Los Angeles

"LA" and "City of Los Angeles" redirect here. For other uses, see Los Angeles (disambiguation), LA (disambiguation), and City of Los Angeles (disambiguation).

Los Angeles
City
Skyline of Downtown Los Angeles
Hollywood Sign
Echo Park
Calle Olvera
Los Angeles City Hall
Griffith Observatory
Venice Beach
Flag of Los Angeles
Flag
Official seal of Los Angeles
Seal
Coat of arms of Los Angeles
Coat of arms
L.A. city seal next to LACITY.GOV
Wordmark
Nicknames: 
L.A., City of Angels,[1] The Entertainment Capital of the World,[1] La-la-land, Tinseltown[1]
Map
Map
Map
Map
Coordinates: 34°03′N 118°15′W / 34.050°N 118.250°W / 34.050; -118.250
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyLos Angeles
RegionSouthern California
CSALos Angeles-Long Beach
MSALos Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
PuebloSeptember 4, 1781[2]
City statusMay 23, 1835[3]
IncorporatedApril 4, 1850[4]
Named forOur Lady, Queen of the Angels
Government
 • TypeMayor-council[5]
 • BodyLos Angeles City Council
 • MayorKaren Bass (D)
 • City AttorneyHydee Feldstein Soto (D)
 • City ControllerKenneth Mejia (D)
Area
[6]
 • Total
498.3 sq mi (1,290.6 km2)
 • Land469.1 sq mi (1,214.9 km2)
 • Water29.2 sq mi (75.7 km2)
Elevation
233 ft (71 m)
Highest elevation
(Mount Lukens)
5,075 ft (1,576 m)
Lowest elevation
(Pacific Ocean)
0 ft (0 m)
Population
 (2020)[7]
 • Total
3,898,747
 • Estimate 
(2023)[8]
3,820,914
 • Rank3rd in North America
2nd in the United States
1st in California
 • Density8,205/sq mi (3,168/km2)
 • Urban
[9]
12,237,376 (US: 2nd)
 • Metro
[10]
12,799,100 (US: 2nd)
 • CSA
[10]
18,316,743 (US: 2nd)
DemonymsAngeleno, Angelino, Angeleño[11][12]
GDP
[13][14][15]
 • Metro$1.227 trillion (2022)
 • CSA$1.528 trillion (2022)
Time zoneUTC−08:00 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−07:00 (PDT)
ZIP Codes
List
  • 90001–90084, 90086–90089, 90091, 90093–90097, 90099, 90101–90103, 90174, 90185, 90189, 90291–90293, 91040–91043, 91303–91308, 91311, 91316, 91324–91328, 91330, 91331, 91335, 91340, 91342–91349, 91352–91353, 91356–91357, 91364–91367, 91401–91499, 91504–91505, 91601–91609[16]
Area codes213, 323, 310, 424, 818, 747, 626
FIPS code06-44000
GNIS feature IDs1662328, 2410877
Websitelacity.gov

Los Angeles,[a] often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California. With an estimated 3,820,914 residents within the city limits as of 2023,[8] it is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City; it is also the commercial, financial and cultural center of Southern California. Los Angeles has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 12.8 million people (2023). Greater Los Angeles, which includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.3 million residents.

The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2),[6] and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022.[17] It is the third-most visited city in the U.S. with over 2.7 million visitors as of 2023.[18]

The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga.[19] It became a part of the First Mexican Empire in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and became part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city.[20] The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California.

Los Angeles has a diverse economy with a broad range of industries. Despite a steep exodus of film and television production since the COVID-19 pandemic,[21] Los Angeles is still one of the largest hubs of American film production,[22][23] the world's largest by revenue; the city is an important site in the history of film. It also has one of the busiest container ports in the Americas.[24][25][26] In 2018, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $1.0 trillion,[27] making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after New York and Tokyo. Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and will also host in 2028. Despite a business exodus from Downtown Los Angeles since the COVID-19 pandemic, the city's urban core is evolving as a cultural center with the world's largest showcase of architecture designed by Frank Gehry.[28]

  1. ^ a b c Gollust, Shelley (April 18, 2013). "Nicknames for Los Angeles". Voice of America. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  2. ^ Barrows, H.D. (1899). "Felepe de Neve". Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly. Vol. 4. p. 151ff. Archived from the original on November 6, 2023. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  3. ^ "This 1835 Decree Made the Pueblo of Los Angeles a Ciudad – And California's Capital". KCET. April 2016. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "California Cities by Incorporation Date". California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions. Archived from the original (DOC) on February 21, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  5. ^ "About the City Government". City of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "2021 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on September 7, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  7. ^ "US Census Bureau". www.census.gov. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "QuickFacts: Los Angeles city, California". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  9. ^ "List of 2020 Census Urban Areas". census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals: 2020-2023". United States Census Bureau, Population Division. March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  11. ^ "Angelino, Angeleno, and Angeleño". KCET. January 10, 2011. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  12. ^ "Definition of Angeleno". Merriam-Webster. May 16, 2023. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  13. ^ "Total Gross Domestic Product for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (MSA)". Federal Reserve Economic Data. Archived from the original on November 26, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  14. ^ "Total Gross Domestic Product for Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (MSA)". fred.stlouisfed.org. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  15. ^ "Total Gross Domestic Product for Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA (MSA)". fred.stlouisfed.org. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  16. ^ Zip Codes Within the City of Los Angeles Archived July 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – LAHD
  17. ^ "Slowing State Population Decline puts Latest Population at 39,185,000" (PDF). Department of Finance. State of California. May 2, 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  18. ^ "America's 10 most visited cities", World Atlas, September 23, 2021. Archived June 14, 2023, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ^ Estrada, William David (2009). The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space. University of Texas Press. pp. 15–50. ISBN 978-0-292-78209-9.
  20. ^ Preston, Cheryl (July 16, 2013). "Subterranean L.A.: The Urban Oil Fields". The Getty Iris. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  21. ^ Josh Rottenberg (June 24, 2024). "Hollywood's exodus: Why film and TV workers are leaving Los Angeles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  22. ^ Stephen Battaglio (May 15, 2024). "New York's Studio Building Boom Poses Threat to LA's Hollywood Production". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  23. ^ Ivan Ehlers (May 21, 2024). "Opinion: Studio productions keep moving out of Los Angeles. We need to stop the bleeding". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  24. ^ LaRocco, Lori Ann (September 24, 2022). "New York is now the nation's busiest port in a historic tipping point for U.S.-bound trade". CNBC. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  25. ^ "Port of NYNJ Beats West Coast Rivals with Highest 2023 Volumes". The Maritime Executive. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  26. ^ "Port of New York and New Jersey Remains US' Top Container Port". www.marinelink.com. December 28, 2022. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference bea was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Roger Vincent (April 12, 2024). "Downtown L.A. is hurting. Frank Gehry thinks arts can lead a revival". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024.


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