Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County, California Condado de Los Ángeles (Spanish)
County
County of Los Angeles
Images, from top down, left to right: Downtown Los Angeles in winter 2016; Venice, Los Angeles during sunset; Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills; satellite picture of Santa Catalina Island; the Santa Monica Pier; Angeles National Forest; Vasquez Rocks; Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve; and the Hollywood Sign
Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  "L.A. County"
Location of the county in California
California's location in the contiguous United States
Coordinates: 34°3′N 118°15′W / 34.050°N 118.250°W / 34.050; -118.250Coordinates: 34°3′N 118°15′W / 34.050°N 118.250°W / 34.050; -118.250
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Southern California
Metro area	Greater Los Angeles
Formed	February 18, 1850[1]
Named for	The Los Angeles, which was named for Our Lady, Queen of the Angels
County seat	Los Angeles
Largest city	Los Angeles
Incorporated cities	88
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• Body	Board of Supervisors
• Board of Supervisors[2]	Supervisors Hilda Solis Mark Ridley-Thomas Sheila Kuehl Janice Hahn Kathryn Barger
• Chief executive officer	Sachi A. Hamai
Area
• Total	4,751 sq mi (12,310 km2)
• Land	4,058 sq mi (10,510 km2)
• Water	693 sq mi (1,790 km2)
Highest elevation [3]	10,068 ft (3,069 m)
Lowest elevation [4]	0 ft (0 m)
Population (April 1, 2010)[5]
• Total	9,818,605
• Estimate  (2017)[5]	10,163,507
• Density	2,100/sq mi (800/km2)
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific Time Zone)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (Pacific Daylight Time)
ZIP codes	90001–90899, 91001–93599
Area codes	213, 310/424, 323, 562, 626, 661, 747/818, 909
FIPS code	06-037
GNIS feature ID	277283
GDP	>$700 billion[6]
Primary Airport	Los Angeles International Airport LAX (Major/International)
Secondary Airport	Hollywood Burbank Airport- BUR (Regional) Van Nuys Airport- VNY (Regional) Long Beach Airport- LGB (Regional)
Interstates
U.S. Routes	Former Routes
State Routes
County Routes
Rapid Transit	(under construction)
Commuter Rail	(planned) (planned)
Website	www.lacounty.gov

Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles,^[7] (Spanish: Condado de Los Ángeles) is the most populous county in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of the U.S. state of California in the United States, with more than 10 million inhabitants as of 2017^[update].^[8] As such, it is the largest non-state level government entity in the United States. Its population is larger than that of 41 individual U.S. states. It is the third-largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a Nominal GDP of over $700 billion — larger than the GDPs of Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Norway and Taiwan.^[9] It has 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas and at 4,083 square miles (10,570 km²), it is larger than the combined areas of Delaware and Rhode Island. The county is home to more than one-quarter of California residents and is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the U.S.^[10] Its county seat, Los Angeles, is also its most populous city at about 4 million people.

History[edit]

Los Angeles County is one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850.^[11] The county originally included parts of what are now Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, Tulare, Ventura, and Orange counties. In 1851 and 1852, Los Angeles County stretched from the coast to the border of Nevada.^[12] As the population increased, sections were split off to organize San Bernardino County in 1853, Kern County in 1866, and Orange County in 1889.

Geography[edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 4,751 square miles (12,310 km²), of which 4,058 square miles (10,510 km²) is land and 693 square miles (1,790 km²) (15%) is water.^[13] Los Angeles County borders 70 miles (110 km) of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses mountain ranges, valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. The Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel River and the Santa Clara River flow in Los Angeles County, while the primary mountain ranges are the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. The western extent of the Mojave Desert begins in the Antelope Valley, in the northeastern part of the county.

Most of the population of Los Angeles County is located in the south and southwest, with major population centers in the Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley. Other population centers are found in the Santa Clarita Valley, Pomona Valley, Crescenta Valley and Antelope Valley.

The county is divided west-to-east by the San Gabriel Mountains, which are part of the Transverse Ranges of southern California, and are contained mostly within the Angeles National Forest. Most of the county's highest peaks are in the San Gabriel Mountains, including Mount San Antonio 10,068 feet (3,069 m)) at the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county lines, Mount Baden-Powell 9,399 feet (2,865 m), Mount Burnham 8,997 feet (2,742 m) and Mount Wilson 5,710 feet (1,740 m). Several lower mountains are in the northern, western, and southwestern parts of the county, including the San Emigdio Mountains, the southernmost part of Tehachapi Mountains and the Sierra Pelona Mountains.

