demographics

Oakland City is now the 8th largest city in California. In 2000 their population hit 399,484. There has been a 27,242 population increase since the 1990 census. Today Oakland has four major racial or ethnic groups each representing at least 15% of the population with African Americans the strongest. Oakland is the 26th most diverse community in the state. The city is also a young person's city with 18.1% of population is between the ages of 25 to 34. Some Oakland African American leaders have always viewed Oakland as the "city of blacks."

	All Ages		18 years and over
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Total Population	399,484	100.0	299,725	100.00
White	93,953	23.5	83,172	27.7
Hispanic or Latino	87,467	21.9	57270	19.1
Black or African American	140,139	35.1	101,374	33.8
American Indian and Alaska Native	1,471	0.4	1,097	0.4
Asian	60,393	15.1	46,659	15.6
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander	1,866	0.5	1,150	0.4
Some other race	1,229	0.3	847	2.7
Two or more races	12,966	3.2	8,156	2.7

The area's high home prices-- among the highest in the nation-- have kept blacks and Hispanics, whose incomes are generally lower than those of whites, out of the home ownership market

With Oakland being one of the most diverse cities in the nation it is said that there are at least 81 languages spoken

Labor Force	Employment	Unemployment	Unemployment rate
194,100	185,400	8,700	4.5%