The curious case of Canoga Park’s long haul

The San Fernando Valley gives is home to the everyday commuter. Considering its geographical location wedged between two bustling metropolises in downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco, a commute is a given. What is not a given is the ‘hidden’ hardship the commuter faces in one of its neighborhoods, Canoga Park. Now, Canoga Park possesses all of the wonderful trappings of the San Fernando Valley, particularly its commute hardship. ESPECIALLY its commute hardship.

You see, Canoga Park finds itself in a curious position in the battle royal that is The San Fernando Valley. According to the Census Reporter, It is a low income community, with a median income of 55k and a large foreign-born community, with a makeup of nearly 49% of inhabitants being foreign born. 68% of these foreign born are Latinx.

The real kicker comes in the median 29 minute commute to work for inhabitants for which most drove alone. This is a 15% increase in comparison to L.A. commuters who also drove alone. Further, to compound the low income and mild commute time, 76% of Canoga Park residents did not own their own homes while only 24% actually owned their homes.

Most housing units typically consist of three people, however, only 50% of these occupants are actually married while the rest are either unidentified or other.

These statistics combine to make for a particularly curious case of hardship for Canoga Park residents where a mild commute is the norm, and yet, it is not enough for residents in Canoga Park to own their own homes. The economic infrastructure of Canoga Park presents a jumble of variables that make for a difficult area to cover for census data.

Almost half of residents are foreign-born with many of these being Latinx, there exist an uncertainty in household occupants and their personal affiliations. These variables make Canoga Park an anomaly.