886.01 7,481 2,824 37.7
888.01 7,657 2,784 36.4
883.01 5,797 2,078 35.8
881.06 5,244 1,874 35.7
882.03 5,207 1,835 35.2
886.02 4,471 1,538 34.4
996.01 7,510 2,573 34.3
992.27 5,910 2,018 34.1
890.04 6,517 2,192 33.6
890.03 4,446 1,489 33.5
997.03 5,674 1,881 33.2
992.25 4,049 1,307 32.3
992.02 7,242 2,324 32.1
998.01 6,260 1,930 30.8
883.02 6,287 1,919 30.5
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 4 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE To see how Little Saigon has expanded in Orange County, the decennial census from 1980, 1990, and 2000, and American Community Survey data from 2005 and 2021 are used. Figure 3 below shows the boundaries of Little Saigon based on 2021 American Community Survey data.
FIGURE 3: POPULATION-BASED BORDERS OF LITTLE SAIGON OVER TIME Estimated Borders of Little Saigon
2021 Border
2015 Border
2010 Border
2000 Border
1990 Border
on Gr
Edna Park
Santa An
Heninger
Wilshire Sai
Santa Ana Memor
Park
Fountai
Valley Commercin
Area
Fountain Valley
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Comparison with Other Definitions of Little Saigon
Our delineation of Little Saigon over time broadly agrees with formal and informal historical definitions of it.
FIGURE 4: APPROXIMATE BORDERS OF LITTLE SAIGON IN 2013 ACCORDING TO THE OC REGISTER Chapman Ave. -T
GARDEN GROVE
Magnolia Garden Grove Blvd.
WESTMINSTER
22 Westminster Blvd.
Harbor Blvd.
Original
Beach Blvd. Little
Bolsa Ave. Saigon Ist St.
•--SANTA
Goldenwest St.
ANA
Edinger Ave. Brookhurst St. Fairview St.
HUNTINGTON Euclid St.
405
BEACH
Warner Ave.
Map Area with FOUNTAIN
0 area Little Saigon
businesses VALLEY
The Register
The Little Saigon business district designated by former Governor Deukmejian in 1988 was bounded by Euclid Street to the east, Magnolia Street to the west, Westminster Boulevard to the north, and Bolsa Avenue to the south. Today, the Vietnamese community has expanded beyond those boundaries. Figure 4 is from an Orange County Register article in 20134, and it shows the original Little Saigon boundaries and their assessment of the boundaries of Little Saigon businesses at that time. '"'Little Saigon turns 25" by Doug Morino and Kendra Ablaza, The Orange County Register, June 17, 2013.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 6 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Our 1990 population-based estimates of Little Saigon encompass most of the eastern end of the original Little Saigon boundaries, and the western end of the original boundaries included many Vietnamese businesses and the Asian Garden Mall.
Compared to our map based on the 2015 population, the Orange County Register's assessment matches well, except that the Register's review of Little Saigon business boundaries reaches less far north in Garden Grove than ours. This difference makes sense since many neighborhoods in the northern part of Garden Grove are primarily residential, not commercial, and the Register's assessment was based on areas with Vietnamese businesses.
We believe that any language-based definition of Little Saigon would be similar to our results since all census tracts in our definition of Little Saigon contain a substantial share of residents who speak Vietnamese at home as illustrated in Figure 5 below.
FIGURE 5: NUMBER OF PEOPLE SPEAKING VIETNAMESE AT HOME (2022 ACS) Number of Vietnamese Speakers
O to 1,000
1,000 to 2,000
2,000 to 3,000
3,000 to 4,000
Missing
Garden Grove
Westminste
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 7 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Estimation of Economic and Demographic Statistics for Little Saigon In sections below, we examine the economic and demographic characteristics of Little Little Saigon is not an Saigon residents and compare them to Orange County residents. Little Saigon is not officially designated an officially designated city or other jurisdiction, so the United States Census Bureau city or other jurisdiction, and other government agencies do not have any official estimates of statistics about it. so the United States However, the Census Bureau conducts the American Community Survey (ACS), which Census Bureau and other estimates national, state, county, and local economic and demographic information government agencies annually. The Census constructs the following data profile reports to distribute do not have any official
commonly requested information about different jurisdictions:
estimates of statistics
about it. However, the
• DP-02: Selected Social Characteristics
• DP-03: Selected Economic Characteristics Census Bureau conducts • DP-04: Selected Housing Characteristics the American Community • DP-05: ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates Survey (ACS), which estimates national, state,
We collected these reports for Orange County, and we constructed estimates of these county, and local economic statistics for Little Saigon building up from the census tract levels. and demographic information annually.
The estimates in the data profiles have three different types of statistics: counts, means, and medians. We estimate counts for Little Saigon, such as the total Vietnamese population of Little Saigon, by summing the estimates of the counts across all 41 Little Saigon census tracts in Table 2 from the American Community Survey. We estimate means, such as the mean commuting time, using the weighted mean of the estimates across the Little Saigon census tracts. We estimate medians, such as median household income, using the weighted median of the estimates across Little Saigon census tracts. We do not have access to the confidential raw responses of the ACS, so the estimates we produce for Little Saigon are not official estimates from the US Census Bureau. Instead, they are our best estimates based on publicly available data.
Another common statistic in the report is the percentage, such as the percentage of the population that is Vietnamese. We estimate these percentages using the appropriate counts of those variables®.
We use the latest available data from the ACS as of the writing of this report, which are the 2022 ACS estimates while using mostly the latest 2021 Little Saigon boundaries.
We use the 5-year estimates, which combine five years of survey data for better accuracy at the local level.
5The detailed tables are available upon request.
"For example, (total Vietnamese population/total population)*100.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 8 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE III. DEMOGRAPHICS
Little Saigon's population has grown over time at a rate faster than that of Orange County as a whole. Table 6 below shows the growth of Little Saigon and the Vietnamese population between 1980 and 2022:
TABLE 6: LITTLE SAIGON AND ORANGE COUNTY POPULATION, 1980-20227 Vietnamese Vietnamese Total Pop. of % of Vietnamese %
Total Pop. in
Year Pop. in Pop. in Vietnamese of
Little Saigon Little Saigon Orange County in Little Saigon Orange County Orange County
1980 19,333 1,932,709 1.0
1990 4,151 12,451 71,822 2,410,556 5.8 3.0
2000 44,685 109,562 135,548 2,846,289 33.0
2010 57,771 127,213 170,256 2,965,525 33.9
2015 82,489 185,934 195,351 3,116,069 42.2
2022 99,585 229,314 215,546 3,175,227 46.2
The table shows that the Vietnamese population has grown substantially. As of 2022, the population of Little Saigon stood at 229,314, while that of Orange County was 3,175,227, making Little Saigon's population 7.2% of Orange County®. However, much of the population growth is due to immigration from Vietnam over this period, as explained later in this section.
