San Diego Kumeyaay Tribes
Study on poverty and education related statistics on Kumeyaay reservations in San Diego County
This project is done for the Big Data Analytics special study and for the Metabolism of Cities Living Lab, supervised by Dr. Gabriela Fernandez.
Introduction
The study is focus on the education and poverty of existing 13 Kumeyaay reservations in San Diego County. Contrary to what many people believe, most tribes are not wealthy from gaming. Two of the five poorest of the United States’ 3,142 counties are located on Indian Reservations. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).
Many American Indian communities in the U.S are impoverished, with some tribes reporting unemployment as high as 85%. Existing jobs are found mainly within the tribal government, Bureau of Indian Affairs, state social services, the school systems, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) Hospital. Additionally, years of failed government policies have left reservation economies with limited economic opportunity. The government placed reservations in areas away from fertile land, population centers, water supplies and other vital resources, compounding economic challenges with geographic isolation. While it is important to know these economic challenges, it is also important to know that tribes are dynamic, open to new ideas, and committed to improving their communities and their children’s future.
Who are the Kumeyaay?
The Kumeyaay are Native Californians who have lived, and currently live in San Diego County, Imperial County, and Baja California, Mexico (Figures 1 and 2). Scientists believe that American Indians came to the Americas across the Bering Land Bridge from Asia about 11,000–13,000 years ago, or may have arrived in boats. It is thought that people arrived in San Diego by 10,000 years ago. Scientists debate whether these early people were Kumeyaay ancestors or if the Kumeyaay came later to San Diego. Many Kumeyaay do not believe they came across the Bering Land Bridge; their creation stories, or oral traditions, that have been passed down from generation to generation, hold that the Kumeyaay have always been in this area. They accept that they are the direct descendents of all people who lived in the region, even if scientific evidence points to a different earlier culture.
The Kumeyaay live in a variety of environmental zones along the coast, in the foothills, mountains, and desert. In the past, they had a number of major permanent villages and seasonal camps where community members would follow the harvest seasons of certain plants. Various environments allowed the Kumeyaay access to a wide range of significant foods and resources. The Kumeyaay were (and still are) sophisticated thinkers who have had an intimate relationship with the environment. For thousands of years, they were able to live without money or modern conveniences in balance with the environment.

Figure1. Approximate Boundary of the Kumeyaay Based on Luomala (1978)
Figure2.Range of the Kumeyaay Nation in 1769
Our People. Our Culture. Our History.
San Diego County Kumeyaays
The Kumeyaay/Diegueño occupy most of San Diego County and northern Baja Mexico, from around Escondido to south of Ensenada. Some research shows that the Kumeyaay are the same as the Kamia, which are the Yuman-speaking Indians of Imperial County, over the mountains east of San Diego County.
Figure3.The Kumeyaay reservations in San Diego County
Interactive map of 13 Kumeyaay reservations (San Diego County)
13 Kumeyaay reservations in San Diego County (federally recognized)
1. Barona
The Barona Band of Mission Indians is a federally-recognized Tribe governed by an elected Tribal Council. The Barona Indian Reservation was established in 1932, and is home to the reservation has its own museum, school, fire station, gas station, church, and community center, as well as the Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino. In the Tribe's continued efforts to preserve its culture, the reservation is also home to the Barona Cultural Center & Museum, a hands-on educational museum. Displays of handmade pottery, reed baskets, paintings, arrowheads, and other artifacts - over 2,000 in all - date back thousands of years, and bring to life the rich culture and history of San Diego's Native American community.
2. Campo
The Kumeyaay Nation once encompassed the lands from northern San Diego County to the dunes of the Imperial Valley and south beyond Ensenada, Mexico. The Kumeyaay were originally organized along clan lines called Sh'mulq, but when the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the new international border was drawn through the heart of Kumeyaay lands. By 1875, the first of the Kumeyaay territories began to be converted to Reservation trust land. Further additions were taken into trust over the next 25 years, including the first portion of the Campo Indian Reservation in 1893.
In 1978, the Campo people designated the area near the Crestwood freeway off-ramp as an area for economic development. After considerable debate over various development proposals, a casino facility was constructed in 2001.
3. Capitan Grande
During the 1840s and 1850s, San Diego experienced so much growth that some groups of Indians living in the Mission Valley area were pushed into what is now the East County. In 1853, many of these people established a village in the Capitan Grande area of the upper San Diego River. In 1875 the U.S. Army issued a federal permit for the Indians to inhabit the area, and the general public was warned against disturbing the Indians who resided there. The Capitan Grande Reservation was patented in 1891, and is jointly owned and managed by the Barona Band of Mission Indians and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.
