Greenfield, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greenfield is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. The population was 15,335 at the 2006 California Department of Finance estimate. Its most well-known public event is the annual Broccoli Festival [1] Greenfield is a member of the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Youth Gangs
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Greenfield is located at 36°19′23″N, 121°14′41″W (36.323156, -121.244718)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.4 km² (1.7 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 12,583 people, 2,643 households, and 2,360 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,857.8/km² (7,415.3/mi²). There were 2,726 housing units at an average density of 619.1/km² (1,606.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 39.65% White, 1.18% Black or African American, 1.19% Native American, 0.77% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 51.95% from other races, and 5.11% from two or more races. 87.86% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,643 households out of which 65.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.5% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.7% were non-families. 7.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.75 and the average family size was 4.83. In the city the population was spread out with 38.3% under the age of 18, 13.4% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 12.5% from 45 to 64, and 5.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 108.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,602, and the median income for a family was $35,520. Males had a median income of $25,759 versus $23,848 for females. The per capita income for the city was $9,226. About 17.1% of families and 21.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.2% of those under age 18 and 11.8% of those age 65 or over.

In recent years, the town has seen a massive influx of immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Many Oaxacans speak indigenous languages not related to English or Spanish and as a result, find communication with the large Spanish speaking and smaller English speaking population impossible. Probably the largest single block of such immigrants are speakers of the Copala Triqui language, who are fleeing from poverty and an armed conflict in their native region that has been going on for over 20 years.

The town is also home to five Sears Service Technicians.

[edit] Youth Gangs

Though not near as dire as the gang situation in nearby Salinas, Greenfield has a number of Mexican and Mexican-American youth gangs, including TLS (Tiny Locos) and VGN (Varrio Grinfas Norte). The "v" in VGN represents a phonetic approximation of the Spanish word "barrio," for "neighborhood" (which may arise from the fact that the letters 'b' and 'v' are pronounced nearly the same way in Spanish). Still, the gang problem is not as bad in Greenfield as it is in King City, who lose an average of 2 people a month to gang shootings.