Life in L.A.: More Pay, More Newcomers : Census: 1990 figures for the 4-county area show higher incomes and more foreign-born residents than national norm. But poverty is greater too.

WASHINGTON —  Los Angeles area residents earn a median income far higher than the national norm and are far more likely to be foreign-born than residents of other metropolitan regions across the country, according to figures released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

But a higher percentage of residents and families in the Los Angeles metropolitan area live below the poverty line.

The findings are based on comparisons among the nation’s metropolitan areas from the 1990 census. A metropolitan area, as defined by the Census Bureau, includes both central cities and their surrounding suburbs. The Los Angeles area includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside.

Median household income in the Los Angeles region was $36,711 in 1989, $4,625 higher than the median income for all metropolitan areas across the country.

Although Los Angeles area residents earn incomes well above the national median, they pay an extraordinarily hefty price to live there. The average renter pays $646 per month, compared with the median rent of $474 for all metropolitan areas, and the average homeowner with a mortgage pays $1,139 in the Los Angeles area, compared with $789 nationwide.

More than 27% of Los Angeles area residents are foreign-born, compared with a national norm of fewer than 10%, and 38.4% of those older than 4 speak a language other than English at home--26.6% Spanish and 7% an Asian or Pacific Island language. More than half of the area residents who do not use English at home say they cannot speak it very well. In contrast, 15.9% of metropolitan residents nationwide do not speak English at home. Among the other findings:

--Although the percentage of Los Angeles area residents 25 or older who graduated from college is about the same as the percentage in all metropolitan areas, fewer Los Angeles area residents finished high school.

--Los Angeles area residents are more transient than other metropolitan residents. Only 44.6% have lived in the same house since 1985, compared with 52% nationwide. Local residents are more likely to have been born out of state (41.1% compared with 35.0% nationally), but less likely to have moved from another state (6.2% to 9.6%) within the last five years.

--Women with young children are less likely to be in the work force than mothers in other cities; 54.8% of metropolitan Los Angeles mothers with children under age 6 work, compared with 59.4% in cities elsewhere. Also, 70.3% of women in Los Angeles with children age 6 to 17 work, compared with 75.2% across the country.

--Los Angeles residents are more likely to car pool to work than their urban counterparts elsewhere (15.5% to 12.9%), but less likely to take public transportation (4.6% to 6.5%). About the same percentage drive to work alone. And Los Angeles area residents spend an average of 3.2 more minutes traveling to work than metropolitan residents as a whole. The three-quarters of Americans who live in metropolitan areas are more educated and better paid than those living in rural areas, the 1990 census showed.

More than 22% of those 25 and older living in metropolitan areas have graduated from college; 13% of rural residents are college graduates. Seventy-seven percent of metropolitan residents graduated from high school, compared with 69.2% of rural residents.

The median household income in metropolitan areas was about $32,000 in 1989, compared with $23,000 in other areas. But metropolitan residents pay an average of $250 more per month to own a home and $150 more to rent than their rural counterparts. Demographer Carl Haub of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau attributed the income and education trends to the continuing shift from a manufacturing to a service-based economy. Service jobs are relatively high-paying, require a higher level of education and are largely located in metropolitan areas.

“It’s really not surprising,” he commented. “Many non-metropolitan counties have very old populations, and many of the young people have left because they see fewer opportunities.”

The percentage of Americans living in cities has remained relatively stable since 1930, while suburbs have experienced explosive growth. “We’ve added 100 million people since 1950. They have to go somewhere,” said Haub.

In a separate report released Thursday, the Census Bureau found that four of the 12 metropolitan areas with highest net-migration rates are in California. Net migration is the number of people who move into an area minus the number who move out.

The Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside area had the highest net-migration rate: 1,143,000, between 1980 and 1988.

How L.A. Compares Here are some Census Bureau facts about the five U.S. metropolitan areas with at least 5 million residents: Median monthly mortgage payment New York: $1,192 Los Angeles: $1,139 Chicago: $861 Philadelphia: $846 San Francisco: $1,234

Length of a typical commute, in minutes: New York: 30.6 Los Angeles: 26.4 Chicago: 28.1 Philadelphia: 24.1 San Francisco: 25.6

Elementary and secondary students in private schools: New York: 17.2% Los Angeles: 10.3% Chicago: 15.9% Philadelphia: 22.1% San Francisco: 11.9%

Workers using public transportation: New York: 22.6% Los Angeles: 4.6% Chicago: 13.7% Philadelphia: 10.2% San Francisco: 9.3%

The areas are New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside, Chicago-Gary-Lake County, Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton, and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose.

Source: Census Bureau