Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County, California
Seal of Los Angeles County, California
Seal
Map
Map of California highlighting Los Angeles County
Location in the state of California
Statistics
Formed 1850
Seat Los Angeles
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water
10,517 km² (4,061 mi²)

 
Population
 - (2004)
 -({{{census estimate yr}}})
 - Density
10,179,716 (est)
967.9/km² 
Website: lacounty.info

Los Angeles County is a county in California with 10,179,716 residents (as of July 2004)[1], the most populous county in the United States. The county seat is the city of Los Angeles.

The county is home to 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated city-like areas (136 total). The coastal portion of the county is heavily 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 per cent 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, up 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 populations of 43 states.

Contents

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Law, government and politics


Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democrats
2004 35.6% 1,076,225 63.1% 1,907,736
2000 32.4% 871,930 63.5% 1,710,505
1996 31.0% 746,544 59.3% 1,430,629
1992 29.0% 799,607 52.5% 1,446,529
1988 46.9% 1,239,716 51.9% 1,372,352
1984 54.5% 1,424,113 44.4% 1,158,912
1980 50.2% 1,224,533 40.2% 979,830
1976 47.8 1,174,926 49.7% 1,221,893
1972 54.8% 1,549,717 42.0% 1,189,977
1968 47.6% 1,266,480 46.0% 1,223,251
1964 42.5% 1,161,067 57.4% 1,568,300
1960 49.4% 1,302,661 50.2% 1,323,818

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 both 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, most 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 decisions.

The county government is operated by a Chief Administrative Officer (currently David Janssen) 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 and child support
  • Los Angeles County Fire Department
  • 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 District Attorney - prosecutes criminal suspects
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art - public art museum
  • 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 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.

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Geography

With 4,061 square miles (10,517 km²), it borders on the Pacific Ocean and has 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 includes the westernmost part of the Mojave Desert, San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island.

The county has a total area of 12,308 km² (4,752 mi²). 10,518 km² (4,061 mi²) of it is land and 1,791 km² (691 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 14.55% water.

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Major divisions of the county

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List of adjacent counties

See also: List of California counties

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Largest Cities

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Other Cities

The original seal.
The original seal.
Old Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California
Old Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California
New Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California
New Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California
Flag of the County of Los Angeles, California
Flag of the County of Los Angeles, California
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Census-designated places which are not cities

The following areas are unincorporated regions of the county which fall directly under the county government's jurisdiction. 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 the official 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, 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

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Economy

The major industries of Los Angeles County are motion picture and television program production, music recording and production, aerospace, professional services like law and medicine, and activities relating to the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.

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).

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:

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Education

The county is home to many colleges and universities. It also has a huge number of public school districts and many private schools.

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Colleges and universities

Colleges

Universities

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Sites of interest

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, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Arboretum of Los Angeles, and two horse racetracks and a car racetrack, 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. 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, the original television series Star Trek and The Flintstones movies 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.

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Museums

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Entertainment

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Music venues

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Amusement Parks

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Other attractions

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Outside the city

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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 1899.

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

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Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 9,519,338 people, 3,133,774 households, and 2,137,233 families residing in the county. The population density is 905/km² (2,344/mi²). There are 3,270,909 housing units at an average density of 311/km² (806/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 48.71% White (31.1% is non-Hispanic White), 9.78% African American, 0.81% Native American, 11.95% Asian, 0.28% Pacific Islander, 23.53% from other races, and 4.94% from two or more races. 44.56% of the total population is of Hispanic or Latino origin, regardless of race.

Los Angeles is one of the few counties in the USA where Latinos are a plurality, and will soon be a majority.

There are 3,133,774 households out of which 36.80% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.60% are married couples living together, 14.70% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% are non-families. 24.60% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.10% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.98 and the average family size is 3.61.

In the county the population is spread out with 28.00% under the age of 18, 10.30% from 18 to 24, 32.60% from 25 to 44, 19.40% from 45 to 64, and 9.70% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 97.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 95.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county is $42,189, and the median income for a family is $46,452. Males have a median income of $36,299 versus $30,981 for females. The per capita income for the county is $20,683. 17.90% of the population and 14.40% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 24.20% of those under the age of 18 and 10.50% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

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Housing

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

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Transportation

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Air

The county's primary commercial aviation airport is Los Angeles International Airport. Other important airports include the Long Beach Municipal Airport and Bob Hope Airport. Palmdale Regional Airport is planned for expanded commercial service. There are also general aviation airports at Van Nuys, Santa Monica, Compton, Torrance, Pacoima, and Lancaster.

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Train

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

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).

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Road

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.

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Sea

The county's two main seaports are the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Together they handle over a fourth of the container traffic entering the United States.

The Port of Long Beach is also 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.

There are some ferry services to nearby island towns like Avalon, California.

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Navigating in the county

Thomas Guide - The most popular series of map books among Los Angeles residents.

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See also

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External links


Incorporated cities of Los Angeles County, California
Seal of Los Angeles County
Population over 1,000,000: Los Angeles (county seat)
Population over 100,000: Burbank | Downey | El Monte | Glendale | Inglewood | Lancaster | Long Beach | Norwalk | Palmdale | Pasadena | Pomona | Santa Clarita | Santa Monica | Torrance | West Covina
Population under 100,000: Agoura Hills | Alhambra | Arcadia | Artesia | Avalon | Azusa | Baldwin Park | Bell | Bell Gardens | Bellflower | Beverly Hills | Bradbury | Calabasas | Carson | Cerritos | Claremont | Commerce | Compton | Covina | Cudahy | Culver City | Diamond Bar | Duarte | El Segundo | Gardena | Glendora | Hawaiian Gardens | Hawthorne | Hermosa Beach | Hidden Hills | Huntington Park | Industry | Irwindale | La Cañada Flintridge | La Habra Heights | La Mirada | La Puente | La Verne | Lakewood | Lawndale | Lomita | Lynwood | Malibu | Manhattan Beach | Maywood | Monrovia | Montebello | Monterey Park | Palos Verdes Estates | Paramount | Pico Rivera | Rancho Palos Verdes | Redondo Beach | Rolling Hills | Rolling Hills Estates | Rosemead | San Dimas | San Fernando | San Gabriel | San Marino | Santa Fe Springs | Sierra Madre | Signal Hill | South El Monte | South Gate | South Pasadena | Temple City | Vernon | Walnut | West Hollywood | Westlake Village | Whittier
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