The age profile of Little Saigon is older than that of Orange County since the median age of people in Little Saigon at 41 years is older than for Orange County (39 years)° as of 2022. For example, 19.9% of Little Saigon's population is below 18 years of age compared to 21.4% for Orange County'. The share of 20-44 age group is 31.8% for Little Saigon and 33.9% for Orange County''. In other words, Little Saigon's population share of those below age 45 is lower than that for Orange County, 54.6% versus 58%12.
Little Saigon has a larger share of the population in middle and older ages from 45 years and older. The group 45-64 is 14% of Little Saigon's population compared to 12.9% in Orange County13. 16.5% of Little Saigon's population is 65 and older compared to 15.4% for Orange County14.
Age-Sex population pyramids provide a more detailed profile for age as well as sex, as shown below in Figure 715.
'Sources: 1980 Census, 1990 Census, and 2000 Census summary files; 2010-2022 ACS DP-05 rows Table DP-05, line 1.
Table DP-05, line 7.
1°Table DP-05, line 18.
"Computed from Table DP-05, lines 1 and 8-10.
12Computed from Table DP-05, lines 1 and 4-10.
1 Computed from Table DP-05, lines 1, 11, and 12.
14Table DP-05, line 13.
15 Computed using 2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates for each age profile.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 9 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Both regions have healthy, well-distributed profiles where no single cohort dominates the pyramid.
FIGURE 7: LITTLE SAIGON'S AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION PYRAMID, 2022 LITTLE SAIGON - AGE-SEX % DISTRIBUTION
-10.0% -8.0% -6.0% -4.0% -2.0% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% Under 5 years -4.4% 5.0%
5 to 9 years 10 E5.4% 4.8%
to 14 years 15 1-6.1% 6.0%
to 19 years 20 16.8% 7.0%
to 24 years 25 L5.8% 6.5%
to 29 years 30 -7.9% 6.9%
to 34 years 35 L7.2% 6.5%
to 39 years 40 I-6.2% 5,3%
to 44 years 45 1-5.5% 6.0%
to 49 years 50 1-8.0% 7.7%
to 54 years 55 6.9%|
to 59 years 60 L-74% 7.1% |
to 64 years 65 -6.8% 6.7%
to 69 years 70 L5.2% 5.1%
to 74 years 75 -3.6% 4.2%
to 79 years 80 1-2,3% 3.4%
to 84 years 85 -2,1% 2.4%|
years & over 1-2,1% 2.7%
• Males • Females
FIGURE 8: ORANGE COUNTY'S AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION PYRAMID, 2022 ORANGE COUNTY - AGE-SEX % DISTRIBUTION
-10.0% -8.0% -6.0% -4.0% -2.0% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% Under 5 years 1-5.7% 5.3%
5 to 9 years 10 1-5.8% 5.5%
to 14 years 15 1-6.6% 6.2%
to 19 years 20 L-6.8% 6.5%
to 24 years 25 1-6.7% 6.5%
to 29 years 30 -7.5% 7.0%
to 34 years 35 1-7.2% 6.7%
to 39 years 40 1-6.9% 6.4%
to 44 years 45 1-6.4% 6.4%]
to 49 years 50 L6.7% 6.7%)
to 54 years 55 L-7.0% 6.9%
to 59 years 60 1-6.9% 6.7%
to 64 years 65 -6.1% 6.1%
to 69 years 70 1-4.6% 5.0%
to 74 years 75 1-3.7% 4.2%
to 79 years 80 E2.4% 2,9%
to 84 years 85 1-1.5% 2.1%
years & over b1.6% 2.7%
•Males • Females
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 10 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE In terms of racial makeup, 92.3% of Little Saigon residents reported being of a single race, while the proportion was 88% for Orange County 6. Of these, 23.3% were White alone, 1.15% Black alone, and 52.8% Asian alone for Little Saigon, while the proportions for Orange County were 50.2% White alone, 1.7% Black alone, and 21.7% Asian alone'. In Little Saigon, 43.4% of the population reported being Vietnamese, while the proportion was 6.8% for Orange County'®.
Finally, of the total population, 28.5% in Little Saigon reported being of Hispanic origin, while the proportion was 33.9% for Orange County19. There is a substantial proportion of people of Hispanic origin in the Little Saigon area, though as a percentage, it is smaller than that for the county.
Place of Birth and Citizenship
Little Saigon makes up 7.2% of the Orange County population, of which 50.6% are 49.4% of the Little Saigon native-born compared to 70.5% for Orange County. In other words, 49.4% of the Little population is foreign- Saigon population is foreign-born compared to 29.5% for Orange County20. Of those born compared to 29.5% foreign-born, 70.4% of the Little Saigon population is naturalized compared to 57.9% for Orange County.
of the overall county population?!. Of the foreign-born, 29.6% of the Little Saigon population is non-citizen compared to 42.1% for Orange County (these could be people with immigrant or other kind of visas)?. Of the foreign-born residents, 74.5% in Little Saigon come from Asia and 22.6% from Latin America, compared to 51.2% and
38.9%, respectively, for Orange County23.
English as the only language spoken at home occurs in 28.7% of Little Saigon The share of Asian and households compared to 54.4% for Orange County 4. Where English is not the only Pacific Islander language language spoken, 39.8% speak it "less than well" in Little Saigon compared to 18% in speakers is 46.8% in Orange County25. Spanish is spoken at 22.4% of the Little Saigon homes compared to Little Saigon and 15.3%
24.3% for the county26. The share of Asian and Pacific Islander language speakers is for the county.
46.8% in Little Saigon and 15.3% for the county??.
1°Computed using Table DP-05, line 55.
Table DP-05, lines 34, 35, and 41.
18Table DP-05, line 47.
1°Table DP-05, line 70.
20Table DP-02, line 89.
21Table DP-02, line 96.
22Table DP-02, line 97.
23Table DP-02, lines 107 and 110.
24Table DP-02, line 113.
25Table DP-02, line 115.
26Table DP-02. line 117,
27Table DP-02, line 121.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 11
WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC ITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFIL IV. ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE IN
LITTLE SAIGON
This section describes the general economic characteristics of residents of Little Saigon compared to Orange County in 2022. A discussion of Little Saigon from businesses' perspective is in Section VIII below.
Employment and Unemployment
Little Saigon has a weaker labor market than Orange County as shown by key labor market Little Saigon has a indicators. The unemployment rate calculates the percentage of the labor force (employed weaker labor market and unemployed) who do not have a job but are actively looking for one. Little Saigon had than Orange County a higher unemployment rate and a lower employment-population ratio than Orange County as shown by key labor in 2022. The unemployment rate of Little Saigon was 6.7%, which was higher than the market indicators.
Orange County unemployment rate of 5.4%28. Figure 9 below shows the unemployment rate in Little Saigon by census tract in 2022 with Little Saigon's borders in purple:
FIGURE 9: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY CENSUS TRACT
Unemployment Rate (%)
0.0 to 2.5
2.5 to 5.0
5.0 to 7.5
7.5 to 10.0
10.0 to 12.5
12.5 to 15.0
15.0 to 17.5
Garden Grove
Westminster ,
- Minary Can
Santa Ana
tain Valley
28Table DP-03, line 9.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 12 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE The unemployment rates differ within Little Saigon. The highest unemployment rates within Little Saigon were in the southern parts east of Mile Square Regional Park and the neighborhood around and south of the Asian Garden Mall, where unemployment rates are above 15%. The lowest unemployment rates are in the northern part of Garden Grove and along Westminster Ave. in the eastern part of Little Saigon where unemployment rates are below 5%.
The employment-population ratio is the percentage of the population 16 years or older that is employed, and a lower employment-population ratio means that fewer adults are working. The employment-population ratio in 2022 was 56.9% in Little Saigon versus 62% in Orange County29.
The lower employment-population ratio in Little Saigon reflects lower participation by The lower employment- Little Saigon residents in the workforce. Several factors could contribute to this lower population ratio in Little participation. First, Little Saigon residents are older and more likely to be closer to Saigon reflects lower retirement age than the typical Orange County residents. As noted above, 16.5% of participation by Little Little Saigon residents in 2022 were 65 years and older versus 15.4% of Orange County Saigon residents in residents. The median age of Little Saigon residents was 41 years versus 39 years the workforce.
for Orange County residents. Second, Little Saigon residents of typical working age are more likely to be disabled. In Little Saigon, about 7.5% of residents 18 to 64 years old were disabled versus 6.2% in Orange County. Third, Little Saigon families with young children are more likely to have a parent staying at home than Orange County families. Of workers with children under 6 years old, 61.1% of them were in households with all parents in the labor force versus 65.6% in Orange County33. Long-term differences in female labor force participation cannot explain lower overall labor force participation. While the employment-population ratio for women is lower in Little Saigon compared to Orange County (52.1% vs. 55.8%), the gap between Little Saigon's and Orange County's employment-population ratio for men is far larger (61.6% vs. 68.3%)34.
Childcare, disability, and an aging workforce are all also reasons why the national employment-population ratio has been falling35.
29 Calculated as employment/(population 16 and over)*100 using Table DP-03, rows 1 and 4. 3°Table DP-05, line 23.
31Table DP-05, line 17.
32Table DP-02, line 76.
33Table DP-03, row 15.
3^Table DP-03, rows 1, 4, 10, and 13 with male value = total value - female value. 35 As discussed in Abraham, Katharine G., and Melissa S. Kearney, 2020. "Explaining the Decline in the US Employment-to-Population Ratio: A Review of the Evidence." Journal of Economic Literature, 58 (3): 585-643.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 13 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Occupations and Industries
This subsection describes the occupations, industries, and classes of the 108,266 workers who lived in Little Saigon in 20223. Occupation estimates describe the kind of work that people do on the job. Industry describes the kind of business conducted by their employer. The class of worker defines the type of ownership of the workers' employers.
Workers who live in Little Saigon are more likely to be employed in service- and Workers who live in Little production-related occupations and less likely to be employed in white-collar Saigon are more likely to occupations. 45.6% of workers in Orange County are employed in management, be employed in service- business, science, and arts-related occupations, only about 31.4% of workers in and production-related Little Saigon are employed in these occupations. On the other hand, 22.5% of Little occupations and less Saigon workers are in service occupations versus 16.4% in Orange County, and likely to be employed in
17.4% of Little Saigon workers are in production, transportation, and material moving white-collar occupations.
occupations versus 10.1% in Orange County. This difference may be caused by the fact that fewer Little Saigon workers have a college degree which is more likely to be required for white-collar jobs. Also, many of the initial wave of Vietnamese refugees to the United States were well-educated professionals, but language barriers and other reasons forced many former white-collar workers into retail, sales, and blue-collar work39. As later sections in our report show, manufacturing employment within Little Saigon's boundaries has fallen substantially since 2002, forcing many of Little Saigon's manufacturing workers to commute out of Little Saigon for work.
The industry employment in Little Saigon is consistent with the occupation data.
Professional, financial, high-tech, and administrative industries have fewer Little Saigon workers, 34.2%, while the ratio is 43.9% for Orange County. However, there is a higher proportion of Little Saigon workers in services, 39.1% (excluding public administration), compared to 35.7% for Orange Countyto. 16.8% of Little Saigon workers were employed in manufacturing versus 11.7% for Orange County in 202241.
Little Saigon workers are slightly less likely to be employed by the government than Orange County workers. 81.8% of Little Saigon workers were private wage and salary workers compared to 80.8% in Orange County, and 10.7% worked for the government in Little Saigon compared to 11.5% in Orange County*. Self-employment rates were similar in Little Saigon and Orange County; just over 7% of workers were self-employed in Little Saigon and Orange County 3.
36Table DP-03, row 4.
37Table DP-03, row 27.
38Table DP-03, rows 28 and 31.
39 Detailed survey data is collected in Nguyen, Liem T., and Alan B, Henkin. "Vietnamese refugees in the United States: Adaptation and transitional status." The Journal of Ethnic Studies 9.4 (1982): 101. 4°Computed using Table DP-03, lines 32, 42, 43, and 44. 41Table DP-03, line 35.
42Table DP-03, lines 47 and 48.