Los Angeles County includes San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island, which are part of the Channel Islands archipelago off the Pacific Coast.

Lakes and reservoirs[edit]

Major divisions of the county[edit]

• East: Eastside, San Gabriel Valley, portions of the Pomona Valley
• West: Westside, Beach Cities
• South: South Bay, South Los Angeles, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Gateway Cities, Los Angeles Harbor Region
• North: San Fernando Valley, Crescenta Valley, portions of the Conejo Valley, portions of the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita Valley
• Central: Downtown Los Angeles, Mid-Wilshire, Northeast Los Angeles

National protected areas[edit]

• Angeles National Forest (part)
• Los Padres National Forest (part)
• Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (part)

Demographics[edit]

Los Angeles County had a population of 9,818,605 in the 2010 United States Census. The racial makeup of Los Angeles County was 4,936,599 (50%) White, 1,346,865 (13.7%) Asian, 856,874 (9%) African American, 72,828 (0.7%) Native American, 26,094 (0.3%) Pacific Islander, 2,140,632 (21.8%) from other races, and 438,713 (4.5%) from two or more races.

Non-Hispanic whites numbered 2,728,321, or 28% of the population.^[14] Hispanic or Latino residents of any race numbered 4,687,889 (48%); 36% of Los Angeles County's population was of Mexican ancestry; 3.7% Salvadoran, and 2.2% Guatemalan heritage.^[15]

The county has a large population of Asian Americans, being home to the largest concentration of immigrants who are Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Korean, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai in the world.^[16] The largest Asian groups of the 1,346,865 (13.7%) Asians in Los Angeles County are 4.0% Chinese, 3.3% Filipino, 2.2% Korean, 1.0% Japanese, 0.9% Vietnamese, 0.8% Indian, and 0.3% Cambodian.

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1850	3,530		—
1860	11,333		221.0%
1870	15,309		35.1%
1880	33,381		118.0%
1890	101,454		203.9%
1900	170,298		67.9%
1910	504,131		196.0%
1920	936,455		85.8%
1930	2,208,492		135.8%
1940	2,785,643		26.1%
1950	4,151,687		49.0%
1960	6,038,771		45.5%
1970	7,041,980		16.6%
1980	7,477,421		6.2%
1990	8,863,164		18.5%
2000	9,519,338		7.4%
2010	9,818,605		3.1%
Est. 2017	10,163,507	[8]	3.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[17] 1790–1960[18] 1900–1990[19] 1990–2000[20] 2010–2015[21]

Race and ancestry[edit]

Population, race, and income (2011)
Total population[22]	9,787,747
White[22]	5,126,367	52.4%
Black or African American[22]	844,048	8.6%
American Indian or Alaska Native[22]	49,329	0.5%
Asian[22]	1,347,782	13.8%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander[22]	26,310	0.3%
Some other race[22]	2,064,759	21.1%
Two or more races[22]	329,152	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[23]	4,644,328	47.5%
Per capita income[24]	$27,954
Median household income[25]	$56,266
Median family income[26]	$62,595

The racial makeup of the county is 48.7% White,^[27] 11.0% African American, 0.8% Native American, 10.0% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 23.5% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. 44.6% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. The largest European-American ancestry groups are German (6%), Irish (5%), English (4%) and Italian (3%). 45.9% of the population reported speaking only English at home; 37.9% spoke Spanish, 2.22% Tagalog, 2.0% Chinese, 1.9% Korean, 1.87% Armenian, 0.5% Arabic, and 0.2% Hindi.^[28]

The county has the largest Native American population of any county in the nation: according to the 2000 census, it has more than 153,550 people of indigenous descent, and most are from Latin America.

As estimated by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2008, Los Angeles County is home to more than one-third of California's undocumented immigrants, who make up more than ten percent of the population.^[29]

2000[edit]

At the census^[30] of 2000, there were 9,519,338 people, 3,133,774 households, and 2,137,233 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,344 people per square mile (905/km²). There were 3,270,909 housing units at an average density of 806 per square mile (311/km²).

There were 3,133,774 households out of which 37% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48% were married couples living together, 15% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32% were non-families. 25% of all households were made up of individuals and 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.61.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28% under the age of 18, 10% from 18 to 24, 33% from 25 to 44, 19% from 45 to 64, and 10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.

