USC Digital Library Unveils Groundbreaking Data Resource on Los Angeles County Communities

USC Digital Library

The USC Digital Library has published an expansive dataset tracing social, economic, and demographic changes in Los Angeles County from 1950 to 2010. Compiled by historian Becky Nicolaides with a team of dedicated research assistants, this dataset represents more than a decade of meticulous research and was published thanks to a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Originally developed to support Nicolaides’ acclaimed book, The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles After 1945 (Oxford University Press, 2024), the dataset reflects her groundbreaking exploration of Southern California’s evolving suburbs. A USC Libraries team, led by Deborah Holmes-Wong and including Andy Rutkowski and Eimmy Solis, worked closely with Nicolaides to prepare and publish the resource. Their efforts have ensured its accessibility across platforms like the USC Digital Library, Wikidata, and GIS repositories.

The dataset includes 56 variables—such as race, ethnicity, median home values, and voter registration—across 88 municipalities, capturing nuanced social transformations in regions like South L.A. and the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys. By integrating census data, voter registration records, and poverty statistics, it provides an invaluable empirical basis for analyzing continuity and change at municipal and county-wide levels. A story map Nicolaides created with Jakub Žejdlík of the Czech Republic's Palacky University, “Suburbanization in Los Angeles County: Tracing Suburbia’s Transformation From Homogeneous to Diverse, 1950–2010,” showcases the insights that can be gleamed from the data.

Now freely available, this dataset offers a powerful tool for scholars to explore trends like the rising housing burden or shifts in homeownership among nonwhite populations. It will support research in urban history, public policy, and social science while serving as a vital teaching resource for educators.