43Table DP-03, line 49.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 14 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Income Profile
Little Saigon's median household income lags Orange County's but has been recovering since the Great Recession. Median household income was $79,911 in Little Saigon census tracts in 2022 compared to $109,361 in Orange County. In other words, median household income was 27.8% lower in Little Saigon compared to Orange County4. Little Saigon households are about half as likely to be earning over $200,000 compared to Orange County overall, with 11.4% of Little Saigon households earning more than $200,000 compared to 22.3% in Orange County. Median household incomes are the highest in the more recent expansions of Little Saigon in Fountain Valley to the south and Garden Grove to the north and the lowest in Westminster to the west:
FIGURE 10: MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME BY CENSUS TRACT (2022 ACS) Median Household Income ($)
25,000 to 50,000
50,000 to 75,000
75,000 to 100,000
100,000 to 125,000
125,000 to 150,000
150,000 to 175,000
175,000 to 200,000
Missing
in Grave
Santa Ana
Fountain Valley
4ªTable DP-03, row 62.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 15 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Family status of households cannot explain much of the difference in household income between Little Saigon and Orange County. The median household income of nontamily households (i.e., roommates) in Little Saigon was 65.5% of nonfamily households in Orange County ($45,625 vs. $69,626)45. Family households' incomes in Little Saigon also lag household incomes in Orange County. Little Saigon's median family household (excludes people living together as roommates) income was $85,156, which was 68.6% of Orange County's median at $124,13246.
Since household incomes are lower in Little Saigon, poverty rates here are higher compared to Orange County: 6.8% of Orange County families are in poverty, while Little Saigon suffered the proportion is 11.1% for Little Saigon". Poverty rates by household and population more in the aftermath groups are also consistently higher in Little Saigon for almost all demographic groups. of the Great Recession.
It has been recovering
Historical income data in Table 11 suggests that Little Saigon suffered more in the slowly and is catching
aftermath of the Great Recession. It has been recovering slowly and is catching up to the rest of Orange County, especially in areas where Little Saigon has recently up to the rest of Orange expanded. Table 11 below shows the median household income data for 2010, 2015, County, especially in and 2022 for Little Saigon. As Little Saigon has expanded over that period, we include areas where Little Saigon median household income estimates based on our 2010, 2015, and 2021 definitions of has recently expanded.
Little Saigon to allow a comparison of the regions over time.
TABLE 11: NOMINAL MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN LITTLE SAIGON AND ORANGE COUNTY, 2010-202248 MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME ANNUALIZED GROWTH RATES (%)
LS area in LS area in LS area in LS area in LS area in LS area in Year
2010 2015 2021 2010 2015 2021
2010 $55,347 $55,536 $58,357 $74,344 - -
2015 $48,651 $51,462 $51,462 $76,509 -2.5 -1.5 -2.5 0.6 2022 $70,583 $75,982 $79,911 $109,361 5.5 5.7 6.5 5.2
Median household incomes in Little Saigon were $55,347 in 2010, $51,462 in 2015, and much higher at $79,911 in 2022 using contemporary definitions of Little Saigon. Median household income fell between 2010 and 2015 while it rose in Orange County by this measure, and median household income grew at over a 5% rate in Little Saigon and Orange County between 2015 and 2022. This growth caused Little Saigon's median household income as a percentage of Orange County's income to fall from 74.4% in 2010 to 67.2% in 2015. Little Saigon's median household income recovered to 73.1% of Orange County's level by 2022. The industries and occupations of Little Saigon workers could explain the slow recovery from the Great Recession since the recovery was strongest in the typically higher paying white-collar and high-tech industries. 45 Table DP-03, row 90.
46Table DP-03, line 86.
47Table DP-03, line 119.
4 Based on different versions of Table DP-03 we calculated for different definitions of Little Saigon and different years.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 16 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE The income data in Table 11 shows that the older core of Little Saigon (LS area in 2010) has had slower income growth compared to the newer areas of Little Saigon. While median household income using the larger 2021 Little Saigon boundary was 5.4% higher in 2010 compared to median household income in the 2010 boundary, it was 13.2% higher by 2022. The data suggests that Little Saigon is expanding into areas that have been growing faster in recent times.
Wealth Little Saigon residents
have less than half the
While we cannot observe the wealth of Little Saigon residents using American share of their income Community Survey data, we can use Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data for rough from sources other than estimates of income from interest, dividends, and other assets that provide income, wages and benefits
and we can infer some aspects of wealth in Little Saigon compared to Orange County. compared to Orange
The IRS's Statistics of Income data provided tallies of the number of returns and amount on each return of income, deductions, and other tax information by zip code, County residents. from which we estimated how much of each zip code was in the Little Saigon area to attribute the tax data to Little Saigon.
Our efforts suggest that just as Little Saigon's income lags Orange County's, its wealth also lags Orange County as of 2021. Little Saigon residents have less than half the share of their income from sources other than wages and benefits compared to Orange County residents. While 11.8% of income in Little Saigon is from sources other than wages and benefits, Orange County residents earn 26.6% of their income from these sources 9. Fewer Little Saigon residents report interest and dividend incomes, and Little Saigon residents are also less likely to report cryptocurrency holdings than Orange County residents (4.7% of returns in Little Saigon and 5.7% in Orange County)51.
Fewer Little Saigon residents also report capital gains income (18.3%) compared to Orange County (27.8%)52.
Little Saigon workers have
Commuting
a longer commute and
Little Saigon workers have a longer commute and are more likely to travel to work by are more likely to travel car than the typical Orange County and American workers. On average, American to work by car than the workers spent 26.7 minutes per workday on their commute in 202253. Orange County typical Orange County workers had a longer average commute of 27.3 minutes, and Little Saigon residents and American workers. had an even longer average commute of 28.3 minutes 4.
49 Calculated using Table YYY, lines 19 and 21.
5°Table YYY, lines 22, 24, and 26.
"Table YYY, line 9.
52Table YYY, line 32.
5https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP5Y2022.DP03
5*Table DP-03, row 25.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 17 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Commuting Destinations
Commuting destinations in 2021 can be described using data from LODES (The Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics of the Center for Economic Studies at the Census Bureau). LODES data shows Little Saigon residents are more likely to commute to somewhere within Orange County than the typical Orange County resident. Of the 96,948 workers commuting from Little Saigon, 13,525 (14%) commute to another location within Little Saigon, and 55,250 (57%) commute to somewhere in the rest of Orange County. Of other Orange County residents, 24,220 (1.9%) commute to Little Saigon, and 795,985 (63.6%) commute to the rest of Orange County. About 92% of Little Saigon's workers commute somewhere within Orange or Los Angeles counties, but despite Little Saigon's access to Los Angeles County via I-405 and SR-22, Little Saigon residents are less likely to commute to Los Angeles County than the typical Orange County resident (21.1% vs. 24%). About 2.5% of Little Saigon's commuters travel to each of Riverside, San Bernardino, or San Diego counties.