Income[edit]

The median personal earnings for all workers 16 and older in Los Angeles County are $30,654, slightly below the US median; earnings, however vary widely by neighborhood, race and ethnicity, and gender.^[31] The median income for a household in the county was $42,189, and the median income for a family was $46,452. Males had a median income of $36,299 versus $30,981 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,683. There are 14.4% of families living below the poverty line and 17.9% of the population, including 24.2% of under 18 and 10.5% of those over 64. Los Angeles County has the highest number of millionaires of any county in the nation, totaling 261,081 households as of 2007.^[32]

The homeownership rate is 47.9%, and the median value for houses is $409,300. 42.2% of housing units are in multi-unit structures. Los Angeles County has the largest number of homeless people, with "48,000 people living on the streets, including 6,000 veterans.", in 2010.^[33] As of 2017^[update] the number of homeless in the county of Los Angeles increased to nearly 58,000.^[34]

Religion[edit]

In 2000, there were hundreds of Christian churches, 202 Jewish synagogues, 145 Buddhist temples, 48 Muslim mosques, 44 Bahai worship centers, 37 Hindu mandirs, 28 Tenrikyo churches and fellowships, 16 Shinto worship centers, and 14 Sikh gurdwaras in the county.^[35] The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has approximately 5 million members and is the largest diocese in the United States.

Law, government and politics[edit]

Government[edit]

The Government of Los Angeles County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law and the Charter of the County of Los Angeles.^[36] Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of local governments such as the Government of Los Angeles County.

The county's voters elect a governing five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The small size of the board means each supervisor represents over 2 million people. The board operates in a legislative, executive, and quasi-judicial capacity. As a legislative authority, it can pass ordinances for the unincorporated areas (ordinances that affect the whole county, like posting of restaurant ratings, must be ratified by the individual city). As an executive body, it can tell the county departments what to do, and how to do it. As a quasi-judicial body, the Board is the final venue of appeal in the local planning process, and holds public hearings on various agenda items.

As of 2008, the Board of Supervisors oversees a $22.5 billion annual budget and approximately 100,000 employees.^[37] The county government is managed on a day-to-day basis by a Chief Executive Officer and is organized into many departments, each of which is enormous in comparison to equivalent county-level (and even many state-level) departments anywhere else in the United States. Some of the larger or better-known departments include:

• Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs – offers consumers in the county a variety of services including: consumer and real estate counseling, mediation, and small claims counseling investigates consumer complains, real estate fraud and identity theft issues. The department also provides small business certifications and helps entrepreneurs navigate the process of opening a business.
• Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services – administers foster care
• Los Angeles County Fire Department – provides firefighting services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities.
• Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – operates several county hospitals and a network of primary care clinics,
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Health - administers public health programs including STD programs, smoking cessation, and restaurant inspection. In the majority of the county LACDPH puts letter grades relating to the food cleanliness and safety of a restaurant in the front window of restaurants.
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services – administers many federal and state welfare programs
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Works – operates countywide flood control system, constructs and maintains roads in unincorporated areas
• Los Angeles County District Attorney – prosecutes criminal suspects.
• Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender – Defends indigent people accused of criminal offenses.
• Los Angeles County Probation Department
• Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department – provides law enforcement services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 42 cities.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, despite its name, is not a County department. Technically it is a state-mandated county transportation commission that also operates bus and rail.

Politics[edit]

Overview[edit]

Los Angeles County has voted for the Democratic candidate in most of the presidential elections in the past four decades, and has gone Democratic in every election since 1988. However, it did vote twice for Dwight Eisenhower (1952, 1956), Richard Nixon (1968, 1972), and Ronald Reagan (1980, 1984) the latter two of whom were Californians. From 1920 to 1984 it was a bellwether county that always voted for the eventual national winner. It voted against the national popular vote winner in 1988 and 2004. In 2008 and 2012 approximately 69% of the electorate voted for Democrat Barack Obama. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton won 71% of the vote, marking the largest percentage of the electorate ever won by a single candidate in the county.^{[citation needed]}

Voter registration[edit]

Population and registered voters
Total population[22]	9,787,747
Registered voters[39][note 1]	4,865,403	49.7%
Democratic[39]	2,486,479	51.1%
Republican[39]	1,048,507	21.6%
Democratic–Republican spread[39]	+1,437,972	+29.5%
Independent[39]	109,055	2.2%
Green[39]	24,534	0.5%
Libertarian[39]	25,808	0.5%
Peace and Freedom[39]	24,950	0.5%
Americans Elect[39]	2,583	0.1%
Other[39]	262,180	5.4%
No party preference[39]	881,307	18.1%

In the United States House of Representatives, Los Angeles County is split between 18 congressional districts:^[40] In the California State Senate, Los Angeles County is split between 15 legislative districts:^[41] In the California State Assembly, Los Angeles County is split between 24 legislative districts:^[42]

On November 4, 2008, Los Angeles County was almost evenly split over Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The county voted for the amendment 50.04% with a margin of 2,385 votes.^[43]

Legal system[edit]

The Los Angeles Superior Court, is the county's court of general jurisdiction, while the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California may hear cases where federal jurisdiction is present. Both are headquartered in a large cluster of government buildings in the city's Civic Center.

