2010 Census: Looking at South Pasadena's Diversity

South Pasadena is joining other cities in adding more slices to its ethnic pie, showing a 30 percent jump from 10 years ago in the number of people who are a combination of races.

The city's 2010 mixed population of 1,415 residents also has a young look, as 663 of those residents are old enough to vote.

And also of those 1,415 mixed-race residents, nearly half of them (661) are white and Asian. That's a 90.4 percent jump from the recorded figure of a decade ago, when 347 people were classified in that category.

Jessica Yee, president of the South Pasadena Chinese-American Club as well as a columnist for Patch, said she was "shocked" when she first moved to South Pasadena three years ago.

"I was just amazed at how many Asian and white combinations I saw," she said. "I think that particular combination is most evident in the schools. I'm pretty active in the schools, and I see a lot of children who are of that mix. I think South Pasadena is probably up there in terms of this type of [racial] makeup."

A glance at some of the area's surrounding municipalities of similar size (excluding Pasadena's 2,026 white/Asian residents for 2010) shows Arcadia within the closest reach of South Pas, with 651 white/Asian residents. Altadena has 524, La Cañada Flintridge shows 435, Monrovia has 431, Montrose-La Crescenta has 353, San Marino recorded 219 and Sierra Madre checked in with 185.

Educational quality could be one of the reasons for uptick, Yee said, as Asian families typically have a tendency to heavily emphasize academics. Great schools, she added, can be the top catalyst for an Asian family deciding where to live.

There's also the general allure of South Pasadena to consider.

"In my experience, the Asian female of the couple likes the 'small town' feel of South Pasadena," she said. "They like the quaintness of it."

Here's a look at the general diversity numbers from the 2010 census:

Here's how the numbers looked in 2000: