• Population
• Racial/Ethnic Structure
• Household and Families
• Nativity and Language
• Education Structure
• Occupational Industrial Structure
• Income/Poverty Structure
• Housing
• Commercial and Employment Profile

Population

From its beginnings as a small agricultural town and stagecoach rest stop, Chatsworth grew most rapidly during the post WWII years. In 2000, Chatsworth (using the 91311 Zip Code area as a proxy for the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council Area) had a population of 35,317. Chatsworth has a significantly higher median age than Los Angeles as a whole (39.7 years vs. 31.4 years) which is also reflected in the larger proportion of the population that was age 65 and above (13.0% vs. 9.7%) and lower proportion under age 18 (22.5% vs. 26.6%).

In contrast to Los Angeles, Chatsworth residents age 15 and over are more often married (55.9% vs. 46.0%), widowed (6.0% vs. 5.2%) and divorced (10.1% vs. 8.2%), and less often single (26.0% vs. 37.3%) and separated (2.0% vs. 3.3%).

Racial/Ethnic Structure

For people reporting one race (95.8%): 73.8% were White alone, 3.0% were African American, and 14.2 % were Asian. The remaining 4.2% listed 2 or more races. In comparison to Los Angeles as a whole, Chatsworth has higher proportions of White (73.8% vs. 62%) and Asian (14.2% vs. 10.0%) and a lower proportion of Black (3.0% vs. 11.2%). While 46.5% of the L. A. population considers itself of Hispanic heritage, only 13.6 % of Chatsworth does so. Sixty-six percent of the people in Chatsworth were White non-Hispanic versus only thirty percent of Los Angeles. (People of Hispanic origin can be any race.)

Household and Families

In 2000 there were 13,221 households in Chatsworth. Both average household and family sizes are smaller in Chatsworth than in L. A. as a whole (2.61 vs. 2.83 and 3.09 vs. 3.56, respectively). Families made-up 70.1% of the households in Chatsworth versus only 62.6% in Los Angeles; and Chatsworth had fewer households with children under age 18 (34.1% vs. 37.6%) and more households with individuals over age 65 (23.3% vs. 20.6%).

Nativity and Language

Chatsworth residents were more likely to be born in the United States than the population of Los Angeles as a whole (74.7% vs. 58.9%) but were less likely to be a native Californian (46.5 vs. 68.9%). Of those foreign born, even fewer have remained non-citizens than in Los Angeles (43.2% vs. 65.6%).

Chatsworth residents age five and above are much less likely to speak a language other than English at home (33.0% vs. 59.4%). Chatsworth also has only a third as many individuals age five and above whom speak English less than "very well" (12.4% vs. 31.6%) than in Los Angeles as a whole. (See additional detail at the end of Section 2.)

Education Structure

In 2000 Chatsworth had a much higher level of educational attainment than Los Angeles overall. Of the population age 25 and above, 89.2% vs. 67.6% were high school graduates or above and 34.5% vs. 26.8% had at least a bachelor's degree. Graduate or professional degrees were held by 11.6% of Chatsworth residents versus 9% of Los Angeles residents overall.

Occupational Industrial Structure

Chatsworth's higher level of educational attainment is also reflected in the occupational structure of civilian employed residents age 16 and above. A much higher proportion of workers is in Professional and only half as many workers are in Service and Production occupations compared with Los Angeles as a whole.

The Industry and Class of Worker (private wage, government, self-employed) structures for Chatsworth were only slightly different than that of all of Los Angeles workers. In 2000 Chatsworth residents did have lower unemployment rates than L. A. residents: (3.4% vs. 8.1%).

Employed Civilian Population Age 16 and Over: 2000

Income/Poverty Structure

The median 1999 income of households in Chatsworth was $62,270, nearly double that of Los Angeles households ($35,955). For families there was an even wider differential; median family 1999 income of $71,189 was reported versus $38,955 for all of L. A. Chatsworth had substantially lower poverty rates than Los Angeles: percent of Families (3.8% vs. 18.3%), Families with Female Head of Household (9.9% vs. 32.7%), Individuals (5.5% vs. 22.1%), Individuals over Age 65 (8.4% vs. 12.6%) and Children under 18 (5.4% vs. 30.3%) classified as poor.

Housing

In 2000 Chatsworth had 13,489 housing units, 70.3% of which are single unit structures (versus 45.3% for L. A.), and only 25.2% were in multi-unit structures, less than half of what is found in Los Angeles (54%). While the proportion of dwelling units built during the 1990's is similar (5.9% vs. 5.8%), the proportion built before 1950 is only 3.1% versus almost a third (31.7%) for all of Los Angeles. While in Chatsworth almost 70% (69.1%) of the housing is owned by the tenant and 30% is renter-occupied (30.9%) in Los Angeles the reverse is true, with only 38.4% owning their dwelling units and nearly 61.6% renting.

Commercial and Employment Profile

Chatsworth is home to nearly 2,000 businesses. Over half of these have fewer than 10 employees and over 90% have fewer than 50. Four companies have more than 500 employees. The most common industry classification for Chatsworth enterprises is manufacturing; our community is particularly known for its strong presence in the technology sector. Other industries with significant representation include wholesale trade, professional and technical services, construction, and retail trade. Chatsworth businesses employ approximately 40,000 people.