Section I: USC in Los Angeles

This section of the "Atlas of USC Neighborhoods: People and Community" positions USC geographically within Los Angeles, particularly with regard to the downtown part of the city. Map 1 shows the location of the university's two main campuses—the University Park Campus and the Health Sciences Campus—within Los Angeles County. As the maps show, each campus is not far from downtown Los Angeles, nor far from the major focal point of freeways in the metropolitan area.

Other maps show the location of the USC campuses with respect to downtown Los Angeles and their surrounding areas. They include a general locational map (Map 2) along with zip code (5) and census tract (6) maps. Census tracts form the geographic basis of most of the census data depicted in other sections of this study. Tracts typically have total populations between 4,000 and 6,000, although some are above or below those levels. Even though the number of tracts in an area may change from census to census (e.g., 1990 to 2000), correspondence of their boundaries is maintained, allowing comparison of census data over time.

Maps 3 and 4 zoom in closer on the two campuses. Each shows the boundaries of the identified neighborhoods surrounding each campus. These areas are identical to USC Neighborhood Outreach boundaries, which are used to identify a variety of community-outreach programs for university funding that connect the campuses to their surrounding areas. (For more information on programs funded by UNO grants, visit http://www.usc.edu/ext-relations/gnc.)

Map 1: USC in Los Angeles
Map 2: USC Campuses and Surrounding Areas
Map 3: USC University Park Campus Neighborhood
Map 4: USC Health Sciences Campus Neighborhood
Map 5: Zip Codes, USC Campuses and Surrounding Areas
Map 6: Census Tracks, USC Campuses and Surrounding Areas