Historically, the courthouses were county-owned buildings that were maintained at county expense, which created significant friction since the trial court judges, as officials of the state government, had to lobby the county Board of Supervisors for facility renovations and upgrades. In turn, the state judiciary successfully persuaded the state Legislature to authorize the transfer of all courthouses to the state government in 2008 and 2009 (so that judges would have direct control over their own courthouses). Courthouse security is still provided by the county government under a contract with the state.

Unlike the largest city in the United States, New York City, all of the city of Los Angeles and most of its important suburbs are located within a single county. As a result, both the county superior court and the federal district court are respectively the busiest courts of their type in the nation.^[44][45]

Many celebrities like O. J. Simpson have been seen in Los Angeles courts. In 2003, the television show Extra (based in nearby Glendale) found itself running so many reports on the legal problems of local celebrities that it spun them off into a separate show, Celebrity Justice.

State cases are appealed to the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District, which is also headquartered in the Civic Center, and then to the California Supreme Court, which is headquartered in San Francisco but also hears argument in Los Angeles (again, in the Civic Center). Federal cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears them at its branch building in Pasadena. The court of last resort for federal cases is the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Crime[edit]

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Population and crime rates
Population[22]	9,787,747
Violent crime[46]	54,747	5.59
Homicide[46]	699	0.07
Forcible rape[46]	2,114	0.22
Robbery[46]	24,528	2.51
Aggravated assault[46]	27,406	2.80
Property crime[46]	155,583	15.90
Burglary[46]	50,558	5.17
Larceny-theft[46][note 2]	144,589	14.77
Motor vehicle theft[46]	46,710	4.77
Arson[46]	2,815	0.29

Cities by population and crime rates[edit]

