Palmdale: A City of the Middle Class
Palmdale is a bordering city between the Central Valley region and the Los Angeles region, making the town open to Los Angeles opportunities while still having a lower cost of living.
The City of Palmdale is home to workers who are willing to commute to Los Angeles for better pay and better hours. The average commute time for citizens of Palmdale is 45 minutes which, is 15 minutes more than the average time for citizens of Los Angeles.
75 percent of people living in Palmdale have graduated High school, but only 15 percent have graduated with a college degree. In order, for people to get a higher paying job, without a degree, they must be willing to drive closer to the Los Angeles area. Not only that, but the cost of living in Palmdale is less than in Los Angeles.
House values in Palmdale are lower than those in Los Angeles, but the reason for that is the location is more than the actual house. Houses in Palmdale are twice or triple the size of houses in Los Angeles, which usually translates to higher values. However, the location brings down the value of the houses enough for the middle class to be able to purchase them.
The per capita income (the total income of the population divided by the population) is significantly lower than that of Los Angeles’ ($22,000 vs. $37,000) which, implies that the average cost of living is lower in Palmdale and that the overall socioeconomic class is lower.
Regardless of the lower overall income, 65 percent of housing units are owned versus rented in Palmdale, while 48 percent of housing units are owned versus rented in Los Angeles.
Another interesting difference between Los Angeles and Palmdale, is that there’s a lower amount of Foreign-born people in Palmdale than Los Angeles (20 percent vs. 32 percent).
However, this does not mean that there are less Hispanic people in Palmdale. The majority of people are Hispanic (60 percent) which, is higher than the rate in Los Angeles (45 percent). Meaning that more than likely the Hispanic population in Palmdale is the second generation or third generation of immigrants.
Palmdale is a growing city with a lot to offer the Middle Class with its lower living cost and close proximity to Los Angeles. The need for Palmdale’s existence by the Middle Class has been a catalyst to its development.