Concerted drives toward voter registration and getting out the vote could raise that number a few points at best. Thus, the soon to be majority population group retains a minority status at the polls. One of the most dramatic changes in Los Angeles over the past decades has been the explosion of immigration. A total of 3.6 million current residents are foreign born, and their children amount to another 3-4 million residents. Thus, well over half of the Los Angeles population is of foreign stock.
Further details are available on the sources of immigrants and long-term trends.
Consumer Economics . At the same time as Los Angeles has grown and changed in composition, the residents have also become economically stressed. This is related in part to the growth in immigration, but evidence shows those new arrivals work their way out of poverty over time. Housing prices have exploded in recent decades. During the 1990s a deep recession depressed rents and values initially, but those have again sharply escalated in the last two years.