Cities by population and crime rates
City	Population[47]	Violent crimes[47]	Violent crime rate per 1,000 persons	Property crimes[47]	Property crime rate per 1,000 persons
Agoura Hills	20,667	12	0.58	236	11.42
Alhambra	84,469	149	1.76	1,919	22.72
Arcadia	57,295	57	0.99	1,388	24.23
Artesia	16,793	60	3.57	262	15.60
Avalon	3,795	13	3.43	64	16.86
Azusa	47,111	220	4.67	1,204	25.56
Baldwin Park	76,644	261	3.41	1,585	20.68
Bell	36,062	225	6.24	662	18.36
Bellflower	77,886	304	3.90	1,802	23.14
Bell Gardens	42,769	125	2.92	728	17.02
Beverly Hills	34,677	89	2.57	1,081	31.17
Bradbury	1,067	0	0.00	10	9.37
Burbank	105,057	243	2.31	2,493	23.73
Calabasas	23,442	13	0.55	238	10.15
Carson	93,233	520	5.58	2,709	29.06
Cerritos	49,856	120	2.41	1,870	37.51
Claremont	35,469	40	1.13	901	25.40
Commerce	13,035	112	8.59	1,010	77.48
Compton	98,057	1,218	12.42	2,399	24.47
Covina	48,588	151	3.11	1,651	33.98
Cudahy	24,201	151	6.24	347	14.34
Culver City	39,528	179	4.53	1,760	44.53
Diamond Bar	56,470	55	0.97	952	16.86
Downey	113,628	381	3.35	3,537	31.13
Duarte	21,673	71	3.28	507	23.39
El Monte	115,356	395	3.42	2,230	19.33
El Segundo	16,931	38	2.24	595	35.14
Gardena	59,802	287	4.80	1,321	22.09
Glendale	194,902	233	1.20	3,043	15.61
Glendora	50,903	59	1.16	1,293	25.40
Hawaiian Gardens	14,493	69	4.76	193	13.32
Hawthorne	85,692	637	7.43	2,181	25.45
Hermosa Beach	19,830	54	2.72	678	34.19
Hidden Hills	1,887	0	0.00	4	2.12
Huntington Park	59,079	373	6.31	1,917	32.45
Industry	222	68	306.31	1,110	5,000.00
Inglewood	111,488	780	7.00	2,673	23.98
Irwindale	1,447	15	10.37	243	167.93
La Canada Flintridge	20,584	12	0.58	324	15.74
La Habra Heights	5,413	6	1.11	44	8.13
Lakewood	81,382	227	2.79	2,062	25.34
La Mirada	49,312	98	1.99	776	15.74
Lancaster	159,155	859	5.40	3,498	21.98
La Puente	40,479	121	2.99	521	12.87
La Verne	31,575	50	1.58	823	26.06
Lawndale	33,312	167	5.01	397	11.92
Lomita	20,591	95	4.61	391	18.99
Long Beach	469,893	2,705	5.76	14,131	30.07
Los Angeles	3,855,122	18,547	4.81	87,478	22.69
Lynwood	70,908	541	7.63	1,373	19.36
Malibu	12,854	15	1.17	329	25.60
Manhattan Beach	35,719	62	1.74	855	23.94
Maywood	27,850	175	6.28	286	10.27
Monrovia	37,199	81	2.18	948	25.48
Montebello	63,538	146	2.30	1,775	27.94
Monterey Park	61,270	75	1.22	1,022	16.68
Norwalk	107,295	433	4.04	2,609	24.32
Palmdale	155,294	812	5.23	3,393	21.85
Palos Verdes Estates	13,661	6	0.44	136	9.96
Paramount	54,997	244	4.44	1,536	27.93
Pasadena	139,382	433	3.11	3,379	24.24
Pico Rivera	63,988	261	4.08	1,780	27.82
Pomona	151,511	1,021	6.74	5,055	33.36
Rancho Palos Verdes	42,335	35	0.83	498	11.76
Redondo Beach	67,856	190	2.80	1,596	23.52
Rolling Hills	1,891	0	0.00	27	14.28
Rolling Hills Estates	8,202	9	1.10	129	15.73
Rosemead	54,656	143	2.62	913	16.70
San Dimas	33,923	51	1.50	668	19.69
San Fernando	24,039	77	3.20	380	15.81
San Gabriel	40,376	88	2.18	550	13.62
San Marino	13,364	13	0.97	183	13.69
Santa Clarita	179,248	342	1.91	2,742	15.30
Santa Fe Springs	16,492	99	6.00	1,272	77.13
Santa Monica	91,215	395	4.33	3,398	37.25
Sierra Madre	11,098	4	0.36	112	10.09
Signal Hill	11,198	43	3.84	536	47.87
South El Monte	20,452	88	4.30	399	19.51
South Gate	95,966	553	5.76	2,545	26.52
South Pasadena	26,045	27	1.04	443	17.01
Temple City	36,148	38	1.05	354	9.79
Torrance	147,851	190	1.29	2,690	18.19
Vernon	114	27	236.84	311	2,728.07
Walnut	29,658	37	1.25	382	12.88
West Covina	107,861	281	2.61	3,224	29.89
West Hollywood	34,971	338	9.67	1,642	46.95
Westlake Village	8,406	3	0.36	154	18.32
Whittier	86,740	247	2.85	2,502	28.84

Other statistics[edit]

Crime in 2008 (reported by the sheriff's office or police)^[48]

• Assaults: 5452
• Auto thefts: 7727
• Burglaries: 5254
• Murders: 568 (5.7 per 100,000)
• Rapes: 582
• Robberies: 2210
• Thefts: 9682

Crime in 2013

• Homicides: 386^[49]
• Thefts: 54,971 ^[50]
• Burglaries: 17,606
• Car Thefts: 15,866^[50]
• Robberies: 10,202
• Violent Crimes: 20,318^[50]
• Rapes: 843
• Assaults: 8,976^[50]
• Murders: 297

Economy[edit]

Los Angeles County is commonly associated with the entertainment and digital media industry; all six major film studios—Paramount Pictures, 21st Century Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios—are located within the county. Numerous other major industries also define the economy of Los Angeles County, including international trade supported by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, music recording and production, aerospace and defense, fashion, and professional services such as law, medicine, engineering and design services, financial services and more. High-tech sector employment within Los Angeles County is 368,500 workers,^[51] and manufacturing employment within Los Angeles County is 365,000 workers.^{[52][citation needed]}

The following major companies have headquarters in Los Angeles County:

Burbank Walt Disney Co Cerritos CareMore Isuzu Motors America Memorex RazorUSA Beverly Hills Live Nation Entertainment, Inc El Segundo Konami Mattel, Inc Glendale Avery Dennison Corp. Hawthorne Space X La Mirada Makita

Los Angeles AECOM CBRE Group Dollar Shave Club Fandango, Inc. Farmers Insurance Group The Honest Company ICANN Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. Snapchat Universal Pictures Long Beach Molina Healthcare Monrovia Trader Joe's Palmdale Delta Scientific Rosemead Edison International Santa Clarita Princess Cruise Lines Honda Racing

Santa Monica Activision Blizzard Hulu Riot Games TrueCar Torrance American Honda Motor Co. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. Westlake Village Dole Food Company[53] Woodland Hills Farmers Insurance Exchange Health Net Inc.