4. Ewiiaapaayp (Cuyapaipe)
The Ewiiaapaayp Reservation, formerly known as the Cuyapaipe Reservation, is a federal Indian Reservation created in 1891 by the US Congress. This Reservation is owned and managed by the Ewiiaapaayp Band, which is headquartered in Alpine, California. The Ewiiaapaayp Reservation is mostly undeveloped, with no utilities and only a single, unpaved, narrow, and steeply graded access road. This limits the economic development of the Reservation.
5. Inaja-Cosmit
The Inaja-Cosmit Band of Indians is a federally-recognized tribe of Kumeyaay Indians. The Inaja-Cosmit Reservation was established in 1875 and is located in eastern San Diego County near the US-Mexico Border, though the Inaja–Cosmit Band is headquartered in Escondido, California. The Inaja-Cosmit Reservation consists of two parcels of remote and inaccessible land near Cuyamaca Peak. At present there are no permanent inhabitants of these 852 acres, though some remodeling is underway on Inaja.
6. Jamul Indian Village
The Jamul Indian Village sits on six acres east of the town of Jamul. After years of tenacious endurance, the Jamul village was finally declared a reservation. The reservation has administration offices and a community center.
7. La Posta
La Posta is a 3.8-acre reservation near Mount Laguna and the Cleveland National Forest. The La Posta Reservation is a federal Indian reservation, and was established in 1893. It has occasional residents, and access to the land is mostly limited to Tribal members. The one entry road is either dusty or muddy, and is fenced off from intruders.
8. Manzanita
The Manzanita Reservation was established in 1893 and is located in southeastern San Diego County within ten miles of the US-Mexico Border. The Manzanita, named for the brushy brush so common over drier California, occupies a 3,580-acre rectangle of infertile upland valleys and meadows in the western part of the Carrizo Desert. Homes of the residents are widely scattered, tucked behind boulders and hillsides for protection from the uncompromising summer sun.
9. Mesa Grande
The Mesa Grande Reservation, a federal Indian reservation, was founded in 1875. Situated in a group of hills above the forests of Black Canyon (part of Cleveland National Forest), the Mesa Grande Reservation is often covered with snow in winter.
10. San Pasqual
The San Pasqual Indian Reservation is located in northeastern San Diego County, California, near Valley Center. The ancestors of the San Pasqual Indians lived for thousands of years in the valley carved by the Santa Ysabel Creek, where modern Highway 78 now winds, near the present site of the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park. The San Pasqual Indian Reservation is adjacent to the Rincon Band of Mission Indians, and is nearby several other Indian Reservations, including Pauma, Pala, La Jolla, Santa Ysabel, Mesa Grande, Los Coyotes, and Pechanga.
The San Pasqual Indian Reservation was established by Presidential decree in 1910. Despite being one of the last reservations to be established in Southern California, much of the San Pasqual Indian Reservation has been removed from its original location. The original site is now occupied by Lake Wohlford and the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park. totaling 1,500 acres of trust land, on dry, scrub oak hills east of Valley Center. Indian administration and activities are centered at the Tribal Hall and education center. San Pasqual encompasses approximately 1,500 acres of trust land and is considered a “checkerboard” Reservation, as it does not occupy one contiguous land mass. The San Pasqual Reservation is divided into three non-continuous districts
11. Santa Ysabel
The Santa Ysabel Reservation was established in 1893. The Reservation is located on Hwy 79, in North San Diego County near Lake Henshaw between the towns of Santa Ysabel and Warner Springs. The homes on these 15,527 acres are mostly older. There have been some improvements to the tribal hall and clinic.
Historically, the area surrounding the Santa Ysabel Valley was known by the Indian name “Ellykwanan.” The original inhabitants who lived in the Santa Ysabel village called themselves “Iipay,” “the People.” The Iipay are part of the larger Kumeyaay people who once populated much of the geographic area of present day San Diego County. The Iipay of “Ellykwanan” lived in the general vicinity of the Santa Ysabel Valley as well as the villages of Mataguay and San Felipe near S-2. The Iipay were governed by a “Kuseyaay” or “Captain” who managed the religious, political and economic life of the people as well as trade relations with other tribes.
12. Sycuan
The Sycuan Reservation was established in 1891; however, Sycuan ancestors have lived in the San Diego area for nearly 12,000 years. Currently, there are 130 Sycuan tribal members.
