According to the latest U.S. Census figures, the number of white people in Glendale in the past 10 years has increased to 62%, or 117,000.

According to experts, it is largely because fewer Armenians are claiming two racial identities on census forms. The Census Bureau gave people the option of choosing two or more races for the first time in 2000.

According to the Census in 2000, 22% of those who identified as Armenian said they were white and some other race, but that figure dropped to about 1% in 2009, Glendale News-Press reports.

“The numbers show changes in the identity among Armenians,” said Amon Emeka, a race and ethnic relations expert at USC. “There’s been a huge switch in how Armenians in Glendale identify themselves.”

Local community representatives claim that over time Armenians are assimilating more and more in the U.S.

Glendale’s Armenian population is one of the largest outside Armenia. However, the number of migrants is not as high as 10 years before, the newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Latino people in Glendale dropped from 20% to 17% over the 10-year period, according to census figures. Experts said it is nearly impossible to track where they were going, but said the trend could be tied to higher local housing prices.

Senior planners for the city noted that people with lower-income had to move away. In 2008, Glendale’s median household income increased by 22% to $50,804.