Who smokes and where in L.A. County

Some 19% of men in Los Angeles County smoke cigarettes compared to 10% of women, according to new estimates by the county Department of Public Health. African Americans smoke at a 25% rate compared to 15% for whites, 12% for Latinos and 11% for Asians, the study says. College educated and higher income? Lower smoking rates. The DPH says the county's overall 14% adult smoking rate is among the lowest in the country for an urban area. The data isn't fine enough to know what goes on by city or community, the report concedes. But the department did some statistical estimating and filling-in to make some educated guesses about which areas smoke less or more, based on the kinds of people who live there. San Marino has the lowest smoking rate by this method, and Quartz Hill out in the desert the highest. In Los Angeles proper, the authors calculate that City Council district 11 (white, upscale, educated) smokes the least, and CD 8 (minority, poorer, less college-educated) smokes the most. Is it true? Who knows. But there's a table where you can compare communities.

Study PDF
Yaroslavsky website story