The Graying of the Palisades Raises New Challenges

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

Palisadians are growing older, while millennials are vanishing, according to the latest data released by the city and county of Los Angeles.

There are now more people aged 65 and over than between 20 and 35 living in Pacific Palisades, which represents a cultural and economic challenge to the town.

The town is among the 10 percent of grayest communities in America.

The Palisadian median age is 47, compared to 36 across the Golden State.

We have grown older so fast: In 2002, the median age was 39.

The latest picture of the town, available on city-data.com and related sites, contrasts with a similar survey carried out in 2004 when the Palisades was not only relatively youthful, but also locally employed and, if the price of housing is used as a baseline, a little poorer.

Such statistics must be taken only as a snapshot: They are, to be generous, a fluid metric. Yet there are surprises in store.

The Palisades may have a lot fewer people than previously thought: perhaps as few as 23,000, depending on where town borders are drawn, with as few as 400 residents of the Palisades employed full time in town.

The vast majority of workers—another 3,500 people—are employed in retail, gardening and medical fields.

They come from zip codes as far away as Ontario and Orange County, with some reporting they drive two hours each way.

Local businesses, such as supermarkets, are facing problems recruiting reliable staff.

There are some part-time workers coming out of the Palisades: Uber officials say they are employing around 20 “partners” from here, mostly part-time people in their 30s and 40s.

“They can set up base away from home, so neighbors don’t know what they are up to,” said an Uber official in Santa Monica last week. “Maybe it’s for pin [play] money.”

For workers commuting out of the Palisades, the average drive to their office is between 20 and 28 minutes, which takes them to Beverly Hills or the Fox and Sony studios in West LA.

The last income analysis was in 2012, when the average reported income for the zip code was $486,000—up from $258,000 in 2004. It’s expected to top $600,000 per year in 2017.

There are few surprises about who lives here: overwhelmingly white, with more Asian-Americans than Latinos. And, at last count, 20 Native Americans.

Where did everyone come from?

Around 15 percent of Palisadians were born abroad: By the numbers, they arrived from India, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Belgium, Bangladesh and Taiwan.

Around half were born in the zip code—80 percent from California—but nearly everyone else “immigrated” from the rainy Northwest or the chilly Midwest—and, once here, those immigrants stay longer than native-born Palisadians.

Two-thirds of Palisadians aged under 25 seek work outside LA, perhaps hoping one day to return and raise their family here.

Demographer Joe Halper contributed to this report.