Pomona is a very diverse city, with pockets of high-end housing near the Fairplex in the Ganesha Park neighborhood, well kept historic homes in the Lincoln Park, Wilton Heights, and Hacienda Park neighborhoods in the center of the city, and master planned development in the Phillips Ranch section. However, much of the southeastern part of Pomona is densely populated tracts of apartments and single family homes. These neighborhoods are fairly poor and often have high levels of gang activity, graffiti, and crime. The Downtown was moribund for decades, but has since experienced a resurgence with concert halls, nightclubs, and art galleries improving the area's nightlife. High priced lofts have been developed in the Downtown and are selling well. Downtown Pomona and other areas have trouble enticing commercial development because of the city's reputation for crime.

The majority of Pomona's population consist of Latinos, a great number from Mexico and Central America, and the main industry that attracts immigrants is manufacturing and other low-paying service jobs. There is a historically significant concentration of blacks in the northern part of town, although many of them have continued to move east to places like Rialto and Riverside. Also there is a fairly large Vietnamese American community located in south Pomona (right by Phllips Ranch), including a Buddhist temple, and many young Chinese American and Vietnamese Americans students who attend local universities. As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 149,473 people, 37,855 households, and 29,791 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,526.8/km² (6,544.3/mi²). There were 39,598 housing units at an average density of 669.4/km² (1,733.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 41.76% White, 9.63% African American, 1.26% Native American, 7.20% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 34.93% from other races, and 5.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 64.47% of the population.

There were 37,855 households out of which 49.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.3% were non-families. 15.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.82 and the average family size was 4.22.

In the city the population was spread out with 34.6% under the age of 18, 13.0% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 15.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 102.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.1 males.

The total employment for Pomona as of 2005 is 57,870. The top employers include Pomona Unified School District, California State Polytechnic University, Hamilton Sundstrund, Pomona Valley Medical Center, Lanterman Developmental Center, and Casa Colina, a large residential facility for mentally challenged persons.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,021, and the median income for a family was $40,852. Males had a median income of $30,195 versus $26,135 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,336. About 17.1% of families and 21.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Pomona and some of the surrounding area are served by the Pomona Unified School District. Pomona has been criticized for its construction of Diamond Ranch High School in the city's more affluent area of Phillips Ranch while ignoring its other underperfoming high schools such as Garey, Ganesha and Pomona High Schools. Pomona contains a mix of both public and private schools. There are two private schools that are located on Holt Blvd, being St. Joseph Elementary School and Pomona Catholic High School. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona is located southwest of the junction of the 10 and 57 freeways.

Famous people born in Pomona

• Jessica Alba - Actress
• Suga Free - Rapper
• Kokane - Rapper
• Daniel "BullDog" Reyes Perez - Founder of "Familia Perez" and vocalist of BloodSport
• Jill Kelly - Adult Film Star
• Mark McGwire - Former Baseball Star
• Daniel Keys Moran
• "Sugar" Shane Mosley - Boxer
• Millard Sheets - Painter
• Tom Waits-American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor.
• Rozz Williams - The Father of Deathrock and only singer of Christian Death
• Mr. Marcus - Adult Film Star
• Pedro Garcia- Co-founder of Come Mostaza
• Vanessa Bryant- Kobe Bryant's wife
• Robert Tarjan - Computer Scientist

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pomona, California

• Pomona official website
• Pomona Unified School District
• Cal Poly Pomona University
• Western University of Health Sciences
• DeVry Pomona
• Pomona Local News
• Pomona Chamber of Commerce
• Pomona Fairplex history
• Pomona Art Colony