Education[edit]

The Los Angeles County Office of Education provides a supporting role for school districts in the area. The county office also operates two magnet schools, the International Polytechnic High School and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. There are a number of private schools in the county, most notably those operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Colleges[edit]

Universities[edit]

Sites of interest[edit]

The county's most visited park is Griffith Park, owned by the city of Los Angeles. The county is also known for the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, the annual Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Arboretum of Los Angeles, and two horse racetracks and two car racetracks (Pomona Raceway and Irwindale Speedway), also the RMS Queen Mary located in Long Beach, and the Long Beach Grand Prix, and miles of beaches—from Zuma to Cabrillo.

Venice Beach is a popular attraction where its Muscle Beach used to find throngs of tourists admiring "hardbodies". Today, it is more arts-centered. Santa Monica's pier is a well known tourist spot, famous for its ferris wheel and bumper car rides, which were featured in the introductory segment of the television sitcom Three's Company. Further north in Pacific Palisades one finds the beaches used in the television series Baywatch.^{[citation needed]} The fabled Malibu, home of many a film or television star, lies west of it.

In the mountain, canyon, and desert areas one may find Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, where many old Westerns were filmed. Mount Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains is open for the public to view astronomical stars from its telescope, now computer-assisted. Many county residents find relaxation in water skiing and swimming at Castaic Lake Recreation Area – the county's largest park by area – as well as enjoying natural surroundings and starry nights at Saddleback Butte State Park in the eastern Antelope Valley – California State Parks' largest in area within the county. The California Poppy Reserve is located in the western Antelope Valley and shows off the State's flower in great quantity on its rolling hills every spring.

Museums[edit]

• Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California
• Battleship USS Iowa, Los Angeles Waterfront in San Pedro
• SS Lane Victory, Los Angeles Waterfront in San Pedro, just south of the USS Iowa
• California African American Museum
• California Science Center, Los Angeles (formerly the Museum of Science and Industry)
• The Broad
• Hammer Museum
• Huntington Library, San Marino
• Long Beach Museum of Art in the historic Elizabeth Milbank Anderson residence
• Los Angeles Children's Museum
• Los Angeles County Fire Museum, in Bellflower^[54]
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mid-City, Los Angeles
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Downtown Los Angeles (founded in 1950); The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Downtown Los Angeles (founded in 1980)
• Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City
• Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach
• Museum of Neon Art
• Museum of the American West (Gene Autry Museum), in Griffith Park
• Museum of Tolerance
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• Pasadena Museum of California Art, in Pasadena
• J. Paul Getty Center, Brentwood (Ancient Roman, Greek, and European Renaissance Art)
• J. Paul Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, Getty's original house
• George C. Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits
• Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica (Contemporary art)
• Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena (19th- and early 20th-century art)
• Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles
• Southwest Museum

Entertainment[edit]

• Pacific Park
• Six Flags Magic Mountain
• Raging Waters
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
• Descanso Gardens
• Dodger Stadium
• Exposition Park
• Farmers Market
• The Forum
• Griffith Park
• Griffith Observatory
• Huntington Botanical Gardens
• La Brea Tar Pits
• Music Center
• Olvera Street
• Staples Center
• Third Street Promenade
• Venice Beach
• Los Angeles Zoo

Music venues[edit]

Amusement parks[edit]

• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Raging Waters
• Six Flags Magic Mountain
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
• Pacific Park

Other attractions[edit]

U.S. Bank Tower Wilshire Grand Tower Central Los Angeles Library Watts Towers Wayfarers Chapel

Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Queen Mary

Other areas[edit]

Transportation[edit]

Major highways[edit]

Air[edit]

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), located in the Westchester district, is the primary commercial airport for commercial airlines in the county and the Greater Los Angeles Area. LAX is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency of the City of Los Angeles.

