Los Angeles County, California


Los Angeles County, sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,757,179 residents estimated in 2024. Its population is greater than that of 40 individual U.S. states. Comprising 88 incorporated cities and 101 unincorporated areas within a total area of, it accommodates more than a quarter of Californians and is one of the most ethnically diverse U.S. counties. The county's seat, Los Angeles, is the second most populous city in the United States, with 3,878,704 residents estimated in 2024. The county is globally known as the home of the U.S. motion picture industry since its inception in the early 20th century.

History

Los Angeles County is one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850. 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 state line of Nevada. As the population increased, sections were split off to organize San Bernardino County in 1853, Kern County in 1866, and Orange County in 1889.
Before the 1870s, Los Angeles County was divided into townships :
As shown by the map below, Los Angeles County is bordered on the north by Kern County, on the east by San Bernardino County, on the southeast by Orange County, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, and on the west by Ventura County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of, of which is land and is water. Los Angeles County borders of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses mountain ranges, valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. The Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, Ballona Creek, 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 resides 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 at the Los Angeles–San Bernardino county lines, Mount Baden-Powell, Mount Burnham and Mount Wilson. 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

The Northern part of the county has a Desert climate, while the rest of the county generally is a mix of semi-arid and a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. There is rainfall mostly in the wintertime, but the mountains in the north-central part of the county have snow during winter.

Demographics

Racial composition2020201020001990198019701960
Hispanics48.0%47.7%44.5%37.8%27.6%14.9%11%
Non-Hispanic Whites25.6%27.8%31.1%40.8%52.8%70.9%79.3%
Asians14.7%13.5%11.9%11%5.6%2.9%1.9%
Blacks7.6%8.3%9.7%11.1%12.6%10.8%7.6%
Native Americans0.2%0.2%0.8%0.5%0.64%0.35%0.13%
Pacific Islanders0.2%0.2%-----
Multiracial Americans3.0%2.0%-----

The county has a large population of Asian Americans, being home to the largest numbers of Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai outside their respective countries. The largest Asian groups 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.
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.
Los Angeles County is home to the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia. It also accommodates the largest Iranian population outside of Iran of any other county or county equivalent globally.

Income

In 2024, the Area Median Income for a one-person household in Los Angeles County was $74,600 ; for a four-person household, $106,600.
As of 2024 12 12, the homeownership rate was 49.81%. As of 2025 12 23, the median home value was $859,958. Multi-unit structures comprised approximately 54.2% of the total housing inventory as of late 2025.
In October 2025, the number of homeless people in the county was 72,195, of which 47,450 were unsheltered. LA County holds the undisputed title for the largest unsheltered homeless population in the nation—in 2024, only 30% of LA’s homeless population was sheltered either in an emergency shelter, transitional housing, or a safe haven program, compared to 97% of New York’s unhoused.

Religion

In 2015, there were over two thousand Christian churches, the majority of which are Catholic. Roman Catholic adherents number close to 40% of the population. There were 202 Jewish synagogues, 145 Buddhist temples, 38 Muslim mosques, 44 Baháʼí Faith worship centers, 37 Hindu temples, 28 Tenrikyo churches and fellowships, 16 Shinto worship centers, and 14 Sikh gurdwaras in the county. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has approximately 5million members and is the largest diocese in the United States. In 2014, the county had 3,275 religious organizations, the most out of all US counties.

Law, government, and politics

Government

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. 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 2million people. The board operates in a legislative, executive, and quasi-judicial capacity. As a legislative authority, it can pass ordinances for the unincorporated areas. 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 2020, the Board of Supervisors oversees a $35.5billion annual budget and over 112,000 employees. 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 departments anywhere else in the United States. Some of the larger or better-known departments include:
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, despite its name, is a County department. Technically it is a state-mandated county transportation commission that also operates a large bus and rail system in the county.