Los Angeles County, California
Map
Location in the state of California
California\'s location in the USA
Statistics
Founded	1850
Seat	Los Angeles
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	4,752 sq mi (12,308 km²) 4,061 sq mi (10,518 km²) 691 sq mi (1,790 km²), 14.55%
Population  - (2006)  - Density	9,948,081 (est) 2,450/sq mi (946/km²)
Website: lacounty.info
Named for: Los Angeles, California
County flag

Los Angeles County is a county in California and is by far the most populous county in the United States. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau give an estimated 2006 population of 9,948,081 residents, [1] while the California State government\'s population bureau lists a January 1 2007 estimate of 10,331,939. [2] The county seat is the City of Los Angeles.

The county is home to 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas. The coastal portion of the county is somewhat urbanized, though there is a large expanse of lesser populated desert inland in the Santa Clarita Valley, and especially in the Antelope Valley which encompasses the northeastern parts of the county and adjacent eastern Kern County, lying just north of Los Angeles County. In between the large desert portions of the county ― which make up around 40 percent of its land area ― and the heavily urbanized central and southern portions sits the San Gabriel Mountains containing Angeles National Forest. All of southern Los Angeles County, north to about the center of the county, is heavily urbanized.

This county holds most of the principal cities encompassing the Greater Los Angeles Area, and is the most important of the five counties that make up the area. As of 2004, the county\'s population is larger than the individual populations of 42 states considered separately (and on that basis is more populous than the aggregate of the 11 least populous states) and is home to over a quarter of all California residents. According to the United States Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles County boasts a GDP among the twenty largest in the world.The Role of Metro Areas in the US Economy." United States Conference of Mayors, 2002: 5. http://www.usmayors.org/70thAnnualMeeting/metroecon2002/metroreport.pdf

History

Los Angeles County was one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850. Parts of the county\'s territory were given to San Bernardino County in 1853, to Kern County in 1866 and to Orange County in 1889.

Most of the County\'s history is recounted in the other articles covering its constituent cities and their neighborhoods.

Geography

Original seal.

Current Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California

With 4,061 square miles (10,517 km²), Los Angeles County borders 70 miles of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses numerous other natural landscapes including towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. More specifically, the county contains the following rivers: Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel River and the Santa Clara River. The primary mountain ranges are the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. It also includes the westernmost part of the Mojave Desert, and San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the population of Los Angeles County is located on the southern and southwestern portion of the county. The major population centers are the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys. Moderate populations are in the Santa Clarita, Crescenta and Antelope Valleys. The area north of the Santa Clarita Valley (Northwest Los Angeles County, adjacent to Ventura and Kern counties) is mostly mountainous, rugged, well-timbered and filled with coniferous forests that receives plentiful snow in the winter, right to the point of blizzard conditions. This area is less populated. Mountains in this area include San Emigdio Mountains, the southernmost part of Tehachapi Mountains, and the Sierra Pelona Mountains.

Most of the highest peaks in the county are located in the San Gabriel Mountains, which are part of the Transverse Ranges. They include Mount San Antonio (10,064 ft) at the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county lines, Mount Baden-Powell (9,399 ft), Mount Burnham (8,997 ft), and the well-known Mount Wilson (5,710 ft) where the Mount Wilson Observatory is located. Several smaller, lower peaks are located in the northern, western, and southwestern Los Angeles County.

The county has a total area of 4,752 square miles (12,308 km²), of which, 4,061 square miles (10,518 km²) of it is land and 691 square miles (1,791 km²) of it (14.55%) is water.

Major divisions of the county

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

Largest cities

Other cities

Map of the incorporated areas in Los Angeles County

Unincorporated communities in Los Angeles County

The following areas are unincorporated regions of the county which fall directly under the county government\'s jurisdiction. Many, but not all of them, are Census-designated places. With no city government, residents of these areas must petition the appropriate member of the Board of Supervisors when they have a grievance about the quality of local services.

Many of these communities have town councils which are advisory bodies for the supervisor in the community. Typically these town councils are elected from the residents in a given region and have a direct channel to the supervisor and his staff to communicate concerns. Currently, Acton, Agua Dulce, Altadena, Castaic, Hacienda Heights, Juniper Hills, La Crescenta-Montrose, Littlerock, Quartz Hill, Rowland Heights, Topanga, and Val Verde have active town councils, though they may not be called by that name.

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

See also: List of districts and neighborhoods of Los Angeles

ZIP codes

See Southern California Zip Codes

Adjacent counties

• Ventura County, California - west
• Kern County, California - north
• San Bernardino County, California - east
• Orange County, California - southeast

Transportation Infrastructure

Air

The county\'s primary commercial aviation airport is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles. Other important airports include the Long Beach Municipal Airport in Long Beach and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. Palmdale Regional Airport is planned for expanded commercial service. There are also general aviation airports in Los Angeles, including airports in Van Nuys and Pacoima. Other general aviation airports exist in Santa Monica, Compton, Torrance, El Monte, Lancaster, and Hawthorne.

Train

The county has the following intercity Amtrak service at Union Station in the city of Los Angeles.

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

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).

Roads

The county has a freeway network of legendary size and complexity, which is maintained by Caltrans and patrolled by the California Highway Patrol. It also has a large street network, most of which is maintained by city governments. The county and most cities generally do a decent job of maintaining and cleaning streets. For more information about the primary exception, see the Transportation in Los Angeles article.