13. Viejas Indian Reservations
San Diego's First People - Kumeyaay Native Americans
The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, one of the remaining 12 bands of the Kumeyaay Indian Nation, resides on a 1,600-acre reservation in the Viejas Valley, east of the community of Alpine. In 1875, a presidential executive order withdrew lands from the federal domain, setting aside a number of small reservations, including the Capitan Grande Reservation from which the Viejas Band descended. Capitan Grande, patented in 1891, included portions of ancestral land of the Los Coñejos Band.
Datasets collecting
Research findings
This section presents the findings from the datasets analysis. In particular, an overview of the findings and conclusions is summarized in discussion part.
Population
American Indian in US
According to the 2020 Census, the U.S. population was 331.4 million. Of this, 3.7 million people, or 1.1 percent, reported American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry alone. In addition, 2.2 million people (0.6 percent), reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races.
The definition of American Indian or Alaska Native used in the 2010 census was as follows. According to Office of Management and Budget, "American Indian or Alaska Native" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment
Kumeyaay in San Diego
San Diego County features the largest number of Tribes and Reservations of any county in the United States. Today San Diego County contains five distinguishable American Indian groups: Luiseno, Cahuilla, Cupeno, Kumeyaay, and Northern Diegueño. There are 18 federally-recognized Tribal Nation Reservations and 17 Tribal Governments, because the Barona and Viejas Bands share joint-trust and administrative responsibility for the Capitan Grande Reservation. These Reservation lands, which are governed by Tribal Nations, total approximately 127,000 acres or 198 square miles.
Figure4.
The table shows the 13 Kumeyaay reservations' population.
From the table, we can see Ewiiaapaayp, Inaja and Kwaaymii reservations has no people living on their territory. The most three biggest population are San Pasqual, Barona and Campo.
Figure5. Native population vs total population in reservations
Nowadays the Kumeyaay reservations are multi-ethnic groups inhabit. From the table, figures indicate that the native Kumeyaay's population is 90% to 100% over the total population.
Education
American Indian in US
Native students are the only student population that did not improve their reading and math testing scores in grades 4 and 8 from 2005-2011 (The Education Trust, 2013). High school graduation rates are also among the lowest of any population. In the states with the most American Indian and Alaska Native students, less than 50% of Native students graduate, on average. (The Civil Rights Project, 2010)
Kumeyaay in San Diego
The below table overviews the school enrollment numbers of thirteen Kumeyaay reservations
Figure6.SD Kumeyaay school enrollment table
From the table, you can see there are maximum 250 people are enrolled in school (San Pasqual reservations), and the max number of college students are 101 (Viejas reservation).
The below table informs the educational attainment of 13 reservations.
Figure7. Kumeyaay people's educational attainment
The educational attainment table indicates that high school graduate degree and some college with no degree are the top two academic degrees Kumeyaay people obtained.
Table of education levels of Kumeyaay people in each reservation.
Figure8. Kumeyaay people's education degrees
Economy
American Indian in US
Native Americans have the lowest employment rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). In the poorest Native counties, only about 1/3 of men in Native American communities have full-time, year-round employment (Beal, 2004).
Kumeyaay in San Diego
The below chart shows the 13 Kumeyaay reservations' employment and unemployment.
Figure9. Population and employment
The data in above table shows about 1/3 of the population of the 13 Kumeyaay reservations is employed.
Figure 10.Percentage of Kumeyaay family in poverty
From the above table, about 1/4 of San Diego Kumeyaay people are in poverty ( 24.28%). The seniors have less poverty percent (12.52) than young family.
The below charts demonstrate San Diego 13 Kumeyaay tribes' household income by levels.
Figure11.Household Income of Kumeyaay reservations.
San Pasqual reservation has 54 households have the household income of more than 200k income and campo has 46 households have 150k-199.9k income.
Figure12.Household Income Count Descriptive Statistics
From the table, the three highest average household income are 35k-49.9k, 150k-199.9k, and 100k-149.9k.
Kumeyaay Reservations Map
13 Kumeyaay reservations in Arcgis map
Discussions
Education: Viejas reservations has the most large people with bachelor degree; second large bachelor degree population is San Pasqual ; the third is Barona Indian reservation.
Employment and household income: Of all 13 Kumeyaay reservations, Viejas and La Posta Indian have least poverty people (0 percentage), Santa Ysabel (2.3%) , San Pasqual (10.9%) and Barona (10.5%) have less percentage in poverty.