Tree Equity in Los Angeles

Here is a look at the distribution of trees across Los Angeles County based on the demographic and economic characteristics within the county. Trees are a huge benefit in urban areas such as Los Angeles as they sequester carbon, reduce energy use, cool areas of the city, and provide shade. However, trees are not distributed equally across most cities. This can be examined through racial and economic characteristics and its correlation with tree distribution in LA County. All data is obtained from the year 2019. Scroll down and discover tree equity within Los Angeles County.

This map portrays tree coverage in Los Angeles by percentage, representing each city in Los Angeles County. At a quick glance, the cities with the highest tree canopy coverage percentage are Glendale, Beverly Hills, and Monrovia to name a few. Although we can infer, not many conclusions can be made without the comparison of demographic and economic characteristics within Los Angeles County. Feel free to move the map around and click on different cities revealing the city name and its specific tree canopy coverage or search for a specific address.

This map to the left displaying blue symbology represents the white population within Los Angeles County. It is clear that the white population is highest in areas such as Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica. Scroll down to compare the 2019 white population to the 2019 tree canopy coverage percentage. 

As shown previously, the map displaying green symbology is the 2019 tree canopy coverage in Los Angeles County. Here, it is important to acknowledge that areas such as Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica have the highest percentage of tree canopy coverage within Los Angeles County. 

Conclusions cannot yet be made from one map and one demographic within Los Angeles County. Keep scrolling in order to discover the tree canopy cover percentage for Latino/a and black populations in Los Angeles County.

The map to the left displaying purple symbology represents the black population in Los Angeles County for 2019. Areas of the cities Long Beach and Inglewood display the most populated parts of Los Angeles for black communities. Scroll down to compare the black population to the tree coverage distribution within Los Angeles County.

It is clear that in areas such as Long Beach , in the southernmost parts of LA County where the black population is high, the tree distribution is very low. As well as Long Beach, in the city of Inglewood in the southwest part of LA County, also has a negative correlation between the high black population and low percentage of tree canopy coverage.

The last racial group examined was the Latino/a population within Los Angeles County, symbolized through red in the map on the left. Similar to the black population map, there is a high distribution of latino/a population in Long Beach, but then higher populations in the middle of LA County and patches distributed in northern LA County.

It is very clear that there is a negative correlation between areas of high latino/a population and areas of low tree canopy percentage. Especially in northern LA County, where there are 92,133 - 266,854 latino/a people there is less than seven percent of tree canopy coverage.

Lastly, the map to the left looks at income per capita (USD) within Los Angeles County in 2019. Areas with high income per capita are shown in the darkest pink/purple color and mostly in areas such as Santa Monica, Palos Verdes, Beverly Hills, and Bradbury.

In comparing these two maps there seems to be a positive correlation between income and tree canopy percentage. In the areas looked at above, Santa Monica, Palos Verdes, Beverly Hills, and Bradbury, with the highest incomes in LA county, also have some of the highest tree canopy coverage by percentage, almost all with above fifty percent tree canopy coverage.

Although causation cannot be confirmed between socio-economic status and tree canopy coverage in Los Angeles county, through these maps, correlation can be proved. In these maps marginalized groups such as low-income groups and black and latino/a populations have proved to have lower tree canopy coverage by percentage.

These maps are important in representing disparities between marginalized groups and tree canopy coverage in Los Angeles County. These data comparisons can be used by city planners and government officials to see which communities across LA County are in need of more trees to be planted.

References:

Thanks to TreePeople Los Angeles for provided the tree canopy coverage data, LA County Census Tract data, and the US Census data for allowing this research to be done.