Method of Commute and Working from Home
Little Saigon residents are more likely to commute by car, less likely to walk, and less Little Saigon residents are likely to work from home than the typical Orange County resident. In 2022, 88% of Little more likely to commute Saigon workers commuted by car compared to 80.4% of Orange County residents55. by car, less likely to While more Little Saigon workers drove to work, they were more likely to carpool walk, and less likely to (13.1%) than Orange County workers (9%) 56- work from home than the typical Orange County
Fewer Little Saigon workers work from home than Orange County workers, which resident. Fewer Little
explains much of the difference in commuting methods. In 2022, 8% of Little Saigon Saigon workers work from
workers telecommuted from home compared to 14.6% of Orange County workers?. home than Orange County
Little Saigon workers are less likely to work from home, partly because they are less likely to work in occupations that encourage work from home, like business and workers, which explains much of the difference in
management, and more likely to work in occupations where telecommuting is less common, such as manufacturing58. commuting methods.
V. SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
This section describes some of the social characteristics of the Little Saigon population, those related to household living arrangements, school enrollment, and educational attainment.
55 Table DP-03, rows 19 and 20.
56Table DP-03, row 20.
57Table DP-03, row 24.
58Table DP-03, rows 27, 31, 35, and 41. More information on occupations more likely to be work from home here: https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2022/article/telework.htm.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 18 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Household Living Arrangements
Little Saigon has fewer unmarried women living on their own and cohabiting couples Little Saigon has fewer (living together in a relationship but unmarried) compared to Orange County. While unmarried women the overall proportion of married couple households is similar in Little Saigon and living on their own and Orange County (52.1% versus 53.7%), Little Saigon has fewer cohabitating couple cohabiting couples (living households than Orange County (4.6% versus 6.1%)59. There is a larger proportion of together in a relationship male households with no spouse/partner (19.3%) in Little Saigon compared to Orange but unmarried) compared
County (15.7%), but not for female households with no spouse/partner®. While there to Orange County.
are fewer households of women living alone in Little Saigon, 8.9%, than male, 9.1%, the share of living-alone female households in Little Saigon is substantially lower than in Orange County (8.9% versus 12.4%) 1. There are also more households with one or more people over 65 in Little Saigon (37.3%) than in Orange County (31.3%)62.
A somewhat larger share of Little Saigon residents over 15 have never married (40.3% males and 33.7% female) compared to those in Orange County as a whole (38.1% males and 32.2% females)*. However, compared to Orange County, a larger proportion of Little Saigon males are divorced (7.1% versus 6.9%) than females (9.8% versus 11.1%)64.
The birth rate also is slightly higher in Little Saigon in Orange County. Per 1,000 women 15 to 50 years old, 51.3 gave birth in Little Saigon compared to 45 in Orange County in 2022'. Of the women aged 15-50 who had a birth during the last year in Little Saigon, 23.5% were widowed, divorced, or never married compared to 20.8% in Orange County66.
Little Saigon's grandparents are more likely to live with their grandchildren under 18 Little Saigon's years since Little Saigon accounts for 11.1% of Orange County households living with grandparents are more their grandchildren compared to the share of the region's households in Orange County likely to live with their (6.3%)67. However, fewer grandparents in Little Saigon are solely responsible for their grandchildren under grandchildren compared to Orange County (13.4% vs. 18%)68. Also, a much higher 18 years. proportion of grandparents responsible for their grandchildren under 18 are married (81.4%) in Little Saigon compared to Orange County (72.1%)69. 59Table DP-02, lines 26 and 32.
6°Table DP-02, lines 30 and 36.
6' Table DP-02, line 40.
62Table DP-02, line 38.
63Table DP-02, lines 26 and 32.
64Table DP-02, lines 30 and 36.
65 Table DP-02, line 40.
66Table DP-02, line 38.
67Table DP-02, lines 1 and 44.
68Table DP-02, line 45.
69Table DP-02, line 52.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 19 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE School Enrollment and Educational Attainment
Table 12 below shows the percentage of the population enrolled in school by the type of school. Fewer of those in school in Little Saigon attend preschool and kindergarten than in Orange County, though their shares are roughly equivalent to the rest of the county for higher grades. However, a much higher percentage attend college, 35.8% for Little Saigon compared to 33.9% for the county. It is possible that the parents in the Little Saigon area like to keep and teach younger children at home, though the cohort of students five years and younger is relatively smaller in Little Saigon compared to Orange County as suggested by the population pyramid in the Demographics section.
TABLE 12: SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN LITTLE SAIGON AND ORANGE COUNTY, 202270 School Enrollment -
Little Saigon Orange County
Population 3 years and over enrolled in school
Nursery school, preschool 3.7% 5.9%
Kindergarten 3.5% 4.4%
Elementary school (grades 1-8) 35.0% 35.7%
High school (grades 9-12) 21.9% 20.1%
College or graduate school 35.8% 33.9%
Differences in school attendance show up in the level of educational attainment, as shown in Table 13 below.
TABLE 13: EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN LITTLE SAIGON AND ORANGE COUNTY, 2022? Educational Attainment -
Little Saigon Orange County
Population 25 years and over
Less than 9th grade 13.7% 7.3%
9th to 12th grade, no diploma 11.2% 5.9%
High school graduate (includes equivalency) 24.6% 17.3% Some college, no degree 17.8% 19.2%
Associate's degree 8.0% 7.6%
Bachelor's degree 18.4% 26.9%
Graduate or professional degree 6.4% 15.8%
A much higher percentage of Little Saigon residents over age 25 have less than 9th grade education (13.7% versus 7.3% for Orange County) or no high school diploma (11.2% for Little Saigon versus 5.9% for Orange County). However, compared to the county, the region also has a larger proportion of its residents over age 25 with only high school graduation or equivalency (24.6% versus 17.3%). But the Little Saigon area has fewer residents with college degrees at all levels. The effects of such educational attainment patterns are reflected in the residents' jobs, as discussed in the Economic Characteristics section of this report.
7°Table DP-02, lines 53-58.
'Table DP-02, lines 59-68.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 20 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Finally, computer and internet use are quite high in Little Saigon and countywide. 95.7% of Little Saigon households and 97.2% of the county households have a computer at home, and 90.6% of Little Saigon and 93.6% of the county households have subscriptions to broadband internet??.
