I was born and raised in the Bay Area. My parents moved here from the Philippines when they were young children. They are both more American than Filipino, although my siblings and I are the first generation of our family that are American-born. My grandma still lives in the same house in SF that my mom was raised in. So yes, we are a Bay Area family… always have, always will be.

In thinking about my family’s history here in the Bay Area, I was prompted to look up some population stats, and would like to share some with you.

The following are SF stats from the 2000 US Census:

White: 385,728 (49.7%)
Asian: 239,565 (30.8%)
Hispanic/Latino: 109,504 (14.1%)
Black: 60,515 (7.8%)
Other race: 50,368 (6.5%)
Two or more races: 33,255 (4.3%)
American Indian and Alaska Native: 3,458 (0.4%)

And, more of a personal interest, to break down the Asian contingent:

Chinese: 152,620 (19.6%)
Filipino: 40,083 (5.2%)
Japanese: 11,410 (1.5%)
Vietnamese: 10,722 (1.4%)
Korean: 7,679 (1.0%)
Other Asian (other Asian alone, or two or more Asian categories.): 11,527 (1.5%)
Asian Indian: 5,524 (0.7%)

(Of course, this is a general summary of the results. You can see see the full results for detailed info)

I guess I can say I’m not entirely surprised by these census results. It makes me proud to live here, actually. The Bay Area is one of the most diverse areas in the country.

I do sometimes take our diversity for granted. Getting a peek into so many different cultures and learning from them is priceless. Oh, and one of the other things I like best about the Bay Area and its diverse population is the amount of good authentic restaurants that are around. ;)