Other important commercial airports in Los Angeles County include:

• Long Beach Municipal Airport operated by the City of Long Beach.
• Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, operated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

The following general aviation airports also are located in Los Angeles County:

• County operated airports (Department of Public Works, Aviation Division)
  • Compton/Woodley Airport in Compton.
  • San Gabriel Valley Airport in El Monte.
  • Brackett Field in La Verne.
  • Whiteman Airport in Pacoima.
  • General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster.
• City operated airports
  • Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, also operated by LAWA. Van Nuys Airport sees significant executive jet air traffic.
  • LA/Palmdale Regional Airport in Palmdale. The airport is a separate facility on the grounds of Air Force Plant 42.
  • Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, which has major executive jet traffic.
  • Hawthorne Municipal Airport, also known as Jack Northrop Field, in Hawthorne.
  • Zamperini Field in Torrance.

The U.S. Air Force operates three airports in Los Angeles County:

• Portions of Edwards Air Force Base, located at the northern edge of the county.
• Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, sharing runways with LA/Palmdale Regional.
• The non-flying Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo.

Rail[edit]

Los Angeles is a major freight-railroad transportation center, largely due to the large volumes of freight moving in and out of the county's sea port facilities. The ports are connected to the downtown rail yards and to the main lines of Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe headed east via a grade-separated, freight rail corridor known as the Alameda Corridor.

Passenger rail service is provided in the county by Amtrak, Los Angeles Metro Rail and Metrolink.

Amtrak has the following intercity Amtrak service at Union Station in the city of Los Angeles:

• The Pacific Surfliner to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Diego.
• The Coast Starlight to Seattle.
• The Southwest Chief to Chicago.
• The Sunset Limited to New Orleans and Orlando.

Union Station is also the primary hub for Metrolink commuter rail, which serves much of the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Light rail, subway (heavy rail), and long-distance bus service are all provided by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

Sea[edit]

The county's two main seaports are the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Together they handle over a quarter of all container traffic entering the United States, making the complex the largest and most important port in the country, and the third-largest port in the world by shipping volume.

The Port of Los Angeles is the largest cruise ship center on the West Coast, handling more than 1 million passengers annually.

The Port of Long Beach is home to the Sea Launch program, which uses a floating launch platform to insert payloads into orbits that would be difficult to attain from existing land-based launch sites.

Ferries link the Catalina Island city of Avalon to the mainland.

Communities[edit]

Cities[edit]

There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County. According to the 2016 Estimate, the most populous are:^[55]

Largest cities, 2016 Estimate

City	Population
Los Angeles	3,976,322
Long Beach	470,130
Glendale	200,831
Santa Clarita	181,972
Lancaster	160,106
Palmdale	157,356
Pomona	152,494
Torrance	147,195
Pasadena	142,059
El Monte	115,807
Downey	113,267
West Covina	107,847
Norwalk	106,178
Burbank	104,447

Unincorporated areas[edit]

Census designated places[edit]

Other communities[edit]

See: Los Angeles Almanac MAP: Unincorporated Areas and Communities of Los Angeles County

Population ranking[edit]

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Los Angeles County.^[57]