VI. HOUSING
A housing unit is "an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. "73 In total, there were 69,617 housing units in Little Saigon in 2022, which was 6.2% of the housing stock in Orange County 4. The vast majority of these, 96.4%, were occupied (94.3% for Orange County), and rental vacancy rates were lower in Little Saigon (2.3% versus 4.2% for Orange County)?. Single-family detached homes make up 52.1% of Little Saigon's housing units compared to 49.8% in Orange County?, Also, Little Saigon has relatively more mobile homes compared to Orange County (6.5% of housing units in Little Saigon vs. 2.6% in Orange County)".
Housing Size and Tenure
Housing units in Little Saigon tend to be smaller but have higher occupancy than Orange Housing units in Little County, and the typical housing unit is older than in Orange County. The average household Saigon tend to be size is larger in Little Saigon compared to Orange County for both owner-occupied and smaller but have higher renter-occupied homes. The average household size in 2022 of owner-occupied housing occupancy than Orange units was 3.5 persons in Little Saigon compared to 3.0 persons in Orange County, and County, and the typical renter-occupied housing units averaged 3.3 persons in Little Saigon compared to 2.9 housing unit is older than persons in Orange County?.
in Orange County. The
average household size
Little Saigon has fewer rooms per housing unit relative to the county with a median of 4.9 is larger in Little Saigon
rooms in Little Saigon compared to 5.1 in Orange County', 17.7% of the Little Saigon units have 3 or fewer rooms compared to 19.3% for the county80 The share of houses with compared to Orange four to six rooms is 64.3% versus 53.9%, and that with more than six rooms is 18% versus County for both owner-
26.8%81. With fewer rooms and more occupants per housing unit in Little Saigon, the occupied and renter- occupational density is higher in Little Saigon, with 14% of housing units having more than occupied homes. one occupant per room compared to 8.7% for Orange County®?. 12Table DP-02, lines 153 and 154.
73https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/definitions.pdf
Table DP-04, line 1.
75Table DP-04, lines 2 and 5.
ToTable DP-04, line 7.
"Table DP-04. line 14.
78Table DP-04, lines 48 and 49.
19Table DP-04, line 37.
80Table DP-04, lines 27-30.
81 Table DP-04, lines 27 and 31-36.
82Table DP-04, line 77.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 21 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE The housing stock in Little Saigon is older relative to Orange County. For example, 72.6% of the units in Little Saigon were built between 1940 and 1979, compared to 55.7% in Orange County83, The share of relatively new housing built since 2010 is 3.6% of the total housing for Little Saigon and 7.8% for Orange County 4.
Since housing units in
Housing Values Little Saigon are smaller
and older compared to
Since housing units in Little Saigon are smaller and older compared to Orange County, Orange County, the median
the median housing price is lower in Little Saigon compared to Orange County. However, housing price is lower in
Little Saigon residents were relatively more likely to have paid off their mortgage compared to those in Orange County: 59.6% of the owner-occupied households in Little Little Saigon compared to Saigon have a mortgage compared to 68.6% in Orange County®s. The median price of Orange County. However, owner-occupied housing in 2022 was $698,600 in Little Saigon compared to $862,900 Little Saigon residents in Orange County 6. Of these units, 10.8% were valued below $200,000 in Little Saigon were relatively more likely compared to 4.9% in Orange County. The share of houses priced between $200,000 to have paid off their and $500,000 was 13.1% for Little Saigon and 9.4% for Orange County, those between mortgage compared to $500,000 and under one million was 66.2% and 51.7%, and for those $1 million or more those in Orange County. was 10.5% and 34%, respectively.
Rents and Housing Costs
As housing prices and the size of housing units are lower in Little Saigon than in Orange As housing prices and the County, rents are also lower. 59.6% of Little Saigon renters paid less than $2,000 in monthly size of housing units are rent payments in 2022 compared to 36.5% for Orange County, while 35.4% paid between lower in Little Saigon than $2,000 and $3,000 (43% for the county), and 10.8% paid more than $3,000 compared to in Orange County, rents
20.5% for the countys®. The median rent in Little Saigon was $1,900 per month, compared are also lower. to $2,248 per month in Orange County. However, despite the lower rents in Little Saigon, rent is still a larger burden on their households than in Orange County. Monthly rent as a percentage of household income measures the financial burden of housing that considers income. 52.6% of Little Saigon renter households pay more than 35% of their income in gross rent compared to 46.1% for the county 1.
Vehicle Ownership
Little Saigon households are less likely to own a vehicle compared to Orange County residents, but if they own vehicles, they are more likely to own many. 6.8% of the occupied housing units of Little Saigon and 4.6% of the Orange County do not own a vehicle. 83Table DP-04, lines 16 and 22-25.
84Table DP-04, lines 16-18.
85Table DP-04, line 91.
86Table DP-04, line 89.
87 Table DP-04, lines 80-84.
88Table DP-04, lines 80 and 85-88.
89Table DP-04, lines 126-133.
9°Table DP-04, line 134.
91Table DP-04. line 142,
92Table DP-04, line 58.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 22 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE
24.1% of the Little Saigon own one vehicle compared to 27.3% for Orange County, and
34.4% own two vehicles (40,5% for the county)®. The share of those owing more than three vehicles is larger in Little Saigon than in Orange County, 34.4% versus 27.6%94.
VIl. INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT
This section describes Little Saigon from its businesses' perspective.
We have data from two sources. First, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) data on the number of establishments, employment, and total payroll for the second quarter of 2023, which is the most recent data available. Second is the employment data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LODES) of the Center for Economic Studies at the Census Bureau to provide historical perspective.
Employment Development Department Data
Table A.VII. 1 and A.VII.2 show the EDD data for Little Saigon and Orange County. The EDD data includes 11,252 establishments in Little Saigon that employ 49,896 workers and have an annualized payroll of $2.02 billion%. The annual average payroll per worker, including full- and part-time workers, was $40,519, and the average establishment employed 4.4 workers.
For Orange County, there were 140,191 establishments employing 1,486,627 workers with an annualized payroll of $109.36 billion. The annual average payroll per worker in Orange Little Saigon's largest County, including full- and part-time workers, was $73,564, and the average establishment industry by establishments employed 10.6 workers.
is Health Care and Social
Little Saigon's largest industry by establishments is Health Care and Social Assistance, Assistance, with 7,163 with 7,163 establishments, almost 10 times more than the next two largest sectors, establishments, almost Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade. The four industries with the fewest 10 times more than the establishments are Educational Services; Information; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; next two largest sectors, and Management of Companies and Enterprises. Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade.
