The Census: What it Does and Does Not Tell Us About Altadena And Why it Ain't What it Used to Be

The prelimary census figures are here and what we've learned so far is that Altadena's .

From the American Community Survey, another federal survey that is done every few years, we've also learned that Altadena's population .

But--according to University of Southern California professor of urban planning and demography Dowell Myers, who lives in Pasadena and has done past census studies involving both Altadena and Pasadena--the American Community Survey figures tend to be less accurate.

Census figures coming down the track could show that Altadena is actually a community with a younger population than expected, Myers said. 

Myers said those figures might be best explained by the presence of young families choosing to live in Altadena--he's waiting to see what the census figures say about age.  Those figures should be available by summer time.

Here on Myers thoughts on some other topics pertaining to the census and Altadena:

The accuracy of the American Community Survey:

The American Community Survey uses just a small sample of households and can therefore turn out to be somewhat inaccurate compared to the census, where the government surveys everybody in the country. 

That is meaningful for Altadena, as the community survey estimated Altadena's population as having grown to more than 44,000, while the census put it staying around 42,600, nearly the same as in 2000.

So the survey results showing Altadena as getting older could also be inaccurate, Myers said.

Why the census ain't what it used to be

Myers said that people who use census figures or study the data are going to be surprised to see how few categories of data this year.

He said the census will not include where people were born, their home values or whether they are in the country illegally or not.   Occupation and income levels are also out.

"This is the worst census since 1840," Myers said. "This census is like a post card."

He said that the reason for the cutbacks were decisions made under the Bush administration to cut back what questions the census would ask in order to emphasize privacy over data collection.

"They rolled back over 150 years of history... they were on a kick to try to protect privacy and push out government intrusion," Myers said.  "Now we won't know how many immigrants there are in Altadena, we won't know if they were native born, people's house values, whether people are here legally or not."

The school district

It isn't covered under the census, but the Pasadena Unified School District, which includes Altadena, shows a huge demographic difference, no news to parents in the school system.

The district is almost 60 percent Latino and not even 15 percent white, even though Altadena's population is over 50 percent white.  However, Altadena students do make up a small segment of the district's overall population, though Pasadena has fairly similar demographics. 

Editor's note: This article originally suggested that Altadena's Latino population has shrunk since 2000, which is not correct.  The population has actually grown.