† county seat

Rank	City/Town/etc.	Municipal type	Population (2010 Census)
1	† Los Angeles	City	3,792,621
2	Long Beach	City	462,257
3	Glendale	City	191,719
4	Santa Clarita	City	176,320
5	Lancaster	City	156,633
6	Palmdale	City	152,750
7	Pomona	City	149,058
8	Torrance	City	145,438
9	Pasadena	City	137,122
10	East Los Angeles	CDP	126,496
11	El Monte	City	113,475
12	Downey	City	111,772
13	Inglewood	City	109,673
14	West Covina	City	106,098
15	Norwalk	City	105,549
16	Burbank	City	103,340
17	Compton	City	96,455
18	South Gate	City	94,396
19	Carson	City	91,714
20	Santa Monica	City	89,736
21	Whittier	City	85,331
22	Hawthorne	City	84,293
23	Alhambra	City	83,089
24	Lakewood	City	80,048
25	Bellflower	City	76,616
26	Baldwin Park	City	75,390
27	Lynwood	City	69,772
28	Redondo Beach	City	66,748
29	Florence-Graham	CDP	63,387
30	Pico Rivera	City	62,942
31	Montebello	City	62,500
32	Monterey Park	City	60,269
33	Gardena	City	58,829
34	Huntington Park	City	58,114
35	South Whittier	CDP	57,156
36	Arcadia	City	56,364
37	Diamond Bar	City	55,544
38	Paramount	City	54,098
39	Hacienda Heights	CDP	54,038
40	Rosemead	City	53,764
41	Glendora	City	50,073
42	Cerritos	City	49,041
43	Rowland Heights	CDP	48,993
44	La Mirada	City	48,527
45	Covina	City	47,796
46	Azusa	City	46,361
47	Altadena	CDP	42,777
48	Bell Gardens	City	42,072
49	Rancho Palos Verdes	City	41,643
50	La Puente	City	39,816
51	San Gabriel	City	39,718
52	Culver City	City	38,883
53	Monrovia	City	36,590
54	Willowbrook	CDP	35,983
55	Temple City	City	35,558
56	Bell	City	35,477
57	Manhattan Beach	City	35,135
58	Claremont	City	34,926
59	West Hollywood	City	34,399
60	Beverly Hills	City	34,109
61	San Dimas	City	33,371
62	Lawndale	City	32,769
63	Westmont	CDP	31,853
64	La Verne	City	31,063
65	Walnut	City	29,172
66	Maywood	City	27,395
67	South Pasadena	City	25,619
68	West Whittier-Los Nietos	CDP	25,540
69	Cudahy	City	23,805
70	San Fernando	City	23,645
71	Calabasas	City	23,058
72	Valinda	CDP	22,822
73	Lennox	CDP	22,753
74	West Puente Valley	CDP	22,636
75	West Carson	CDP	21,699
76	Duarte	City	21,321
77	South San Jose Hills	CDP	20,551
78	Agoura Hills	City	20,330
79	Lomita	City	20,256
80	La Cañada Flintridge	City	20,246
81	South El Monte	City	20,116
82	La Crescenta-Montrose	CDP	19,653
83	Hermosa Beach	City	19,506
84	Castaic	CDP	19,015
85	Stevenson Ranch	CDP	17,557
86	El Segundo	City	16,654
87	Artesia	City	16,522
88	Santa Fe Springs	City	16,223
89	Walnut Park	CDP	15,966
90	Vincent	CDP	15,922
91	Avocado Heights	CDP	15,411
92	East Rancho Dominguez	CDP	15,135
93	East San Gabriel	CDP	14,874
94	Hawaiian Gardens	City	14,254
95	Palos Verdes Estates	City	13,438
96	San Marino	City	13,147
97	Commerce	City	12,823
98	Malibu	City	12,645
99	Lake Los Angeles	CDP	12,328
100	Sun Village	CDP	11,565
101	View Park-Windsor Hills	CDP	11,075
102	Signal Hill	City	11,016
103	Sierra Madre	City	10,917
104	Quartz Hill	CDP	10,912
105	Citrus	CDP	10,866
106	Del Aire	CDP	10,001
107	East Whittier (formerly East La Mirada until 2012)	CDP	9,757
108	Charter Oak	CDP	9,310
109	Marina del Rey	CDP	8,866
110	West Athens	CDP	8,729
111	Alondra Park	CDP	8,592
112	Topanga	CDP	8,289
113	Westlake Village	City	8,270
114	South San Gabriel	CDP	8,070
115	Rolling Hills Estates	City	8,067
116	Acton	CDP	7,596
117	South Monrovia Island	CDP	6,777
118	Ladera Heights	CDP	6,498
119	East Pasadena	CDP	6,144
120	West Rancho Dominguez	CDP	5,669
121	Mayflower Village	CDP	5,515
122	La Habra Heights	City	5,325
123	Avalon	City	3,728
124	North El Monte	CDP	3,723
125	Agua Dulce	CDP	3,342
126	Rose Hills	CDP	2,803
127	Val Verde	CDP	2,468
128	Desert View Highlands	CDP	2,360
129	San Pasqual	CDP	2,041
130	Rolling Hills	City	1,860
131	Hidden Hills	City	1,856
132	Elizabeth Lake	CDP	1,756
133	Leona Valley	CDP	1,607
134	Irwindale	City	1,422
135	Littlerock	CDP	1,377
136	Hasley Canyon	CDP	1,137
137	Bradbury	City	1,048
138	Santa Susana (mostly in Ventura County)	CDP	1,037
139	Green Valley	CDP	1,027
140	Lake Hughes	CDP	649
141	Industry	City	219
142	Vernon	City	112

See also[edit]

• List of museums in Los Angeles
• List of museums in Los Angeles County, California
• List of school districts in Los Angeles County, California
• List of schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Los Angeles County, California

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Los Angeles County, California.

Wikisource has the text of an 1879 American Cyclopædia article about Los Angeles County, California.

• County government website