The top two industries for total payroll were Health Care and Social Assistance and Retail Trade with around $103 million in total payroll. However, the average payroll per employee was highest in Management of Companies and Enterprises with $102,885 and construction with $75,238. We caution that these numbers are not full-time salaries, and the prevalence of part-time workers would affect the average payroll of these industries. For Orange County, Health Care and Social Assistance is also the largest industry with 45,285 establishments, which is more than twice as large as the second largest sector of Professional and Technical Services with 19,632 establishments.
93 Table DP-04, lines 59 and 60.
94Table DP-04, line 61.
95We multiply the quarterly payroll amount by four to convert into its annual equivalent. 96Health Care and Social Assistance is a sector defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). It includes jobs in inpatient and outpatient hospital, medical clinic, dental, and psychiatric positions, and it includes child and elder care: https://www.naics.com/six-digit- naics/?code=62.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 23 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE Little Saigon's share of Orange County's establishments, employment and total payroll are in Table IV. For Little Saigon, Health Care and Social Assistance provide the largest share of Orange County's establishments with 15.8%. Accommodation and Food Services accounts for 8.5% with Retail Trade totaling 7.4% of the corresponding Orange County industries.
The three sectors with the lowest shares of Orange County with under 3% are Management of Companies and Enterprises; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.
Little Saigon's businesses differ significantly from those of Orange County in several First, the average respects. First, the average employment of Little Saigon establishments is less than half employment of Little (41,8%) of Orange County businesses and average payroll per establishment in Little Saigon Saigon establishments is was less than a quarter (23%) of Orange County businesses, which suggests that Little less than half (41.8%) of Saigon has more small businesses compared to Orange County, LODES data discussed Orange County businesses below suggests that employment by large enterprises has fallen in Little Saigon over the and average payroll per past two decades while it has risen in Orange County. Employers with large industrial establishment in Little establishments typically locate in large industrial parks, but the neighborhoods of Little Saigon was less than a Saigon are more residential than industrial. Several large industrial areas in Fountain Valley, quarter (23%) of Orange Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, western Garden Grove, southern Anaheim, Orange, and County businesses, which Irvine are top commuting destinations of Little Saigon residents but lie outside of Little suggests that Little Saigon's boundaries.
Saigon has more small
businesses compared to
Second, Little Saigon businesses pay significantly less in some sectors per employee Orange County.
compared to Orange County businesses. No industry pays more per employee in Little Saigon than in Orange County. While the average payroll per employee differences may be caused partly by relying on more part-time workers, average payroll per employee is only 29% of Orange County in the Information industry ($40,375 vs. $138,554). Average payroll per employee is less than 60% of Orange County in Professional and Technical Services (51.4%; $57,500 vs. $111,773); Health Care and Social Assistance (52.9%; $33,550 vs. $63,387) Finance and Insurance (57.4%; $76,504 vs. $138,277); and Manufacturing (57.7%; $56,376 vs. $97,772). The average payroll per employee in Little Saigon is closest to Orange County in the Transportation and Warehousing industry (94.8%; $54,800 vs. $61,571). Since Health Care and Social Assistance is the largest industry in Little Saigon, its average payroll differences are of particular concern. This payroll difference is partly caused None of the 24 hospitals by the lack of large hospitals with emergency services and relatively highly paid doctors in in Orange County with Little Saigon. None of the 24 hospitals in Orange County with emergency departments are emergency departments within Little Saigon's boundary. The lower average payroll in the other industries could be are within Little Saigon's explained by differences in education levels. Other areas like Irvine have a higher percentage boundary. of the population with at least a college degree, which would attract more high-tech manufacturing and white-collar employers.
9As of August 2024 according to the Orange County Health Care Agency: https://ochealthinfo.com/ providers-partners/emergency-medical-services/ems-system-providers/ems-hospitals. The two closest hospitals are UCI Health-Fountain Valley, which is just south of the southern boundary of Little Saigon, and Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, which is east of Little Saigon.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 24 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE LODES Industry Data
The LODES data focuses solely on employment by businesses within Little Saigon. We will examine historical trends in major industries in Little Saigon and Orange County between 2002 and 2021. We use the 2021 borders of Little Saigon throughout the analysis so that the growth of Little Saigon's borders does not create spurious trends in industry employment and to enhance comparability across time.
Little Saigon
While the EDD data shows that Health Care and Social Assistance is the largest industry in Little Saigon, that has not always been the case. Retail Trade was the largest industry in Little Saigon with 22.4% of employment in 2002. Classification changes in industry employment meant that about 5.5% of Little Saigon's jobs were reclassified from Other Services to Health Care and Social Assistance in 2013, so in the current classification, Health Care and Social Assistance and Educational Services were the 2nd and 3rd largest industries with around 13.5% of jobs each. However, employment in Retail Trade The major industries
has stagnated over the past 20 years, and Educational Services has seen a decline in that have grown the
employment. While the COVID-19 pandemic caused job losses in both of these industries, fastest since 2002 are
employment in both sectors had barely changed between 2002 and 2019.
Accommodation and Food
The major industries that have grown the fastest since 2002 are Accommodation and Services and Health Care Food Services and Health Care and Social Assistance. Excluding the jobs added because and Social Assistance. of classification changes in 2013, Health Care and Social Assistance employment grew at a 3.9% average annual rate in Little Saigon, and Accommodation and Food Services employment grew at a 3.1% annual rate. Little Saigon's location near Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and other tourism destinations may have helped growth in Accommodation The major industry that has
and Food Services, and employment growth in Health Care and Social Assistance is declined the most in the
consistent with county-level growth in this industry as described below. last two decades in Little
The major industry that has declined the most in the last two decades in Little Saigon is Saigon is Manufacturing.
Manufacturing. Between 2002 and 2021, Manufacturing employment fell by more than half Between 2002 and 2021, in Little Saigon, and its share of employment in Little Saigon fell by 2/3 from 9.5% to 3.1% Manufacturing employment of employment. The data suggests a sectoral shift in Little Saigon away from manufacturing fell by more than half in and toward Health Care and Social Assistance and Accommodation and Food Services. Little Saigon.
