Hate crimes against African-Americans, Latinos, Jews and transgender women rose sharply across Los Angeles County in 2015, especially around downtown and Los Angeles’ Westside, according to a report released today.

Compiled annually by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, the new report found that hate crimes such as vandalism, aggravated assault and intimidation grew by 24 percent in 2015 compared with the year before.

“I was surprised by the extent of the growth in hate crimes,” said Robin Toma, executive director for the Commission on Human Relations. “Twenty-four percent is a big jump.”

Half of the 483 crimes reported were racially motivated, with 58 percent of the attacks targeting African-Americans. Most of those crimes were committed by Latinos, many of them affiliated with gangs, according to the report. Latinos also saw more racially motivated attacks on them in 2015.

“The great majority of African-Americans and Latino/as in Los Angeles County co-exist peacefully and are not involved in ongoing racial conflict,” according to the report. “However, for many years this report has documented that most hate crimes targeting African-Americans are committed by Latino/as and vice versa. This is particularly true in neighborhoods that have undergone rapid demographic shifts from being primarily black to majority Latino/a.”

Crimes motivated by religion climbed by 38 percent, with a significant spike in anti-Muslim incidents, especially after the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. There were 19 crimes against Muslims last year, compared with 3 in 2014.

But anti-Jewish crimes saw a surge from 55 incidents to 70. That could be attributed to continued anti-Israeli sentiment that emerged around the time of Israel’s war with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in 2014, said Amanda Susskind, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles office.

White supremacist ideology, such as spray-painted swastikas, escalated.

“It is disturbing to see this two-year trend of increased Jewish hate crimes, both in L.A. County and in the state of California,” Susskind said.

She said the ADL also was troubled by the anti-Muslim crimes.

“As we stated after 9/11 and will continue to implore, using violence or hateful rhetoric after such an event is never the answer,” Susskind added.

Crimes targeting gay men and lesbians also increased in 2015, from 108 incidents to 120, a trend that marked “the highest rate of violence for homophobic crimes since 2003,” according to the report.

More transgender women also were targeted, including two teenagers who were attacked at their school. Of the 22 incidents reported, 18 were violent.

“All of the suspects were male,” according to the report. “Most of them were complete strangers to the victims.”

Authors of the report say that the hike in hate crimes parallels the overall increase in violent crimes in 2015. The Los Angeles Police Department reported a 20 percent increase in shootings, assaults and other violent crimes last year, while the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department saw a 7 percent growth in the same categories.

While the San Fernando Valley saw 22 percent of all reported hate crimes, the rate was highest in downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding neighborhoods and on the Westside, including Playa del Rey, Venice and Westchester. The San Gabriel Valley, which has a large Asian- American community, reported the lowest rate of hate crimes, but incidents against people of Asian descent tripled, from 6 to 18.

The report highlighted various crimes from 2015, including the following:

•In Northridge, a black man reported he and his roommates found a 5-foot-by-6-foot cross burned into the lawn of a house they were renting.

•In Glendora, an interracial couple found racial slurs written in permanent marker on their car. Three days later, the car’s window was smashed by someone who threw a brick. An Asian man and a black man were arrested.

•In Long Beach, a Middle Eastern man was driving along a main street when a white man pulled alongside of him and asked if he was an Arab. The man said he was Egyptian. The suspect called him a ‘terrorist’ and ‘a Muslim freak.’

•In Whittier, a woman who identified as a lesbian, was approached by two Latino men. One pointed a gun at her and yelled “I should kill you f—–t!”

•In Hollywood, a swastika was drawn at the entrance of a school along with the words: “Kill Jewish boys.”

The Commission on Human Relations has compiled an annual report of hate crimes since 1980 so that organizations, schools and law enforcement agencies can learn from it, and help prevent, detect, report, investigate and prosecute crimes.

“We really encourage parents to talk to their kids about hate,” the ADL’s Susskind said. “It’s important for parents to talk about respect and inclusion.”

Toma, of the Commission on Human Relations, said it’s unclear why the overall rise occurred, but the data will be examined and he hopes it will be used to increase resources to prevent more crimes.