Both the freeways and streets are notorious for severe traffic congestion, and the area\'s freeway-to-freeway interchanges regularly rank among the top 10 most congested points in the country.

In addition to Metro Bus service, numerous cities within the county also operate their own bus companies and shuttle lines.

Major highways

Sea

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.

The Port of Los Angeles is the largest cruise ship center on the west coast, handling over 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 Avalon, California to the mainland.

Economy

See also: Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce

The major industries of Los Angeles County are international trade, supported by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, motion picture and television program production, music recording and production, aerospace, and professional services such as law and medicine.

Although the City of Los Angeles is commonly associated with the entertainment industry, all of the major studios, except Paramount Pictures, are now located outside of its boundaries (in neighboring Culver City, Burbank and Glendale). Paramount Pictures is the only major studio that is in Hollywood (a district of Los Angeles City)^{[citation needed]}.

For major companies headquartered in the City of Los Angeles, and adjacent cities, see the Economy section of the Los Angeles, California article.

The following major companies have headquarters in Los Angeles County cities not adjacent to the city of Los Angeles:

Demographics

Los Angeles County has the highest population of any census-designated area in the United States. The population is one of the most diverse in the world; those identifying as Hispanic or Latino form a plurality of the population, and the county also has the largest Asian population in the country at 1.4 million.

As of the census² 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). The county has a unique ethnic diversity. The racial makeup of the county is 48.71% WhiteThis included over 65,000 Arabs and 75,000 Iranian, who many people would not count as White (see 2000 Census fact sheet table) 11.0% African American, 0.81% Native American, 10.0% Asian, 0.28% Pacific Islander, 23.53% from other races, and 4.94% from two or more races. 44.56% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. 45.87% of the population reported speaking only English at home; 37.89% speak Spanish, 2.22% Tagalog, 1.98% Chinese, 1.87% Korean, and 1.57% Armenian. [3]

There were 3,133,774 households out of which 36.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% 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 28.0% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% 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.

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.

Housing

The homeownership rate is 47.9%, and the median value for houses is $209,300. 42.2% of housing units are in multi-unit structures.

Demographics (as of 2006)

As of: 1 July 2006US Census Bureau, 2005 factsheet. Retrieved on 2007-06-20.

• Total Population: 9,948,081, a 4.4% increase between 2000 and 2005, or about 27% of California\'s population.

Law, government and politics

The Grand Avenue entrance of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.

The county is governed by the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, who are elected by the county\'s voters. 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.

The county government is operated by a Chief Executive Officer, currently William T Fujioka, and is organized into many departments, each of which is enormous in comparison to equivalent county-level (and even state-level) departments anywhere else in the United States. Some of the larger or better-known departments include:

• Los Angeles County Coroner – Performs autopsies and determines the cause of death for those who die without medical supervision.
• Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors
• Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services – administers foster care
• Los Angeles County Fire Department
  • Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division – (portrayed in the famous television series Baywatch).
• Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – operates several county hospitals and a network of primary care clinics, and also runs the public health system, which has a requirement that all restaurants in the unincorporated County and the majority of independent cities prominently post their food safety inspection grade in their front window
• Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation – administers public parks and the largest public golf course system in the U.S.
• 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 Department of Regional Planning – maintains the Zoning Code that regulates land use in the unincorporated areas, researches and facilitates land-use decisions and serves to connect the community to the established building regulations.
• Los Angeles County District Attorney – prosecutes criminal suspects
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art – public art museum
• Los Angeles County Probation Department
• Los Angeles County Public Defender – defends indigent criminal suspects
• Los Angeles County Public Library – operates a large network of branch libraries
• Los Angeles County Sheriff\'s Department – provides law enforcement services to unincorporated areas and cities that do not have their own police departments, and operates the huge county jails. The LASD is the largest county Sheriff\'s Department in the United States.
  • Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Service ( DCS )is a volunteer organization administered by the Sheriff\'s Department Emergency Operations Bureau for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Their main function, authorized under County Ordinance, is to provide volunteer disaster relief communication for the citizens of Los Angeles County.
• Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs – offers consumers in the county a variety of services including: consumer and real estate counseling, mediation, and small claims counseling. The department also investigates: consumer complains, real estate fraud and identity theft issues.

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.

The Los Angeles Superior Court, which covers the entire county, is not a County department but a division of the State\'s trial court system. The courthouses, however, are county-owned buildings that are maintained at county expense.

Politics

Despite being a liberal county, many suburban cities in Los Angeles County are somewhat conservative, particularly in the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Twenty-six cities in the county had a majority of votes go to George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election; they were [4]: Arcadia, Avalon, Covina, Diamond Bar, El Segundo, Glendora, Hidden Hills, Industry, La Cañada Flintridge, La Habra Heights, La Mirada, La Verne, Lakewood, Lancaster, Palmdale, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, San Dimas, San Marino, Santa Clarita, Torrance, Vernon, Westlake Village, and Whittier. The remainder of the 89 cities and districts in the county voted for Bush\'s Democratic opponent, John Kerry.

In the United States House of Representatives, all of districts 27-39 are entirely within the county and are all represented by Democrats. In order of district number they are Brad Sherman, Howard Berman, Adam Schiff, Henry Waxman, Xavier Becerra, Hilda Solis, Diane Watson, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Maxine Waters, Jane Harman, Laura Richardson, Grace Napolitano, and Linda Sánchez. Parts of the county are also in the 22nd, 25th, 26th,