Orange County
The LODES data from 2002 to 2021 in Orange County suggests that the largest three industries by employment are Health Care and Social Assistance (12.9% of employment); Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (10% of employment); and manufacturing (9.8% of employment). Just prior to the COVID pandemic in 2019, Accommodation and Food Services was also a noteworthy sector with 9.9% of employment.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 25 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE The fastest-growing industries between 2002 and 2021 were Health Care and Social Assistance (3.1% average annual growth after adjusting for classification changes in 2013); Professional Scientific and Technical Services (1.8% average annual growth) and Construction (1.5% average annual growth). The two major industries with the fastest decline were Arts Entertainment and Recreation (2.5% average annual decline); and manufacturing (1.3% average annual decline). However, Arts Entertainment and Recreation would be one of the fastest-growing industries, excluding the effects of the COVID pandemic since over half of the jobs in this industry were lost between 2019 and 2021 in Orange County, Manufacturing's job losses since 2019 have been much smaller, so the decline in manufacturing is a more stable long-term trend.
Comparison between Little Saigon and Orange County
While Little Saigon has seen a sectoral shift away from Manufacturing and into Accommodation and Food Services and Health Care and Social Assistance, Orange County has seen rapid expansion of several service industries and less of a decline in Manufacturing than in Little Saigon. Both Little Saigon and Orange County have seen increases in employment in Health Care and Social Assistance and Accommodation and Food Services.
However, the growth in Professional Scientific and Technical Services in Orange County has not been matched in Little Saigon.
VIlI. BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS
This section summarizes data provided by four cities that comprise most of Little Saigon, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Westminster, and Santa Ana. The cities provided data on businesses with a business license in each city.
TABLE 14: TOTAL NUMBER OF BUSINESSES
BUSINESSES BY CITY
Total Business Licenses
Garden Grove 3,260
Fountain Valley 6,302
While Little Saigon has
Westminster 3,265
experienced significant
Santa Anal 25,343
economic changes and
challenges, we expect
IX. FUTURE TRENDS FOR LITTLE SAIGON that it will continue to grow and have significant
While Little Saigon has experienced significant economic changes and challenges, we opportunities for expect that it will continue to grow and have significant opportunities for small businesses small businesses and and entrepreneurs. entrepreneurs.
The Vietnamese community and Little Saigon in Orange County have consistently grown since the 1970s, and it is expected that it will continue to expand. While about half of the Vietnamese community in Orange County lives in Little Saigon, half lives outside of it, and California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 26 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE many are in nearby neighborhoods into which the population could expand further. Figure 5 showed the number of Vietnamese speakers by census tract, and it showed that there were more than 1,000 people who speak Vietnamese at home living in census tracts outside of Little Saigon in Stanton, Fountain Valley, eastern Garden Grove, southern Anaheim, and western Santa Ana. These neighborhoods are close to being considered a part of Little Saigon by our population definition. While Little Saigon is expanding to the north, east, and southeast, its border to the southwest is firmly the I-405 freeway. Little Saigon's recent generation of college
Little Saigon's recent generation of college graduates are more likely to have STEM-related graduates are more likely degrees, and this pool of technical talent may encourage more high-tech businesses to to have STEM-related move to or be founded in Little Saigon. Table 15 below shows graduates' first college degrees, and this pool
degree by age. Among all degree holders 25 or older, Little Saigon degree holders are of technical talent may
more likely to be in science and engineering and related fields (51.8%) than Orange County degree holders (48.9%). Among younger degree holders aged 25 to 39, Little Saigon encourage more high- tech businesses to move
graduates are even more likely to have a degree in science and engineering and related fields (53,8%) compared to Orange County degree holders (49,5%). to or be founded in Little Saigon.
TABLE 15: FIRST COLLEGE DEGREE OF COLLEGE GRADUATES BY AGE Little Saigon Orange County Little Saigon
as a % of
Variable Number Percent Number Percent Orange County
Total Pop. 25 and older with a Bachelor's degree or higher 40,451 100.0 939,818 100.0 4.3 Science and Engineering 16,617 41.1 382,179 40.7 4.3
Science and Engineering Related Fields 4,322 10.7 77,823 8.3 5.6 Business 9,359 23.1 201,431 21.4 4.6
Education 2,572 6.4 54,790 5.8 4.7
Arts, Humanities and Others 7,581 18.7 223,595 23.8 3.4 Total Pop. 25 to 39 years with a Bachelor's degree or higher 16,422 100.0 312,279 100.0 5.3 Science and Engineering 7,022 42.8 128,416 41.1 5.5
Science and Engineering Related Fields 1,806 11.0 26,015 8.3 6.9 Business 3,631 22.1 66,077 21.2 5.5
Education 481 2.9 8,690 2.8 5.5
Arts, Humanities and Others 3,482 21.2 83,081 26.6 4.2
Little Saigon's small businesses have seen rapid growth in recent times. Between 2012 Little Saigon's small and 2021, employment by small businesses has been increasing faster in Little Saigon businesses have seen compared to Orange County, and the job losses seem concentrated in larger firms. rapid growth in recent According to LODES data, employment by small businesses under 20 employees grew times. Between 2012 at an average 3.2% per year in Little Saigon compared to 2% in Orange County, while and 2021, employment employment by firms with 500 or more employees fell 1.8% per year in Little Saigon by small businesses has compared to growth of 0.4% per year in Orange County.
been increasing faster in
Little Saigon compared to
While Little Saigon lags Orange County by several economic indicators, there are tax Orange County, and the job
incentives, grants, and other programs that could attract more investment into Little losses seem concentrated
Saigon. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), a branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, administers several programs that tailor resources to help in larger firms.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 27 WOODS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC LITTLE SAIGON, ORANGE COUNTY:
ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING A DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE develop local communities. For example, the Bank Enterprise Award Program provides awards to banks and thrifts that increase lending or service activity in economically distressed communities. The New Markets Tax Credit promotes investment by offering a 39% tax credit spread over seven years on an investment in distressed communities.
Eligibility for CDFI programs depends on several factors, including low income, high poverty rates, and high unemployment rates compared to the area. The graph below shows which of the Little Saigon tracks meet these criteria based on their most recent revisions.
FIGURE 16: ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR CDFI PROGRAMS BY CENSUS TRACT IN LITTLE SAIGON Number of CDFI Criteria Met
1 Stantor
2 13 to 4
Missing
Garden Grove
Fountain Valley
While not every program uses all these criteria, program criteria and eligibility are updated as economic data is updated, and there may need to be additional criteria that have to be met to qualify for programs.
California State University, Fullerton COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 28
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